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Intraday PricesDate Time High Low Close Volume
05/17/06 16:01:09 1.529 1.529 1.529 33,500
05/17/06 15:55:09 1.580 1.580 1.580 7,000
05/17/06 15:53:39 1.620 1.620 1.620 5,400
05/17/06 15:52:09 1.620 1.620 1.620 2,600
05/17/06 15:46:09 1.630 1.630 1.630 1,500
05/17/06 15:37:09 1.620 1.620 1.620 1,500
05/17/06 15:34:09 1.620 1.620 1.620 1,000
05/17/06 15:32:39 1.620 1.620 1.620 5,000
05/17/06 15:31:09 1.620 1.620 1.620 1,000
05/17/06 15:26:39 1.600 1.580 1.580 3,700
05/17/06 15:16:10 1.600 1.600 1.600 5,000
05/17/06 15:11:40 1.550 1.550 1.550 1,300
05/17/06 14:58:10 1.550 1.540 1.540 1,500
05/17/06 14:55:10 1.530 1.530 1.530 200
05/17/06 14:17:41 1.530 1.530 1.530 200
05/17/06 14:05:41 1.530 1.530 1.530 300
05/17/06 13:52:11 1.530 1.530 1.530 4,000
05/17/06 13:47:41 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,800
05/17/06 13:25:12 1.530 1.530 1.530 600
05/17/06 13:22:12 1.550 1.530 1.550 9,500
05/17/06 13:07:12 1.530 1.530 1.530 500
05/17/06 13:02:42 1.530 1.530 1.530 2,000
05/17/06 12:59:43 1.530 1.530 1.530 4,500
05/17/06 12:56:43 1.520 1.520 1.520 500
05/17/06 12:55:13 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,000
05/17/06 12:53:43 1.540 1.540 1.540 1,200
05/17/06 12:52:13 1.540 1.530 1.540 5,000
05/17/06 12:49:13 1.540 1.540 1.540 1,000
05/17/06 12:26:43 1.530 1.530 1.530 3,000
05/17/06 12:25:13 1.530 1.530 1.530 100
05/17/06 12:17:43 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,000
05/17/06 12:11:44 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,000
05/17/06 12:10:14 1.530 1.530 1.530 500
05/17/06 11:56:44 1.530 1.530 1.530 100
05/17/06 11:53:44 1.550 1.530 1.550 2,900
05/17/06 11:50:44 1.530 1.530 1.530 100
05/17/06 11:38:44 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,900
05/17/06 11:35:44 1.530 1.530 1.530 2,000
05/17/06 11:34:14 1.530 1.530 1.530 1,000
05/17/06 11:23:45 1.550 1.550 1.550 200
05/17/06 11:17:45 1.530 1.530 1.530 4,500
05/17/06 11:16:15 1.540 1.540 1.540 500
05/17/06 11:10:15 1.560 1.540 1.540 5,300
05/17/06 11:08:45 1.560 1.550 1.560 8,900
05/17/06 11:05:45 1.570 1.570 1.570 500
05/17/06 10:50:45 1.590 1.590 1.590 500
05/17/06 10:49:15 1.590 1.590 1.590 2,200
05/17/06 10:05:46 1.630 1.630 1.630 100
05/17/06 10:04:16 1.630 1.630 1.630 1,000
05/17/06 10:02:46 1.650 1.640 1.640 800
05/17/06 09:52:17 1.630 1.630 1.630 2,000
05/17/06 09:50:47 1.630 1.630 1.630 3,700
05/17/06 09:49:17 1.630 1.630 1.630 500
05/17/06 09:47:47 1.620 1.620 1.620 1,900
05/17/06 09:46:17 1.620 1.610 1.610 5,600
05/17/06 09:44:47 1.610 1.610 1.610 1,000
Each line is the combination of trades for a 90 sec period
15-20 min Quote Delay
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Chevron ponders ethanol plants
By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg News
San Ramon-based Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, is exploring investments in ethanol plants to guarantee steady supplies of the gasoline additive for its refineries.
Chevron is examining whether larger ethanol distilleries could be built to lower production costs, Donald Paul, chief technology officer, said in a telephone interview. Chevron would be the first major oil company in 26 years to invest in U.S. production of the grain-based additive.
The company is weighing the possibilities "because we're a major buyer of ethanol," Paul said. "Ethanol today is dominated by people who are not from the traditional fuel-making business."
Ethanol prices more than doubled in the past year as refiners phased out a competing fuel additive that polluted groundwater. Demand will continue to surge because of last year's Energy Policy Act, which requires U.S. refiners to almost double ethanol use by 2012 to 7.5 billion gallons a year, which is 70 percent more than U.S. production capacity today.
Interest in alternative fuels has been spurred by rising petroleum prices and growing concern about oil supplies. President Bush has touted ethanol as a source in reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil.
Chevron last week announced it acquired a 22 percent stake in a Galveston, Texas, company building a plant that will refine soybean oil into diesel.
Crude oil touched a record $75.35 a barrel last month in New York, and gasoline pump prices in the United States are near the all-time highs reached in September after Hurricane Katrina.
"The oil industry has come to the realization that ethanol is here to stay," said Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington-based trade group. "It wouldn't be surprising to me at all if they decided to come aboard."
Texaco Inc. was the lastmajor oil company to invest in U.S. ethanol when it partnered with CPC International in 1980 to convert a mothballed Illinois sugar-beet refinery into a corn distillery.
Texaco, now part of Chevron, abandoned the project in 1995, selling the business to Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Cos. Morgan Stanley bought Williams' ethanol subsidiary in 2003 and renamed it Aventine Renewable Energy LLC.
Pekin, Ill.-based Aventine is now the third-biggest U.S. ethanol maker, behind Decatur, Ill.-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Brookings, S.D.-based VeraSun Energy Corp.
Ethanol, a form of alcohol distilled from
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grain or sugar, accounted for 3 percent of the gasoline burned in the United States last year, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Department. The additive is used to reduce tailpipe emissions, improve engine performance and stretch gasoline supplies.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world's No. 3 oil company, owns a stake in Iogen Corp., a Canadian company trying to develop enzymes that can break down wheat stalks and straw for ethanol. Iogen does not produce ethanol on an industrial scale.
Shares of ethanol producers have soared since the energy act was signed last year and Bush made the additive a cornerstone of his plan to slash U.S. dependence on Middle East oil in his January State of the Union address.
The shares of Andersons Inc., a Maumee, Ohio-based grain hauler that is building two distilleries and owns a stake in a third, have risen 139 percent since Bush's Jan. 31 speech.
Shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc. climbed 125 percent since Bush's address. The Fresno-based company, whose backers include Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, plans to build five West Coast distilleries.
Shares of Archer Daniels Midland have risen 44 percent since the state of the union address.
VeraSun and Aventine are planning to sell shares to the public for the first time later this year, according to registration statements filed by both companies with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March.
Ethanol has been added to gasoline in the Midwest and parts of the mid-Atlantic region since the early 1990s to comply with federal anti-pollution rules.
Demand began to expand in coastal areas in 2004 when California and New York, which burn one-fifth of U.S. gasoline supplies, banned MTBE. The only widely available alternative is ethanol, according to the Energy Department in Washington.
By the end of May, almost all the MTBE in the U.S. will have been replaced with ethanol because refiners are worried about lawsuits over MTBE contamination of drinking water supplies, said Fabrizio Zichichi, executive vice president of U.S. clean-oil products at Noble Group, an ethanol broker.
Fuel of the future?
Extended footage: More of Stone Phillips' interview with Vinod Khosla, a highly successful venture capitalist with an eye for innovative technology, on investing in ethanol and new E85 technology.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12713171/
The video is definately worth watching!
Volume is low and no one is talking...
Usually thats a time I like to buy stocks that I have been watching.
Hope it holds true here.
GLTA
Kinda lame that you have to subscribe to read the article.
Puzzled why they even put it out as a press release.
Maybe advertizing for those googling "ethanol" after the sixty minutes piece last night?
Wouldn't it be cool...
If it was cheaper to turn oil shale into ethanol using FFI process vs squeazing the oil out of it?
I read somewhere that at $35 a barrel oil shale to oil becomes profitable.
I hope FFI is talking to them...
After googling it doesn't appear that this a FFI deal.
Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is in Montana and they have coal resources.
Seems it would be a natural for FFI, but what do I know?
