A happy new year ahead?
… and the unfinished reform agenda. Among external factors, the state of the US economy, crude oil prices and capital inflows are likely to have a major influence on the performance …
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What’s Up For The New Year? Happy New Year! Then The List
First of all, we are gearing up for the New Year as we speak. We needed to make a plan about what we were going to write off “The List” and what we could do without for a while. Not easy stuff here. The List is very important. It gives us a goal or several goals actually. And those goals need to be met by certain times. Not all things on The List are like that but most are.
What am I talking about? Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Then, we must get started on this things on The List which includes such things as buying a new car, a new house, laptops for us to make blogging easier to do, a tank of propane that MUST be ordered in January, a new microwave, television set. Actually, The List is larger than that but these are the most pressing things, at least some of them.
Now, as to what we will do first…that’s Phase 1 which includes the previously noted tank of propane. That has to be on top of The List because we will be running low by sometime in January. And these days, it costs a lot of money to fill such a tank. For instance, our last bill to fill it (a 250 gal. tank) was almost $300. That was when it was at about 30%. What that means is that we still had 30% of the tank full. When we buy it again, it’s going to probably cost a bunch more than that.
Phase 2 will include the taxes we have to pay, at least one of the laptops and, hopefully, a microwave. The television and several other items will be in Phase 3. The above list does not include the medical bills we still have to pay but those are not included in this plan but in the one that has me paying those bills a bit at a time each month. It also does not include the furniture we need as much as we need an assortment of other things but that will be probably in Phase 4. By the time we finish The List, if we ever do, we will have a new one to take it’s place. Isn’t life grand!!!
Sourse: What’s Up For The New Year? Happy New Year! Then The List
Kansas Launches Ethanol Blender Pump Program
Motorists in Kansas will soon have an opportunity to learn how well their cars will perform on blends of ethanol higher than the existing E10.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture is launching a pilot program that will allow fueling stations to install pumps that dispense a variety of higher ethanol blends. Motorists will choose what blend they want at the pump.
All vehicles on the road today can use E10 and Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFV) can use blends up to E85. Almost all gas stations in Kansas dispense E10, a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. The pumps authorized under the pilot project will allow flexible-fuel vehicle owners to purchase blends such as E20, E30, E50 or E85.
Similar programs are available in Minnesota and South Dakota. Others states are looking at blender pumps as well. And the U.S. Department of Transportation is testing how well regular-fuel vehicles perform on the mid-blends of ethanol, and could endorse blends higher than E10.
- Senators Push President to Approve to Approve Higher Ethanol Blends
- Heard on the Street: Ethanol Blender Pumps
- Find Alternative Fuel Locations
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Iowans Want Energy Conservation Before New Coal Plants
Iowans Want Energy Conservation Before New Coal Plants
DES MOINES, Iowa, December 21, 2007 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-21-093.asp Four out of five Iowans believe energy conservation and fuel efficiency should be the focus of state efforts to meet electricity demand before new coal-burning power plants are built, according to a new public opinion poll.
Iowa officials are contemplating two coal-fired facilities […]
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Rationalise Taxes & Do not Increase Petrol/Diesel Prices
For several months there is ongoing discussions regarding raising the petro prices, particularly Diesel and petrol (gasoline) in India as crude prices are in close vicinity of $100/barrel. Government has been holding prices citing petro products are used by vulnerable sections of society. However, recent media reports suggest that there would be modest increase in the prices of Diesel and Petrol very soon after a meeting of GOM scheduled on 4/01/2008 as Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)Oil companies are losing heavily.
Whenever govt chose to increase the prices of petroleum products in the past to help out PSU Oil companies, significant quantum of increase accrued to Central and State Governments as taxes constitute upto 55% of the final selling price.It is unfortunate the Govt has chosen to ignore sensible voices (which are feeble, no doubt, because they do not represent strong vested interests) seeking rationalisation of taxes on Diesel and Petrol, to help bleeding PSU Oil companies as well as the midlle consumers whom it claims to protect (by not raising the retail prices). Government (central as well as state) have not even agreed to levy a specific levy in place of an ad valorem tax structure followed currently, so that taxes are capped at some level, indicating opportunism to garner taxes even in a crisis situation.
On one hand, Govt claims that it is protecting the vulnerable sections of society by not raising the prices, while on the other hand Government in India (Central as well as State) are charging exorbitant rate of taxes (excise, special excise and sales tax), which are well in excess of taxes imposed on items of luxury. It appears that most vulnerable section is government which requires huge taxes on the petroleum products from the vulnerable section to support its own machinery which has failed to collect taxes from private sector companies ( to whom it grants all kinds of exemptions/concessions on the slightest pretext. It is strange that some of the state government are charging concessional sales tax from the big consumers (industries). When the prices of the petroleum prices are not commensurate with the crude oil prices, then giving tax exemption to Industry while charging a higher rate of tax from vulnerable section of society is inconsistent with the public policy. Based on this argument all the tax exemptions granted on petrol and diesel by the State Governements to Industries should be withdrawn immediately, as Industry is already paying a lower price compared to international prices. It is strange that State Governments are charging taxes commensurate with the slabs applicable to luxury items on Kerosene distributed through the public distribution system(PDS) meant for very poor people.
