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Dustin Dwyer · One More Thing About Ethanol
April 11th, 2012
The price spread between gasoline and ethanol. Credit: Reuters
Today, I reported that ethanol, despite losing its hype, is bigger than ever in the U.S.
The chart above, from Reuters, shows one more reason people in the ethanol industry are optimistic. The chart shows the price difference between gasoline and ethanol. And, right now, according to Reuters, gas prices are at an all-time high compared to ethanol. A gallon of the biofuel is more than a dollar cheaper than gasoline.
Craig Hoppen, the president of J&H Oil Co. in West Michigan told me that this margin makes a big difference when people decide whether to pump E-85.
“Lately, as gas prices went up, we’ve sold a lot more [E-85], because it’s very price competitive today,” Hoppen said. “When the margin goes down … the volume drops accordingly.”
Hoppen says as of this month, E-85 sales are up about 50 percent at J&H Oil’s filling stations.
But still, E-85 only makes up about 1 percent of total sales. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that there were only about half a million E-85 capable vehicles on the road as of 2009.
That’s why the ethanol industry isn’t counting too much on E-85 for the future of the fuel.
CoolCleveland Blog » biztech · VIDEOS: Cleveland Explodes With Rock Hall Induction Week
April 11th, 2012
Posted in AudioBizTechCivic AffairsCommentaryCultureEducationHistoryHotMusic: PopularNewNewsOpeningPreviewReviewShopLOCALThomas MulreadyUncategorizedVideo
The Rock and Roll Capitol is red hot this week. And it’s no wonder — Cleveland is hosting a barrage of cool music events culminating in the 27th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sat 4/14. Don’t have tickets to anything? Don’t fret — we’re on the ground covering all the [...]Dustin Dwyer · Midwest Memo: Gas Fuels Manufacturing Jobs, Preschool Gets Cut And Blagojevich’s Fiscal Legacy
April 11th, 2012
Gassed up The New York Times reports that the boom in natural gas in the United States could lead to a ‘Manufacturing Renaissance’ in the country. The natural gas expansion is due mainly to the new, controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “tracking.”
Preschool not a priority Ohio saw a big drop in public preschool enrollment over the past decade, and no other state cut more money from its preschool program during that time, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The numbers come from a report by the National Institute for Early Education Research. The report also has some negative news for Indiana and Illinois.
Still feeling it Forbes takes a look at the Rod Blagojevich legacy on fiscal issues in Ilinois, and tells the story of how the former governor could be to blame for a proposed rate hike from the Chicago Transit Authority.
Arsenal of research The U.S. Army is opening a new $60 million lab in the Detroit suburb of Warren. WDIV TV takes a tour of the new facility.
Nom nom nom Wisconsin will get three new cheese plants.
Dustin Dwyer · Don’t Call It A Comeback: Ethanol Is Bigger Than Ever
April 11th, 2012
The Carbon Green BioEnergy Refinery in Lake Odessa, Mich. Photo courtesy of Carbon Green BioEnergy
The ethanol refinery for Carbon Green Bioenergy rises up out of the cornfields outside Lake Odessa Michigan.
The refinery was built in 2006. Mitch Miller, the CEO of the company, says a lot of refineries were popping up then.
“Five years ago, ethanol was a craze,” he says. “It was the next best thing.”
Now, not so much. Refineries aren’t being built. Politicians aren’t stopping by with platoons of reporters.
Seriously, when is the last time you heard anyone talk about ethanol?
Here’s the crazy thing though: When the ethanol hype went away, the ethanol industry got bigger than ever.
Miller leads me on a tour of the refinery, pointing out a storage bin as big as an office building. From there, the corn is broken down, starch turns into sugar, and well, the very simple version is that it’s basically like distilling moonshine. Chemically-precise, 200 proof moonshine.
Inside another massive room, there’s a dryer – just like your clothes dryer, except that it’s big enough to drive a truck through. The dryer is used to prepare the leftover corn mash for animal feed.