Tribal officials mum about ethanol plant
Angela Brandt
Havre Daily News
abrandt@havredailynews.com
ROCKY BOY'S INDIAN RESERVATION - Many people are asking about the status of a planned ethanol plant, the Chippewa Cree
tribal council chair said.
Chair John “Chance” Houle and other officials said much has been accomplished. They said they could not yet report on the specifics.
“The biggest gorillas have
been conquered and we're moving forward,” Houle said at Thursday's tribal council meeting.
Houle said he will be able to be more specific as early as next week. Those who are involved with the project said they do not want to compromise any possible partnerships with investors by naming names before contracts are signed.
The planned ethanol plant has been in the works for almost two years.
“The main hurdles have all been jumped,” ethanol plant project leader Steve Galbavy said.
Neal Rosette Sr., National Tribal Development Association chief operating officer, said the tribe has been communicating with interested investors, including a few major corporations.
“I can't say who yet, but all is moving along,” Rosette said.
The cost of opening the plant and the first year's operation fees are estimated to cost between $83 million and
$87 million. Tribal leaders have said that the tribe wants to retain the majority of the ownership of the proposed ethanol plant.
A feasibility study conducted last year by BBI International of Cotopaxi, Colo. said the reservation could support a plant that produces 40 million gallons of ethanol per year.
The plant would supply an estimated 42 full-time jobs to the Hi-Line and employ up to 400 workers during construction.
Ethanol prices highest in 9 years
`Record demand' seen for the summer
Bloomberg News
Published May 6, 2006
Ethanol prices rose this week to the highest level in at least nine years amid increased demand for the grain-based fuel from refiners and blenders before the start of the peak driving months.
Ethanol is being phased in as a component in reformulated gasoline sold in large U.S. cities. The process has contributed to some supply disruptions in the past month. Refiners' phaseout of a rival additive known as MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is expected to be mostly finished by the end of this week.
"We're looking at record demand" for ethanol, said Pete Covella, vice president of risk management and products trading with Noble Americas Corp. in Stamford, Conn. "You've got the driving season, so that's adding demand for both ethanol and gasoline."
Ethanol prices averaged $2.7937 a gallon Friday, up 6.3 percent from the end of last week and the highest price since at least 1997, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was the fifth straight weekly gain. The average was more than double the year-ago price.
Gasoline demand in the U.S. usually peaks between Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September as people take to the roads for vacations.
Corn-based ethanol is mostly produced in the Midwest and shipped to the East Coast and other regions by barge or rail car. It can't be shipped on petroleum pipelines because it binds with water, which ruins gasoline. Instead, refiners and wholesalers mix ethanol with gasoline at terminals where the blended fuel is loaded onto trucks bound for retail outlets.
The transition to ethanol-blended gasoline contributed to temporary fuel shortages over the past several weeks in reformulated fuel markets along the East Coast and in Texas. Fuel terminals and service stations have had to empty and clean their tanks in preparation for the switch.
The supply disruptions are mostly because of "logistical problems" from blending and transporting ethanol-blended fuel, Covella said.
But he said ethanol supplies are plentiful and prices will probably decline after the middle of summer because U.S. production is ramping up and gasoline demand will taper off after driving season.
"We can't unload rail cars fast enough" at New York harbor fuel terminals, Covella said.
Nationwide ethanol production averaged an all-time high of 302,000 barrels, or 12.7 million gallons, a day in February, the most recent month with available data, the Energy Department said last week. February's production was up 23 percent from the same month in 2005.
MTBE is being phased out after leaks from underground storage tanks fouled drinking water, spawning lawsuits against refiners and other makers of the chemical.
nj, looks like its someone else...
Company plans big ethanol plant in Oak Ridge
By RICHARD POWELSON, powelsonr@shns.com
May 1, 2006
WASHINGTON — A Florida company, BRI Energy, today announced tentative plans to build one or two ethanol-producing facilities at the closed K-31 complex in Oak Ridge, which within five years might employ 500.
William Bruce, BRI's president, said he hopes for federal loan guarantees for part of the funding of both projects: one to convert western coal to ethanol, a renewable fuel that can be mixed with gasoline in motor vehicles, and the other to convert burnable municipal waste (paper, plastic, garbage, leather) to ethanol.
Neither patented process would add any air pollution to the area, and the Tennessee Valley Authority is interested in the steam power from the process for its power system or to wheel to other power producers, he said in an interview.
The coal gasification facility would cost $25 million, and is seeking a $20-million federal loan guarantee, he said. Congress approved federal help for such plants in last year's energy bill.
The municipal waste facility would require $62.5 million in private investment and a $250-million federal loan guarantee, he said.
The company is meeting with federal officials Tuesday on the loan-guarantee process.
Bruce said that Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., a member of the House renewable energy caucus, initially steered him to look at the K-31 plant for the ethanol facility. It has 17.5 acres under one roof.
The waste-conversion process would help many communities that are running out of landfill space, Bruce said.
The coal-gasification process would remain competitive with gasoline as long as oil remains at or above about $30 a barrel, he said, and oil costs now are more than double that cost.
Watch for updates on knoxnews.com and read more details in Tuesday's News Sentinel.
Thanks nj, I especially liked the last part...
"another plus to the process the company offers is that it does not involve any burning and is non-polluting"
Technoman, all I know is...
price is up, volume is up, and you are not talking...lol
I plead investor ignorance
I was kicking myself for missing the bottom the other day and putting my last batch in at 1.35, now I am starting to look smart again...lol
IDCC....
I don't know, but it sounds simular FFI's technology...
FFI proposes to implement commercially available and proven technologies to transform low-value, end-of-life carbonaceous waste materials such as waste coal, used tires, wood wastes, raw sewage, biomass, municipal solid waste, discarded corn stalks and other agricultural by-products, into high-value, environmentally friendly, clean-burning ethanol.
Ethanol from Coal and Wastes
That Oak Ridge area of Roane County may also be the site of a new, huge ethanol-generating plant, if federal loan guarantees can be secured for about $20 million of its start-up costs.
The company with the technology patents to produce ethanol from coal and from waste products, including garbage, paper and plastics, has the support of Congressman Zach Wamp. It’s in his district that the cleaned-up K-31 uranium enrichment building resides in what’s called Heritage Center, with more than a million square feet available under one roof. It also got a favorable review earlier this week from Sen. Lamar Alexander, who reiterated the notion that the United States is “the Saudi Arabia of coal” and extolled the process’ potential to produce a cleaner, more usable energy form in ethanol.
The timing of the loan-guarantee request, with gasoline prices spiking, would appear to be excellent, and the efficient production of ethanol from coal resources could eventually provide up to half of U.S. gasoline consumption, according to company projections. That may be optimistic, but another plus to the process the company offers is that it does not involve any burning and is non-polluting.