Becuase of very high sales tax imposed on Diesel and petrol by State govts, these products have been kept out of progressive VAT (value added tax) regime recently implemented in India. State Govt are lobbying for keep Petrol and Diesel out from the General Goods and Service Tax (GST) which is proposed to be introduced all over in India from year 2010 having one tax rates for entire country. This is ironical considering the claim of government to guard consumer interests.
Through this blog it is requested that Indian government should focus on the tax rationalisation/ reforms to help the PSU Oil Companies urgently. With the buoyancy in the tax receipts it should be possible now. However, if the government choses to ignore the tax reforms in petroleuem sectors now, it will become difficult with the rise in dollers (and also proposed hike in salaries of government servants).
There are several other ways to help out bleeding Oil PSUs which will be covered in my forthcoming blogs.
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Gold Eagle 22204 STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer 4oz.’s price decreased 20% from $3.99 to $3.19!
Gold Eagle 22204 STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer 4oz.’s price decreased by 20% from $3.99 to $3.19 at Amazon.com.
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More great news about the death of anthropogenic global warming.
David Davis
A good site is http://www.globalwarminghoax.com
and this…
and then this…
http://infowars.net/articles/august2007/300807Warming.htm
And people could sign this petition to force Al Gore to debate himself over his lies, not that he’ll take any notice (see my last comment below…) http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?agdgw
Finally, for today, and thanks to Tony Hollick for spotting it (it’s also in his comment on a previous post) here is the URL for Martin Durkin’s great documentary on “The Great Global Warming Swindle.”http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6772058898203776825&q=Great+Global+Warming+Swindle+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=24&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
A thought has just occurred to me about Al Gore. Unless I’ve been asleep, he’s not been much in evidence these recent weeks - not like before. Could he be suffering from Hitleritis? Hitler was seen in public only twice after Stalingrad.
Sourse: More great news about the death of anthropogenic global warming.
Barrel Brent crude oil on strong summer driving demand in the US London
This morning London Brent crude rose cents to. Pushed and pulled by news about Iran. Both Urine albumin have had a volatile year. Problem at a Canadian oil sands upgrader. Oil was higher on Wednesday as it became apparent that OPEC was going to keep output levels unchanged. The closing press conference is scheduled for GMT.
Sourse: Barrel Brent crude oil on strong summer driving demand in the US London
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A look at 2007 and 2008
2007 has been a rough one for the biofuels industry. In hindsight, it will be noted as a turning point for the industry. There are three big developments that propagated during this year:
- Corn ethanol development stalled due to high corn prices and low ethanol prices. The fallout has been a receding of enthusiasm for ethanol from the financial industry and a second look from the agricultural community (not to mention consumers who don’t like high beef prices).
- Several start-up companies emerged focusing on advanced biofuels like biobutanol or cheap, non-corn ethanol. The kick-off of this initiative was the $387 Million given by the DOE earlier this year to fund several cellulosic ethanol initiatives.
- Real industry movement on electric vehicle systems (Tesla, GM, Ford, Toyota)
2007, however, should be known as a disappointment. We were supposed to have cellulosic ethanol this year. And even now, it’s still a question mark.
What is certain is that something different must be done about the cost of producing fuel ethanol in the U.S. before the U.S. manufacturers flounder. These companies aren’t yet profitable and financially sustainable. They won’t last until the economics of ethanol are fundamentally changed.
Some positive elements of 2007, however, were some great technical breakthroughs, including some new companies, that are focused on taking on different parts of the value chain of biofuels and other chemicals (hydrogen).
2008, I predict, will be a bit more of the same. Big corn ethanol producers will continue to have consolidation and bankruptcies. But new start-ups will begin to gain ground. We’ve already seen RangeFuels break ground on a new facility and others are developing pilot facilities. This will be the most significant legacy of 2008 weather they are ultimately successful or not.
My hopes for 2008:
- A breakthrough (or more testing) on hydrogen production. While there are many detractors, I have a lot of hope for hydrogen - and at the moment, it’s only hope and not promise.
- Real evidence of ethanol demand growth. The softening of pricing and a leveling of fuel demand in December make me wonder weather or not the demand of ethanol has any more legs. The recent energy bill is a help, but not a guarantee.
- A commercial biobutanol effort. It’s still not clear that this product can be made in volume. So I’d like to see, say, a 30 Million gallon /yr facility built to really try and prove it out.
- A really successful test of a carbon sequestration facility (these are in process, but I haven’t heard a big success story).
Posts from this year:
- Amaizing Ethanol IPO
- What’s ADM’s Plan?
- The Biobutanol Pathway
- Hydrogen from Algae (hydrogen pricing analysis)
- Biofuels Essay: Intro / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
Thanks for reading. Have a Happy 2008!
Doug
Sourse: A look at 2007 and 2008
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