Miller says there’s plenty of demand to keep this massive plant busy.
“This was built as a 40 million gallon plant,” he says. “We’re running at 50 million gallons per year. So we have not reduced capacity at all.”
If you still have any doubt about how big ethanol has gotten, consider that last year, for the first time ever, more corn in this country was used to make ethanol than to make livestock feed.
“Ten years ago, we were using about eight times as much corn to feed livestock and poultry as we were to make ethanol,” says University of Missouri agricultural economist Ron Plain. “And now we’re using more corn to make ethanol. So it’s a dramatic change.”
Five years ago, the federal government projected that in 2012, ethanol production would reach 11.2 billion gallons, and it would use up 30 percent of the nation’s corn supply. The actual numbers last year were 13.9 billion gallons, and 40 percent of the corn supply.
Ethanol exceeded expectations by a long shot.
But it didn’t happen because of E-85, the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline that starred in political speeches and TV commercials. It happened because ethanol makes up about 10 percent of almost every gallon of gasoline sold in this country. You use it every time you fill up your tank.
Ethanol advocates hope the next step is a 15 percent blend, known as E-15. The EPA already approved it for use in all vehicles built after 2001.
E-15 faces some challenges though.
“I’m a pro-ethanol guy,” says Craig Hoppen, president of J&H Oil Co., a company that owns 36 filling stations in West Michigan.
But Hoppen says, he doesn’t think E-15 will make a huge dent in the market anytime soon. He says most gas station owners will put E-15 in more expensive, specialized pumps, like they do for E-85. And that will keep it from growing, like it did for E-85.
“It’s a higher number today than it was then.” Hoppen says of ethanol. “Is it a real up-and-coming business? No, no, it’s still a niche business.”
Plenty of people will be happy if ethanol stops growing. Many environmentalists say ethanol isn’t much cleaner than gasoline, when you consider what it takes to raise corn. And livestock farmers aren’t happy that corn prices have almost tripled in the past six years, which has made feed more expensive for them.
Hopes that corn stalks, or switchgrass, could replace corn as the feedstock for ethanol have mostly come up empty.
So for now, ethanol will continue to be made from corn. And maybe the biggest expansions in the industry are behind us. Then again, ethanol projections have been wrong before.
CoolCleveland Blog » biztech · DIY Urbanism Competition Call for Artists & Designers
April 11th, 2012
The Pop UP Pearl 2012 DIY Urbanism Competition is looking for artists and designers! Think you can come up with a creative way to re-use parking spaces in Old Brooklyn? Then join the competition.
The scoop: “The goal for the DIY Urbanism Design Competition is to support concepts for temporary urban projects for public spaces, specifically [...] Meg Cramer · It’s Tax Season, Let’s Talk About Money And Your Future
April 10th, 2012
Changing Gears is collecting stories about how people are planning ahead in a tough economy, and we’d like your help. What’s on your mind as you plan for what comes next?
Tax forms shelved at a US Post Office. Credit: stevendepolo / Flikr
You can follow this link to share your thoughts.
We want to hear from you – whether you’re planning for retirement, saving for a home, sending kids to college, or just starting a career. If you’re retired, have you had to make some adjustments?
Are things different from what you expected? Tell us what kinds of choices you’re making.
Micki Maynard · Santorum Out, Michigan-Born Romney Heads For Nomination
April 10th, 2012
Before this campaign season, many voters in the Great Lakes had only peripherally heard of Rick Santorum. But his surprisingly strong challenge to Mitt Romney in Midwest Republican primaries most likely kept his campaign alive. 
Now, Santorum is suspending his race for the Republican nomination, effective today.
That most likely clears the way for Romney to become the first Michigan-born Republican nominee since Thomas Dewey. Romney, who hails from Detroit, is likely to face President Barack Obama in the fall.
“This race was as improbable as any you’ll ever see for president,” Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, said this afternoon. But, he added, “We are not done fighting.”