http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2006/16_18/commentary.shtml
Intraday prices...some big blocks
05/04/06 13:11:42 1.680 1.680 1.680 2,000
05/04/06 13:10:12 1.680 1.680 1.680 500
05/04/06 13:08:42 1.680 1.680 1.680 2,000
05/04/06 13:07:12 1.650 1.650 1.650 5,500
05/04/06 13:05:42 1.650 1.650 1.650 2,500
05/04/06 13:04:12 1.650 1.650 1.650 500
05/04/06 13:02:42 1.650 1.650 1.650 1,000
05/04/06 13:01:12 1.650 1.650 1.650 500
05/04/06 12:56:43 1.650 1.650 1.650 500
05/04/06 12:55:13 1.670 1.670 1.670 800
05/04/06 12:41:43 1.640 1.640 1.640 1,200
05/04/06 12:40:13 1.640 1.635 1.635 2,000
05/04/06 12:38:43 1.650 1.650 1.650 9,500
05/04/06 12:37:13 1.650 1.640 1.650 3,500
05/04/06 12:35:43 1.650 1.640 1.640 37,400
05/04/06 12:34:13 1.640 1.640 1.640 2,000
05/04/06 12:32:43 1.640 1.640 1.640 500
05/04/06 12:31:13 1.670 1.640 1.670 11,500
05/04/06 12:29:43 1.650 1.650 1.650 1,500
05/04/06 12:28:13 1.690 1.690 1.690 2,000
05/04/06 12:26:43 1.710 1.690 1.700 16,000
05/04/06 12:25:13 1.700 1.700 1.700 2,700
05/04/06 12:23:43 1.710 1.700 1.700 3,600
05/04/06 12:22:13 1.720 1.700 1.710 33,400
05/04/06 12:20:43 1.720 1.710 1.720 15,800
05/04/06 12:19:13 1.749 1.721 1.735 135,800
05/04/06 12:17:43 1.750 1.735 1.750 64,900
05/04/06 12:16:13 1.750 1.741 1.745 103,800
05/04/06 12:14:43 1.750 1.745 1.745 31,700
05/04/06 12:13:14 1.750 1.740 1.740 23,100
05/04/06 12:11:44 1.740 1.730 1.730 20,200
05/04/06 12:10:14 1.730 1.730 1.730 6,800
05/04/06 12:08:44 1.720 1.714 1.720 14,100
05/04/06 12:07:14 1.720 1.720 1.720 5,300
05/04/06 12:05:44 1.720 1.705 1.720 28,900
05/04/06 12:04:14 1.720 1.720 1.720 19,100
05/04/06 12:02:44 1.720 1.690 1.700 31,600
05/04/06 12:01:14 1.700 1.600 1.690 48,100
05/04/06 11:58:14 1.695 1.695 1.695 1,100
05/04/06 11:56:44 1.695 1.690 1.690 2,600
05/04/06 11:55:14 1.690 1.680 1.690 4,200
05/04/06 11:53:44 1.690 1.680 1.690 25,100
05/04/06 11:52:14 1.690 1.680 1.690 6,900
05/04/06 11:50:44 1.685 1.680 1.680 6,000
05/04/06 11:49:14 1.690 1.680 1.680 5,500
05/04/06 11:47:44 1.690 1.690 1.690 3,000
05/04/06 11:46:14 1.690 1.685 1.690 7,400
05/04/06 11:44:44 1.690 1.680 1.680 21,500
05/04/06 11:43:14 1.680 1.670 1.670 3,500
05/04/06 11:41:44 1.690 1.680 1.685 59,000
05/04/06 11:40:14 1.685 1.680 1.680 8,000
05/04/06 11:38:44 1.690 1.680 1.690 44,700
05/04/06 11:37:14 1.700 1.690 1.700 1,100
05/04/06 11:35:44 1.700 1.690 1.695 91,200
05/04/06 11:34:14 1.690 1.690 1.690 3,300
05/04/06 11:32:44 1.700 1.690 1.690 15,900
05/04/06 11:31:14 1.700 1.690 1.690 71,800
05/04/06 11:29:44 1.698 1.685 1.690 15,600
05/04/06 11:28:14 1.690 1.690 1.690 7,100
05/04/06 11:26:45 1.695 1.690 1.690 8,000
05/04/06 11:25:15 1.700 1.690 1.690 30,700
05/04/06 11:23:45 1.700 1.690 1.700 30,600
05/04/06 11:22:15 1.700 1.690 1.690 14,300
05/04/06 11:20:45 1.700 1.680 1.690 38,000
05/04/06 11:19:15 1.690 1.670 1.670 6,800
05/04/06 11:17:45 1.670 1.670 1.670 10,000
05/04/06 11:14:45 1.650 1.640 1.640 1,000
05/04/06 11:11:45 1.640 1.620 1.620 9,000
05/04/06 11:10:15 1.620 1.620 1.620 12,500
05/04/06 11:08:45 1.610 1.590 1.600 17,100
05/04/06 11:07:15 1.600 1.590 1.595 5,100
05/04/06 11:05:45 1.600 1.590 1.590 3,000
05/04/06 11:04:15 1.590 1.590 1.590 500
05/04/06 11:02:45 1.590 1.590 1.590 500
05/04/06 10:56:45 1.620 1.580 1.590 15,300
05/04/06 10:55:15 1.610 1.600 1.600 22,400
05/04/06 10:53:45 1.600 1.580 1.580 13,400
05/04/06 10:52:15 1.580 1.580 1.580 2,600
05/04/06 10:50:45 1.560 1.550 1.550 62,500
05/04/06 10:49:15 1.550 1.550 1.550 1,200
05/04/06 10:47:45 1.550 1.550 1.550 4,000
05/04/06 10:44:45 1.550 1.550 1.550 500
05/04/06 10:43:15 1.550 1.550 1.550 2,000
05/04/06 10:40:15 1.550 1.550 1.550 5,000
05/04/06 10:38:46 1.550 1.540 1.550 16,600
05/04/06 10:37:16 1.550 1.540 1.550 7,000
05/04/06 10:35:46 1.550 1.550 1.550 500
05/04/06 10:34:16 1.540 1.540 1.540 300
05/04/06 10:32:46 1.545 1.545 1.545 2,500
05/04/06 10:29:46 1.550 1.550 1.550 6,300
05/04/06 10:23:46 1.520 1.520 1.520 500
05/04/06 10:22:16 1.530 1.530 1.530 500
05/04/06 10:20:46 1.540 1.530 1.540 5,100
05/04/06 10:19:16 1.520 1.520 1.520 400
05/04/06 10:17:46 1.520 1.520 1.520 5,300
05/04/06 10:14:46 1.540 1.520 1.540 1,100
05/04/06 10:04:16 1.540 1.520 1.540 1,500
05/04/06 10:02:46 1.540 1.530 1.530 8,000
05/04/06 10:01:16 1.530 1.520 1.520 12,500
05/04/06 09:59:46 1.530 1.530 1.530 10,000
05/04/06 09:52:17 1.500 1.490 1.500 9,300
05/04/06 09:50:47 1.490 1.490 1.490 2,500
05/04/06 09:49:17 1.500 1.490 1.500 12,000
05/04/06 09:46:17 1.490 1.490 1.490 1,000
05/04/06 09:44:47 1.490 1.490 1.490 100
05/04/06 09:37:17 1.500 1.500 1.500 3,800
05/04/06 09:35:47 1.520 1.510 1.510 10,500
05/04/06 09:34:17 1.510 1.510 1.510 3,000
05/04/06 09:32:47 1.520 1.510 1.520 1,100
05/04/06 09:29:47 1.530 1.510 1.520 20,600
Each line is the combination of trades for a 90 sec period
An Energy Revolution
By Robert Zubrin
The world economy is currently running on a resource that is controlled by our enemies. This threatens to leave us prostrate. It must change—and the good news is that it can change, quickly.
Using portions of the hundreds of billions of petrodollars they are annually draining from our economy, Middle Easterners have established training centers for terrorists, paid bounties to the families of suicide bombers, and funded the purchase of weapons and explosives. Oil revenues underwrite new media outlets that propagandize hatefully against the United States and the West. They pay for more than 10,000 radical madrassahs set up around the world to indoctrinate young boys with the idea that the way to paradise is to murder Christians, Jews, and Hindus. It was men energized by oil-revenue resources who killed 3,000 American civilians on September 11, 2001, and who have continued to kill large numbers of Westerners in Iraq and elsewhere. We are thus subsidizing acts of war against ourselves.
And we have not yet reached the culmination of the process. Iran and other states are now using petroleum lucre to underwrite the development of nuclear weapons, and insulate themselves from the economic sanctions that could result. Once produced, these nuclear weapons could be used directly or made available to terrorists to attack U.S., European, or Israeli cities and military forces. This is one of the gravest threats to the next generation—and, again, we are paying for it ourselves with oil revenue.
Our responses to these provocations have been muted and hapless. Why? Because any forceful action on our part against nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia could result in the disruption of oil supplies that the world economy is completely dependent upon. We can’t stand up to our enemies because we rely upon them for the fuel that is our own lifeblood.
And the situation is even worse below the surface. In addition to financing terror directly and indirectly, oil exporters are using their wealth to corrupt our political system. Important Washington, D.C. law firms and lobbying organizations have been put on the payroll of Arab nations to blunt any attempts at retaliation for their promotion of terrorism. Arab investors have made enormous buys in media organizations that could allow them to influence U.S. public opinion.
All this, however, is mere prologue. China and India are rapidly industrializing, and within a decade or two the number of cars in the world will double or triple. If the world remains on the oil standard, the income streams of many noxious oil exporters will soar. We will be impoverished to the same degree they are enriched. The vast sums transferred will not only finance global jihad and dangerous weapons development in the Middle East, but also increase potential for manipulation of the U.S. and Western economies. At currently projected rates of consumption, by the year 2020 over 90 percent of the world’s remaining petroleum reserves will be in the Middle East, controlled by people whose religion obligates them to subjugate us.
In light of these realities, current U.S. energy policy is a scandal. There is no reason the United States should remain helpless, allowing itself to be looted by people who are using the proceeds to undermine us. A much higher degree of energy independence is possible, even apparent, yet victory is not being pursued. To see how insane our national energy policies have been, let’s review recent failures. Then I’ll describe a starkly better alternative.
CONSERVATION AND ALTERNATIVE-FUEL DAYDREAMS
Ritualistic calls by utopians, moralists, and environmental absolutists for energy conservation are utterly inadequate and doomed to failure. To see this, simply run the numbers. Every year, about 17 million cars are sold in the U.S.—roughly 10 percent of the worldwide total. Even if Americans were to buy only hybrid cars offering a 30 percent fuel saving over existing models, and none of them drove more, and there was no expansion in the U.S. vehicle fleet, this effort would result in only a 3 percent annual reduction in global gasoline use.
Conservation, however, offers no prospect of being even this effective. Most industry analysts predict a hybrid market share of less than 1 percent. At the same time, the total number of cars is increasing. Under any realistic conservation scenario, total gasoline consumption will continue to rise and the looting of our economy by oil producers will continue. Conservation through gasoline efficiency is, quite simply, a losing strategy. It is like trying to survive in a gas chamber by holding your breath. We need to break out of the gas chamber.
Today’s favorite alternatives to oil are wind, solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear power. They each have strengths and weaknesses, but the bottom line is that these are all methods of generating electricity—and electricity is far from the central issue of energy independence. The United States has plenty of coal, and if necessary could easily generate all of its electric power that way.
The key to energy independence, rather, is liquid fuel to power cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. These vehicles are not mere conveniences; they are the sinews of our economy and the fundamental instruments of our military strength. Our civilization cannot be sustained without efficient liquid fuels, and there is no foreseeable prospect whatsoever of cost effective, large-scale generation of liquid fuels from wind, solar, hydroelectric, or nuclear sources.
The energy panacea of the moment is a concept called the “hydrogen economy.” Theorists propose to transition U.S. energy usage to hydrogen—a common element which, when combined with oxygen, releases energy with only water as a waste product. With hydrogen, it is claimed, we can achieve not only energy independence but also an end to pollution and global warming at the same time. The concept is entirely fraudulent.
Hydrogen is not a source of energy. In order to be obtained, it must be made—either through the electrolysis of water, or through the breakdown of petroleum, natural gas, or coal. Either process necessarily consumes more energy than the hydrogen it produces.
When hydrogen is made by electrolysis, the process yields 85 units of hydrogen energy for every 100 units of electrical energy used to break down the water. That is 85 percent efficiency. If the hydrogen is then used in a fuel cell in an electric car, only about 55 percent of its energy value will be used; the rest is wasted to heat and so forth. The net result of these two processes: the amount of useable energy yielded by the hydrogen will be only about 47 percent as much as went into producing it in the first place. And if the hydrogen is burned in an internal combustion engine to avoid the high production costs of fuel cells, the net efficiency of this vehicle will be closer to 25 percent.
Hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons instead of water also throws away 40 to 60 percent of the total energy in the feedstock. This method actually increases the nation’s need for fossil fuels, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. While hydrogen could also be produced by nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, or wind power, the process would continue to be dragged down by the fundamental inefficiency of hydrogen production. Such power supplies could always do more to reduce fossil fuel requirements simply by sending their electric power directly to the grid.
The bottom line is that hydrogen is not a source of energy. It is a carrier of energy, and one of the least practical carriers we know of.
Consider: A standard molecular weight (or mole) of hydrogen gas, when reacted with oxygen, yields 66 watt-hours of energy. Meanwhile, a mole of methane (the primary component of natural gas) produces 218 watt-hours of energy. An equal number of moles of both can be stored in a tank of equal size and strength. Thus, a car that runs on compressed methane will be able to store more than three times the energy, and travel three times as far, as the same car running on hydrogen. In addition, the methane would be cheaper.
In short, from the point of view of production, distribution, environmental impact, and ease of use, the hydrogen economy makes no sense. Its fundamental premise is at variance with the most basic laws of physics. The charlatans who are promoting hydrogen as a solution to our energy woes are doing the nation an immense disservice.
THE ALCOHOL SOLUTION
To liberate ourselves from the threat of foreign economic domination, undercut the financiers of terror, and give ourselves the free hand necessary to deal with Middle Eastern extremists, we must devalue their resources and increase the value of our own. We can do this by taking the world off the petroleum standard and putting it on an alcohol standard.
This may sound like a huge and impossible task, but with gasoline prices well over $2 per gallon, the means to accomplish it are now at hand. Congress could make an enormous step toward American energy independence within a decade or so if it would simply pass a law stating that all new cars sold in the U.S.A. must be flexible-fuel vehicles capable of burning any combination of gasoline and alcohol. The alcohols so employed could be either methanol or ethanol.
The largest producers of both ethanol and methanol are all in the western hemisphere, with the United States having by far the greatest production potential for both. Ethanol is made from agricultural products. Methanol can also be made from biomass, as well as from natural gas or coal. American coal reserves alone are sufficient to power every car in the country on methanol for more than 500 years.
Ethanol can currently be produced for about $1.50 per gallon, and methanol is selling for $0.90 per gallon. With gasoline having roughly doubled in price recently, and with little likelihood of a substantial price retreat in the future, high alcohol-to-gasoline fuel mixtures are suddenly practical. Cars capable of burning such fuel are no futuristic dream. This year, Detroit will offer some two dozen models of standard cars with a flex-fuel option available for purchase. The engineering difference is in one sensor and a computer chip that controls the fuel-air mixture, and the employment of a corrosion-resistant fuel system. The difference in price from standard units ranges from $100 to $800.
Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) offer consumers little advantage right now, because the high-alcohol fuels which they could employ are not generally available for purchase. This is because there are so few such vehicles that it doesn’t pay gas station owners to dedicate a pump to cater to them. Were FFVs made the standard, however, the fuel they need would quickly be made available everywhere.
If all cars sold in the U.S. had to be flexible-fueled, foreign manufacturers would also mass-produce such units, creating a large market in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S. for methanol and ethanol—much of which would be produced in America. Instead of being the world’s largest fuel importer, the United
States could become the world’s largest fuel exporter. A large portion of the money now going to Arabs and Iranians would instead go to the U.S.A. and Canada, with much of the rest going to Brazil and other tropical agricultural nations. This would reverse our trade deficit, improve conditions in the Third World, and cause a global shift in world economic power in favor of the West.
By promoting agriculture, FFVs also act as global cooling agents. Plants draw CO2 out of the atmosphere. They increase water evaporation, and the water vapor thus produced transports heat from the Earth’s surface to the upper atmosphere, where most of it is released to space.
The use of alcohol also reduces air pollution. In fact, environmental advantages were the motivation for the initial development of the first FFVs in California in the 1980s. During the era of $1.50 per gallon gasoline, gasohol pleased ecological activists, but it was economically disadvantageous. Recently, however, the comparative economics of alcohol fuels and gasoline have changed radically.
Methanol can also be used as the raw material to produce dimethyl ether, a completely clean-burning diesel fuel which could be used by trucks, locomotives, and ships. Many cars could also eventually use diesel. Diesel engines are substantially more efficient than traditional internal combustion engines, and equal to anything realistically possible from far more expensive, and as yet impractical, fuel cells.
THE ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY HAVE ARRIVED—NOW FOR THE POLITICS
Two developments make a rapid transfer to high-alcohol fuels possible. One is the recent rise of gasoline prices, making methanol and ethanol economically attractive. The other is a technological innovation: the development by the Netherlands
Research Institute for Road Vehicles of a sensor capable of continuously measuring the alcohol content in mixed alcohol/gasoline fuel, and using this information to regulate the engine.
With this breakthrough, some 4.1 million vehicles were produced between 1998 and 2004 capable of handling various alcohol/ gasoline combinations. That is already five times the number of gasoline/electric hybrids on the road, and vastly increased use of such vehicles could happen overnight, for just a few hundred dollars extra per vehicle (compared to many thousands more for hybrids).
The only sticking point is the non-availability of high alcohol fuel mixes at the pump. Filling stations don’t want to dedicate space to a fuel mix used only by 1 percent of all cars. And consumers are not interested in buying vehicles for which the preferred fuel mix is unavailable.