Santorum achieved one distinction during this winter’s primaries, by becoming the only Republican candidate to visit Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He had a pasty for breakfast and picked up nearly all the UP’s delegates.
Read Changing Gears’ coverage of the Midwest Republican primaries here.
Micki Maynard · Glosowac Na Najlepszy Zespol Polka! (*Translation Below)
April 10th, 2012
The Midwest is home to tens of thousands of Polish-Americans. Now, here’s your chance to take part in a great Detroit tradition: Polish American Night at Comerica Park. 
The Detroit Tigers are giving their Facebook fans the chance to vote for the polka band that will perform on Friday evening, June 1.
(Or basically, what our headline says.)
You can see videos and vote for these five polka masters: The Natural Tones; The Kielbasa Kings; The Big Daddy Orchestra; The Misty Blues and The Steve Drzewicki Band.
If you think Polish American Night is retro, we went to the Chicago White Sox version last season, and it was delightful. Great music, a festive atmosphere, and lessons in Polish baseball history. (We had no idea Stan Musial is Polish.)
Our favorite polka band isn’t among the choices, but put on your dancing shoes and enjoy The Brave Combo.
Micki Maynard · Chicago Finally Gets A Longer School Day
April 10th, 2012
Chicago has been notorious in the education community for one thing: its short school day. Elementary school students spend only five hours and 45 minutes a day in class, the shortest of any major city, while high schoolers spend only seven. Now, that’s about to change.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
City officials announced today that the elementary school day will be seven hours this fall, while the high school day will rise to seven and a half hours.
That’s something long sought by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who has faced obstacles in lengthening the city’s school day. First, he tried unsuccessfully to cajole individual schools into voluntarily adopting a longer day. Then, he proposed an even longer day for elementary school students.
But after meetings with parents upset by the plan, the city announced a calendar that includes these features.
- All elementary students will move to a seven hour school day, and high school students will have a 7 1/2-hour school day, with a 75-minute early release one day a week. (In other words, they’ll have a normal school day four days a week, and get out early once a week.)
- The annual school day gains 10 additional days of instruction, moving Chicago from the shortest school year in the country to a 180-day year that is on par with the national average.
- A student entering kindergarten next year will receive nearly 2.5 additional years of instructional time by the time they graduate high school.
- Elementary school students will have a daily recess, which parents insisted upon.
Emanuel, who was elected last year to succeed Richard Daley, insisted throughout his campaign that the city needed a longer school day so Chicago children could compete on a global level.
“The time is not the goal. The time is an opportunity to be maximized,” he said at the announcement today. “That’s how you prepare for the future. That’s how you prepare kids that don’t get a do-over.”
Micki Maynard · The Tire Industry Is On A Southern Building Boom
April 10th, 2012
Say Akron, Ohio, and the first thought that still comes to mind for a lot of people is “tires.” But the latest news in the tire making world comes from South Carolina. 
Michelin, the French tire maker, will launch construction next week in Anderson County, S.C., on its first new North American tire plant in 15 years, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The plant will make those heavy duty tires used on mining and road building equipment.
Michelin also is expanding a nearby plant in Lexington, S.C., which produces tires for earthmoving equipment.
That’s not all. Two other tire makers — Bridgestone and Continental — also have announced new ventures in South Carolina. All the projects could end up helping Midwest companies. How?
A big reason for the growth is the global expansion of construction projects, which is benefitting Midwest companies such as Caterpillar. (Hear Niala Boodhoo’s report on the outlook for Midwest manufacturing.)
“We are constantly hearing from our customers ‘We need more tires, we need more tires,” Michelin North America Chairman and President Pete Selleck said in an interview with the Journal. “These are very large pieces of equipment and the supply of tires determines their capacity.”
According to the Journal, Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, has been investing heavily in production capacity in a bid to extend its market-leading position around the world, especially in countries such as China.
The Illinois company expects 2012 sales to be in a range of $68 billion to $72 billion, up from a record $60.1 billion in 2011.
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