This chicken-and-egg problem can be readily resolved by legislation. One major country has already done so. In 2003, Brazilian lawmakers mandated a transition to FFVs, with some tax incentives included to move things along. As a result, the Brazilian divisions of Fiat, Volkswagen, Ford, Renault, and GM all came out with ethanol FFV models in 2004, which took 60 percent of the country’s new vehicle sales that year. By 2007, 80 percent of all new vehicles sold in Brazil are expected to be FFVs, producing significant fuel savings to consumers, a boost to local agriculture, and a massive benefit to the country’s foreign trade balance.
ETHANOL OR METHANOL?
To date, all FFVs have been either methanol/gasoline designs or ethanol/gasoline designs. Combined methanol/ethanol/gasoline FFVs have not yet been produced. Their development poses only modest challenges, however. The question is, which alcohol would be the best one upon which to base our future alcohol-fuel economy?
Methanol is cheaper than ethanol. It can also be made from a broader variety of biomass material, as well as from coal and natural gas. And methanol is the safest motor fuel, because it is much less flammable than gasoline (a fact that has led to its adoption by car racing leagues).
On the other hand, ethanol is less chemically toxic than methanol, and it carries more energy per gallon. Ethanol contains about 75 percent of the energy of gasoline per gallon, compared to 67 percent for methanol. Both thus achieve fewer miles per gallon than gasoline, but about as many miles per dollar at current prices, and probably many more miles per dollar at future prices.
Methanol is more corrosive than ethanol. This can be dealt with by using appropriate materials in the automobile fuel system. A fuel system made acceptable for methanol use will also be fine for ethanol or pure gasoline.
Both ethanol and methanol are water soluble and biodegradable in the environment. The consequences of a spill of either would be much less than that of petroleum products. If the
Exxon Valdez had been carrying either of these fuels instead of oil, the environmental impact caused by its demise would have been negligible.
Ethanol is actually edible, whereas methanol is toxic when drunk. This difference, though, should not be overdrawn, since in an FFV economy, both would be mixed with gasoline. The breakdown products of both ethanol and methanol are much less noxious than those from petroleum, and both emit far fewer particulates when burned. Methanol, ethanol, and gasoline are about equal in the levels of nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide produced when they are burned. Since it is made exclusively from agricultural products, ethanol acts as counter to global warming. Methanol can as well, but only if its source is agricultural. Methanol produced from coal or natural gas has about the same impact on global warming as gasoline.
In short, either methanol or ethanol could be used very effectively, with roughly equal countervailing advantages. This has not stopped proponents of either fuel from vociferously arguing their unique advantage and pushing for FFVs based exclusively on their favored product. To date, the more effective faction in this debate has been the ethanol group, backed as it is by the powerful farm lobby.
Given this political support, and no decisive technical argument in favor of methanol, the question might well be asked: why not just go with the stronger side and implement an exclusively ethanol/ gasoline FFV economy? The answer has to do with the total resource base. If we want FFVs not merely to benefit farmers, but to make America energy independent, we need a larger production base than ethanol alone can deliver.
The United States uses 380 million gallons of gasoline a day. If we were to replace that entirely with ethanol we would have to harvest approximately four times as much agricultural output as we currently grow for food production. Now it is true that we don’t need to replace all of our gasoline, at least not in the short term. Replacing half would make us substantially energy independent. Furthermore, future processes might eventually wring out higher ethanol yields per acre. Surplus ethanol from Brazil or other tropical nations could also be imported. Nonetheless, relying on ethanol alone would require putting under fresh cultivation an amount of land greater than what we now use for food production. This would cause many strains.
So if we are to use alcohol fuels to achieve energy independence, a broader resource base is needed. This can be provided by methanol, which can come from both a broader array of biomass materials and also from coal and natural gas. Methanol production from coal is particularly important, since coal is America’s, and the world’s, cheapest and most prevalent energy resource. The United States could power its entire economy on coal for centuries, and large reserves also exist in allied countries. Current coal prices stand in the range of three cents a kilogram, much cheaper than agricultural products, so methanol can be made from coal at low cost. By mixing it at various rates with ethanol over time, we can increase supplies, reduce prices, maximize environmental benefits, and vastly increase the flexibility of our alcohol economy. Insisting that future vehicles have the capability to burn both alcohols is thus critical.
Even with methanol in the mix, the shifting of the world from a petroleum to an alcohol standard would remain a great boon to farmers. Third World farmers as much as American growers would enjoy the benefits—not only from a vastly increased market for their products, but also from the collapse of petroleum prices (which currently threaten crushing fertilizer and tractor fuel prices). This adds a strong humanitarian case for the transition to flexible fuels.
By providing Third World populations with an extensive source of income, the alcohol economy would also give them the wherewithal to buy manufactured products from developed nations. We would end up selling far more tractors, harvesters, and hybrid seeds to Africans, for instance. That would improve economic outcomes for all nations.
THE MEGA FIX FOR WHAT AILS US
Energy conservation offers only a strained strategy for enduring economic oppression with very slightly ameliorated pain. Today’s petroleum monopolists would still ultimately have us over a barrel. The ballyhooed hydrogen economy, meanwhile, is a hoax.
If we are to win the critical energy battle, there is only one way to do it. We must take ourselves, and the rest of the world, off the petroleum standard. Only by doing this can we destroy the economic power of our enemies at the very foundations. Only in this way can we transfer control of the future from those who take their wealth, pre-made, from the ground (and therefore have no need for education or freedom), to those who make their wealth through hard work, skill, and creativity (who thus must build free societies which maximize the human potential
of every citizen).
Our nation’s founders stipulated that the purpose of our government is to provide for our defense, promote our welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. In our current economic and military dilemma, decisive action for energy independence is one of the most dramatic steps we could take to achieve those ends. Congress should immediately require that all future vehicles sold in the U.S.A. be flexible-fueled, thereby launching us into an alcohol-energy future that holds promise like few other options within our grasp.
Dr. Robert Zubrin, president of the aerospace engineering and research firm Pioneer Astronautics, wrote The Case for Mars, and other books.
Published in Leaving Iraq: The Right End Game March 2006
Anybody know if....
It's cheaper to turn oil shale into oil or into ethanol/other fuels using FFI process?
Heavy end-of-day volume
05/02/06 15:59:39 1.530 1.530 1.530 2,500
05/02/06 15:58:09 1.510 1.500 1.500 11,000
05/02/06 15:56:39 1.530 1.490 1.500 76,500
05/02/06 15:55:09 1.515 1.490 1.515 14,400
05/02/06 15:53:39 1.550 1.510 1.550 46,900
05/02/06 15:52:09 1.550 1.545 1.545 95,500
05/02/06 15:50:39 1.550 1.500 1.500 99,500
05/02/06 15:49:09 1.509 1.490 1.490 76,900
05/02/06 15:47:39 1.490 1.460 1.470 40,000
05/02/06 15:46:09 1.470 1.450 1.450 14,600
05/02/06 15:44:39 1.450 1.440 1.450 22,800
05/02/06 15:37:09 1.450 1.430 1.430 20,600
05/02/06 15:35:39 1.440 1.430 1.430 14,600
05/02/06 15:34:09 1.430 1.430 1.430 9,400
05/02/06 15:32:39 1.440 1.440 1.440 600
05/02/06 15:31:09 1.440 1.440 1.440 400
05/02/06 15:29:39 1.440 1.430 1.440 5,100
05/02/06 15:28:09 1.450 1.440 1.450 2,800
05/02/06 15:26:39 1.450 1.440 1.440 28,000
05/02/06 15:25:09 1.460 1.440 1.450 19,000
05/02/06 15:23:39 1.460 1.450 1.450 25,500
05/02/06 15:22:09 1.450 1.440 1.440 14,200
05/02/06 15:20:40 1.430 1.400 1.400 36,100
05/02/06 15:19:10 1.420 1.420 1.420 5,100
05/02/06 15:17:40 1.420 1.420 1.420 2,500
05/02/06 15:16:10 1.410 1.410 1.410 5,000
05/02/06 15:14:40 1.420 1.418 1.420 8,300
05/02/06 15:11:40 1.420 1.400 1.420 8,000
05/02/06 15:10:10 1.420 1.400 1.410 16,500
05/02/06 15:08:40 1.410 1.400 1.410 8,600
05/02/06 15:02:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 15,000
05/02/06 14:59:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 100
05/02/06 14:58:10 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,000
05/02/06 14:53:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 5,000
05/02/06 14:52:10 1.400 1.400 1.400 9,500
05/02/06 14:50:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 5,500
05/02/06 14:49:10 1.410 1.410 1.410 900
05/02/06 14:47:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 20,300
05/02/06 14:46:10 1.400 1.400 1.400 3,800
05/02/06 14:44:40 1.410 1.400 1.410 7,600
05/02/06 14:41:40 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,000
05/02/06 14:40:10 1.410 1.400 1.410 4,300
05/02/06 14:38:40 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,300
05/02/06 14:37:10 1.420 1.420 1.420 1,100
05/02/06 14:35:40 1.410 1.410 1.410 100
05/02/06 14:34:10 1.410 1.410 1.410 5,000
05/02/06 14:25:11 1.420 1.420 1.420 900
05/02/06 14:22:11 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,700
05/02/06 14:17:41 1.410 1.410 1.410 800
05/02/06 14:14:41 1.420 1.420 1.420 1,000
05/02/06 14:10:11 1.420 1.410 1.420 3,400
05/02/06 14:08:41 1.420 1.420 1.420 3,600
05/02/06 14:07:11 1.420 1.410 1.410 3,700
05/02/06 14:05:41 1.410 1.410 1.410 100
05/02/06 14:02:41 1.420 1.420 1.420 500
05/02/06 14:01:11 1.420 1.400 1.410 6,600
05/02/06 13:59:41 1.410 1.400 1.410 13,500
05/02/06 13:58:11 1.410 1.410 1.410 100
05/02/06 13:56:41 1.410 1.400 1.400 4,000
05/02/06 13:55:11 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,000
05/02/06 13:53:41 1.400 1.400 1.400 2,000
05/02/06 13:47:41 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,500
05/02/06 13:43:12 1.410 1.410 1.410 4,000
05/02/06 13:40:12 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,000
05/02/06 13:31:12 1.400 1.400 1.400 500
05/02/06 13:29:42 1.400 1.400 1.400 800
05/02/06 13:22:12 1.400 1.400 1.400 500
05/02/06 13:17:42 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,500
05/02/06 13:11:42 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,900
05/02/06 13:08:42 1.410 1.410 1.410 800
05/02/06 13:02:42 1.410 1.410 1.410 900
05/02/06 12:56:43 1.410 1.410 1.410 3,000
05/02/06 12:55:13 1.400 1.400 1.400 6,000
05/02/06 12:53:43 1.400 1.400 1.400 6,000
05/02/06 12:52:13 1.410 1.400 1.410 2,000
05/02/06 12:50:43 1.400 1.400 1.400 6,000
05/02/06 12:49:13 1.410 1.400 1.400 7,500
05/02/06 12:47:43 1.400 1.400 1.400 6,000
05/02/06 12:44:43 1.400 1.400 1.400 14,800
05/02/06 12:40:13 1.400 1.400 1.400 600
05/02/06 12:34:13 1.400 1.400 1.400 6,400
05/02/06 12:32:43 1.410 1.400 1.400 8,000
05/02/06 12:31:13 1.400 1.400 1.400 400
05/02/06 12:20:43 1.410 1.410 1.410 1,000
05/02/06 12:11:44 1.400 1.400 1.400 12,500
05/02/06 12:10:14 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,000
05/02/06 12:08:44 1.400 1.400 1.400 9,000
05/02/06 12:07:14 1.410 1.410 1.410 300
05/02/06 12:05:44 1.410 1.410 1.410 700
05/02/06 12:02:44 1.410 1.400 1.400 6,100
05/02/06 11:56:44 1.400 1.400 1.400 3,600
05/02/06 11:53:44 1.400 1.400 1.400 3,000
05/02/06 11:50:44 1.410 1.410 1.410 300
05/02/06 11:46:14 1.420 1.420 1.420 200
05/02/06 11:44:44 1.420 1.420 1.420 500
05/02/06 11:38:44 1.425 1.410 1.410 2,200
05/02/06 11:37:14 1.420 1.410 1.420 9,000
05/02/06 11:32:44 1.430 1.430 1.430 11,500
05/02/06 11:31:14 1.430 1.425 1.430 15,400
05/02/06 11:26:45 1.420 1.410 1.410 2,500
05/02/06 11:25:15 1.420 1.400 1.400 11,700
05/02/06 11:23:45 1.400 1.400 1.400 800
05/02/06 11:22:15 1.410 1.400 1.405 11,700
05/02/06 11:20:45 1.410 1.400 1.400 7,500
05/02/06 11:19:15 1.400 1.400 1.400 8,500
05/02/06 11:17:45 1.400 1.390 1.400 10,400
05/02/06 11:16:15 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,900
05/02/06 11:14:45 1.400 1.400 1.400 400
05/02/06 11:10:15 1.410 1.400 1.410 5,900
05/02/06 11:08:45 1.410 1.410 1.410 300
05/02/06 11:07:15 1.410 1.400 1.400 6,500
05/02/06 11:05:45 1.410 1.400 1.410 4,500
05/02/06 11:04:15 1.420 1.410 1.420 6,000
05/02/06 11:02:45 1.420 1.420 1.420 1,800
05/02/06 10:55:15 1.420 1.420 1.420 9,500
05/02/06 10:50:45 1.430 1.430 1.430 2,500
05/02/06 10:47:45 1.430 1.420 1.430 6,000
05/02/06 10:46:15 1.430 1.430 1.430 13,000
05/02/06 10:44:45 1.430 1.420 1.420 1,300
05/02/06 10:37:16 1.440 1.440 1.440 600
05/02/06 10:35:46 1.440 1.440 1.440 600
05/02/06 10:34:16 1.440 1.440 1.440 2,000
05/02/06 10:31:16 1.440 1.440 1.440 1,000
05/02/06 10:26:46 1.425 1.425 1.425 500
05/02/06 10:23:46 1.450 1.430 1.430 6,400
05/02/06 10:22:16 1.400 1.390 1.390 3,500
05/02/06 10:20:46 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,400
05/02/06 10:19:16 1.390 1.390 1.390 500
05/02/06 10:17:46 1.370 1.360 1.360 8,500
05/02/06 10:16:16 1.370 1.360 1.370 16,300
05/02/06 10:07:16 1.400 1.400 1.400 2,000
05/02/06 10:05:46 1.410 1.400 1.410 6,000
05/02/06 10:04:16 1.400 1.400 1.400 500
05/02/06 10:02:46 1.420 1.400 1.420 8,900
05/02/06 09:59:46 1.400 1.390 1.390 5,000
05/02/06 09:56:46 1.400 1.390 1.400 5,000
05/02/06 09:50:47 1.400 1.390 1.390 5,800
05/02/06 09:49:17 1.380 1.350 1.370 7,900
05/02/06 09:47:47 1.370 1.350 1.360 3,400
05/02/06 09:46:17 1.350 1.350 1.350 6,500
05/02/06 09:44:47 1.370 1.350 1.370 7,500
05/02/06 09:41:47 1.390 1.390 1.390 700
05/02/06 09:40:17 1.400 1.400 1.400 1,000
05/02/06 09:37:17 1.430 1.410 1.420 2,500
05/02/06 09:35:47 1.430 1.410 1.430 5,600
05/02/06 09:34:17 1.430 1.400 1.410 9,000
05/02/06 09:32:47 1.450 1.410 1.450 37,000
05/02/06 09:31:17 1.450 1.440 1.450 67,500
05/02/06 09:29:47 1.450 1.430 1.440 48,400
05/02/06 09:28:17 1.440 1.440 1.440 7,000
05/02/06 09:26:47 1.430 1.430 1.430 5,000
05/02/06 09:25:17 1.420 1.420 1.420 5,000
05/02/06 09:23:47 1.420 1.410 1.410 3,000
05/02/06 09:22:17 1.400 1.400 1.400 4,000
05/02/06 09:20:47 1.400 1.380 1.380 3,500
05/02/06 09:19:17 1.380 1.370 1.370 4,000
05/02/06 09:11:47 1.360 1.360 1.360 1,000
05/02/06 09:08:47 1.340 1.340 1.340 1,500
Ethanol Demand Lifts ADM 3Q Profit 29 Pct.
DECATUR, Ill. (AP) -- Archer Daniels Midland Co., one of the world's largest agriculture processors, said Tuesday its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 29 percent, driven by an increase in demand for processed oilseeds and corn byproducts such as ethanol.
Net income jumped to $347.8 million, or 53 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31 well ahead of the 46 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial. A year ago, earnings were $269.1 million, or 41 cents per share, including a gain of $74 million, or 11 cents per share, related to the sale of an equity stake.
Sales climbed 8 percent to $9.12 billion from $8.48 billion last year. Wall Street expected $8.67 billion.
Operating profit jumped 46 percent to $549 million. Profit from oilseeds - or any number of seeds such as rapeseed and cottonseed that can be processed to produce vegetable oil - nearly tripled to $177 million.
ADM shares rose 65 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $38.65 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is near the upper end of its 52-week range of $18 and $39.01.
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Ethanol all over the news channels this weekend
We certainly are in a hot sector, if not THE hot sector right now.
Biotech company targets New England to launch ethanol production
By Mark Jewell, AP Business Writer | April 28, 2006
BOSTON --New England is a long way from the hub of the nation's ethanol production in the Corn Belt, but a fledgling maker of the clean-burning fuel additive sees the nation's northeastern corner as fertile ground for its expansion plans.
Xethanol Corp. said Friday it hopes to use some of the $34 million it recently raised from investors to convert abandoned industrial plants in New England into small-scale factories. The plants would be among the first ethanol production sites on the East Coast, and would supplement two existing Xethanol plants in the Iowa towns of Blairstown and Hopkinton.
Despite rising oil prices that have boosted prospects for alternative fuels, observers say Xethanol faces many economic hurdles in competing with bigger ethanol projects in the Midwest. The six-year-old company, which has yet to make a profit, also faces technical challenges with its relatively untested approach of converting industrial and food processing wastes, rather than corn, into ethanol.
"There are no large-scale plants yet using that technology," said Spencer Kelly, an ethanol analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in Rockville, Md. "The promise is usually more than can be delivered."
But Xethanol says its proprietary technologies to convert organic materials ranging from sawmill waste to stale butterscotch candy will make it unnecessary to ship corn from the Midwest to make ethanol, as developers of some other proposed East Coast projects envision.
Ethanol plants in New England would cut transportation costs by bringing production closer to refineries serving the densely populated Northeast, said Christopher d'Arnaud-Taylor, chairman and CEO of New York-based Xethanol. The company also hopes to keep its plants close to the sources of the materials it converts into ethanol, by locating near sawmills in places like timber-rich Maine, or near food processors.
"The advantage for us and for all of New England is geographic proximity," d'Arnaud-Taylor said in a phone interview. "The East Coast is our primary focus. It's probably the country's largest center for ethanol demand, but it doesn't have any ethanol production facilities."
The Midwest's ethanol industry is focusing much of its current investment on big new production plants. But d'Arnaud-Taylor expects his plans to turn old factories into small-scale plants will ease zoning approval and yield short project startup timelines.
The company's first project in the South -- where Xethanol recently announced its initial East Coast expansion plans -- involves converting an old paint factory in Savannah, Ga.
In New England, Xethanol hopes to convert such materials as sludge from beer breweries, pulp from paper recycling, and homeowners' grass clippings diverted from landfills. The company says it can even make ethanol from sugary leftovers from candy factories by mixing the sweets with special yeast.
D'Arnaud-Taylor offered few specific plans in New England, saying the company hopes to open several plants throughout the region, starting in Connecticut. The company has a partnership with Global Energy Management, a newly formed Westbrook, Conn.-based firm whose three principal officers have political and business development ties in the state.
Xethanol announced April 17 that it had raised about $34 million from wealthy private investors and sales of its stock, which has doubled in value over the past month. But the company reported an $11.4 million loss last year on sales of just $4.3 million.
Kelly, the ethanol analyst, said Xethanol's New England plans "are ambitious, and in line with a long list of ambitious pronouncements from the company that have yet to take shape."
Gregory McCrae, a chemical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Eastern ethanol projects face several barriers that don't exist in the corn-rich Midwest, particularly if the projects rely on sources other than corn.
Industrial processes to convert corn into ethanol are far more refined and efficient than they are for alternative sources, McRae said.
But Jeremy Johnson, an MIT graduate student writing a thesis on ethanol, said converting waste products rather than growing corn to make ethanol could prove economically viable and environmentally sound once technologies are refined.
"In the long run, there is significant potential," Johnson said.
The ethanol project that's believed to be closest to fruition in the Northeast is Northeast Biofuels' plan to convert a former Miller Brewing plant in Fulton, N.Y. The project aims to begin producing corn-based ethanol by 2008.
How America's foes have us "over a barrel" — of oil
By David Wood
Do you need a better reason to support companies like NSOL/FFI??????
WASHINGTON —
If Iran succeeds in building nuclear weapons, it will be paid for in part by American drivers.
With oil prices and global oil consumption at near-record levels, the radical Islamist government in Tehran is raking in more than $68.4 billion a year in oil revenues, helping it finance its nuclear program and underwrite terrorist operations against American soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere across the Middle East.
And with global oil markets sucked dry of excess by growing consumption worldwide, even a small disruption in the flow of oil would drive prices through the roof and stagger the world's economies.
The United States does not buy oil directly from Iran. But the disappearance of Iran's 2.5 million barrels per day from the world's oil markets would be felt acutely in the United States, probably costing 1 million jobs, according to Orde Kittrie, a former State Department official who teaches economics and international law at Arizona State University.
"America's enemies literally have us over a barrel," he says.
America's unchecked appetite for oil is seriously jeopardizing U.S. security, despite the billions of dollars the U.S. spends to safeguard steady access to cheap oil.
Americans spend $1 billion every weekday on imported oil. Many of those dollars are used to frustrate critical U.S. diplomatic goals, underwrite terrorist organizations and finance jihadist movements in the Middle East and southern Asia.
America's demand for oil makes it rely on such U.S. antagonists as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and leaves the U.S. economy vulnerable to terrorist attacks on oil facilities — such as have recently occurred in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia — that disrupt supply and send prices skyward.
"These countries know we need their oil, and that reduces our influence, our ability to keep the peace in some areas," Bush said in a speech to the Renewable Fuels Association on Tuesday. "And so energy supply is a matter of national security. It's also a matter of economic security."
With intensifying international demand for oil — especially in China and India — Americans have little choice about where their oil comes from. Galloping increases in global consumption are running ahead of conventional production. So far, the gap is being filled with more costly oil production from shale and coal, for instance.
The tight oil markets have little excess to absorb even temporary disruptions in supply, petroleum experts say. Though the United States currently has a near-record inventory of crude oil on hand, that's a mere three-day supply.
In a recent study of oil markets at Stanford University, experts concluded there is an 80 percent chance of a significant oil shock within a decade, spreading recession and unemployment across the nation. A prolonged disruption of the West's oil supplies is a key goal of al-Qaida, according to manifestos from Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Just two months ago, al-Qaida terrorists struck at the world's largest oil-processing facility at Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia.
The attack failed, but "Saudi oil production remains extremely vulnerable to sabotage," said Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonprofit think tank.
Even a minor attack could have major impact. Massive oil tankers, which navigate narrow channels like the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca on the main shipping route between the Indian and Pacific oceans "are vulnerable to small, fast boats," Henderson said. "Any serious damage would send panic around the world even if the physical disruption to supplies is small."
Experts say that within the context of what Americans really pay for oil, significant new investments in alternatives begin to make sense.
One recent study by the National Defense Council Foundation, a nonprofit think tank in Alexandria, Va., estimated that Americans pay $8.36 per gallon, far more than the actual pump price of gasoline, for such indirect costs as maintaining a military capability to keep oil flowing from the Persian Gulf and the opportunity costs of sending money to foreign suppliers rather than spending it at home.
The United States maintains a naval fleet in the Persian Gulf for oil security and has based troops there since the 1980s, a major presence cited by bin Laden as evidence of the United States' "crusade" against Islam.
The war in Iraq is often justified by U.S. officials as necessary for stability in the region. This year the war will cost $9.8 billion a month, according to the Congressional Research Service.
"These hidden costs are an enormous economic drain on the economy," said Milt Copulos, president of the National Defense Council Foundation.
But given some government help, ethanol production in the United States has a bright future, say experts like former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Woolsey, who tools around Washington in a hybrid gas-electric Toyota Prius, says using cellulosic ethanol made from cheap plains grasses rather than corn could bring the cost of driving down to 50 or 60 cents a gallon.
Other steps might include a tax on gasoline to dampen consumption, or a dramatic increase in fuel efficiency standards for American automakers.
It may be BS but...
It sure called it right on its last call...
The previous SELL recommendation was issued on 04.13.2006 (15) days ago, when the stock price was 2.1000. Since then NSOL has fallen -36.67% .
The last two candlesticks formed a Bullish Engulfing Pattern . This is a bullish reversal pattern that marks a potential change in trend. However, its reliability is not very high and it requires confirmation.
Doug Durante , CFDC’s Executive Director
This guy is no light-weight. Glad he's working with FFI.
National Ethanol Conference Comes to Nebraska
Press Release
The Clean Fuels Development Coalition, a Washington D.C. based coalition of ethanol companies, biofuel technology firms and agri-ethanol organizations, announced today that a national ethanol marketing conference will be held in Omaha on May 11 and 12. The conference, entitled U.S. Ethanol Markets: Opportunities and Challenges in 2006 and Beyond will bring together the nation’s ethanol producers, marketers, transporters and end users.
Doug Durante , CFDC’s Executive Director, said the conference is especially timely given the dramatic growth of ethanol markets across the country. “Record gas prices, clean fuel programs and growing concerns over petroleum imports and energy security are driving unprecedented demand for ethanol ,” he said. “ Nebraska is the heartland of the ethanol industry and a perfect location to gather and assess these trends in the marketplace.” The conference will provide a forum for interaction between industry experts and attendees. Topics are organized to address marketing challenges and opportunities.
Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board and the newly elected chairman of CFDC, said Omaha was chosen as the site for the conference, in part, because of it’s central location and the phenomenal pace of plant construction in the area. For several years, Nebraska has ranked third among ethanol producing states. “With several plants expanding capacity, eight new facilities under construction and twenty more under consideration, the state will soon pass Illinois to rank second,” according to Sneller. Ethanol production in Nebraska will top one billion gallons in 2007.
Other conference sponsors include the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, Ethanol Across America, the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition and the Nebraska Ethanol Board. For details about the conference, visit www.ne-ethanol.org.
Thanks Top,
I do believe theres lots going on that will have to be released soon, including more about nuclear bomb detection.
Lets hope to see it reflected in the price!
Hi Splendid,
Yes, buy on low volume, not high volume. I now wish I followed that rule...lol
Notice this stock tends to shoot up when it reverses.
I expect that trend to continue as well.
I believe in this company
but the continued price drops are starting to question my sanity.
Anybody got some encouraging words?
thanks
Openwave
That's some investment you made yesterday.
As they say...Money talks and BS walks
Good luck to you and the rest of us.
The United States is often called the Saudi Arabia of coal.
niceeeeeee
No CO2 + low cost producer
Could it get any better?????
I should have warned everyone...I bought yesterday and it dropped right after that...lol
I promise I wont buy today!
Just added my last batch
Anybody count the number of times Bush said "ethanol" in his speech today?
Got to love it!
GLTA
Thats exactly my point
If you can detect a nuclear weapon with this technology, it begs the question what else you can do, doesn't it?
Its all about resolution and selectivity
This obviously suggests that the inventor anticipates deployment of these instruments in aircraft.
Holy #@#@#@
A lot more than nuclear weapons can be detected if this is true.
Think natural resources
A few weeks ago I would have been real happy with the price where it is now...what a mind game this is!
Looks like "it" has become an expert on density.
"It" puzzles me, if "it" is so smart, why doesn't "it" patent some technology or start "its" own company?
Posting seems like such a waste of talent for "it"
seems bashing is so much easier than creating something new, isn't IT?
I think I will grab some beer and pizza and watch TV the rest of the night...so much easier than trying to make a difference
Anyone in need of some comic relief?
I googled Jonathan Kolber and found this dated info...
The Emerging Capital Report: This Russian Genius Is Working for NO Salary...
A Russian genius risks his life to defect to America. When he arrives, he quickly creates a multimillion dollar company and "retires" to the good life. But he's not suited to retirement and gets restless. Then he discovers this amazing, unknown little company working on his particular field of expertise - nuclear physics. After analyzing the company, he insists on joining the staff...for no salary!
All he asks is to be paid with shares of this small company. The company is working on not one, but three separate businesses, each one with a potential for raking in billions of dollars. He immediately sees that this tiny company has revolutionary technology that can, with his help, force the company to explode up to 10, 20, 50 or Even 100 Times in Value Within the Next Few Years!
The Emerging Capital Report: Approached by a Movie Director to Tell His Story
His story is so incredible he has been approached by a movie director to do a documentary film on his life.
By the way, the company has already multiplied more than 4 times in value in the last few months (since he joined the staff), and it is only just begun to exploit the company's proprietary technology.
This Russian mega-brain has never failed in getting patents for his ingenious inventions, and every single one of them has made money. With over two dozen U.S. and international patents, this is an almost unbelievable success rate!
With a "4 times your money" gain already made in the last few months, this train has already left the station. But it's still not too late to get on board. We're looking at a potential here of at least 50 times your money. Just think, at that rate, a mere $1,000 could become $50,000!
The Emerging Capital Report: Making Billions by Stopping Osama bin Laden's Plans in Their Tracks
When the former Soviet Union dissolved, a distressing situation was discovered.
Seems that several hundred nuclear warheads "disappeared." And some of these were "suitcase nukes," able to be transported by hand across national borders. An anti-terrorism nightmare, to say the least.
Fortunately, this tiny company has developed technology to stop this situation cold.
It's developed a suitcase nuke "sniffer" device that detects nuclear material, even through lead shields!
The value of this technology is obviously worth billions, not even thinking about the hundreds of thousands of human lives protected in keeping these bombs from entering our borders.
The company just received the highest-level security review from the U.S government for a new patent as these words are being written. A mega-deal with the U.S. government could turn the early informed into millionaires overnight.
The Emerging Capital Report: Creating Wealth by Solving the U.S. Government's Embarrassing $60-Billion Problem
The U.S. government has an enormous, embarrassing problem.
Over decades of nuclear power plant operation, billions of gallons of radioactive water have been accumulated and must somehow be disposed of.
The problem?
The radioactive ingredient in the water decays over time. But it takes a mere 100 years to do so. The only present solution is to find safe storage for this radioactive water, for 100 years.
This has led to the "Mother of All NIMBY" (Not In My Backyard!) problems. Understandably so, no region in America wants to allow storage of this toxic waste water anywhere near it.
And it gets worse.
Many of the storage tanks holding this toxic water are starting to leak into the groundwater of several American communities, contaminating drinking water. Even whole rivers and aquifers are at risk.
Obviously, this problem must be solved quickly. But all alternative processes other than simple storage of the water have either been ineffective or cost prohibitive.
This tiny company may have the $60-billion solution. You see, it has developed a process to separate the good water from the bad water. This process would save the Department of Energy many, many billions of dollars in storage costs.
Our "inside expert" (we'll introduce him in a moment) learned from the nuclear industry's top consultant that the DOE is ready to award a contract paying $6-10 a gallon to process the water. With 6 billion gallons of the toxic water in storage, this contract could potentially be worth up to $60 billion.
Since this company has the only solution that makes economic sense to the DOE, it should be the major player to land that contract. When that happens, we predict the company's stock will leap skyward in a few days, easily making many early investors wealthy in the process.
Published patent relates to change of gravity
NSOL's technology...
"The nuclear detection technology is based on gravimetric sensing techniques, detecting the presence of Plutonium-239 and Uranium-235 by responding to minute gravitational gradient anomalies produced by these high-density nuclear materials used to make weapons. Typically, detecting shielded nuclear materials relies on ultra-sensitive radiation detectors, yet the radiation emitted by plutonium and uranium is relatively low and easily shielded, making signature threat detection and acquisition virtually impossible. These gravitational anomalies cannot be readily shielded."
Press Release on nuclear weapon detection due???
"Just as important, Nuclear Solutions' domestic patent applications for its shielded nuclear weapon and materials detection system are expected to be published in April 2006 when their 18-month period expires. Nuclear Solutions and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are in discussions regarding the possibility of proof testing the prototype for the nuclear weapon and materials detector when completed."
from http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/060215/94162.html
curiosity on RB found the following published patent today
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FP...
Njguy I appreciate your insights, especially since you've obviously been a long term NSOL stock holder.