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Abengoa in the NY Times

Posted: March 1, 2010 at 11:50 AM CST

I frequently visit the New York Times Web site, a habit that started when they were bashing biofuels a while back. Last week I was surprised to see a simple advertisement from Abengoa Bioenergy that linked to a presentation on their Web site where they’re taking on ethanol critics.

The pages are a quick read and cover the basics: food prices, crop lands, emissions reduction, energetic independence, agricultural development, clean energy. On the left is what they term the “manipulation” and on the right, the “evidence,” complete with a link to the sources of the evidence cited there.

Hats off to Abengoa for dedicating some hard-earned cash to an advertising campaign presenting ethanol in a positive light, and directly answering distortions.

It’s a good reminder of what we all need to do—look for opportunities to tell the ethanol story and correct misinformation. Often, it only takes a simple fact or two. Not long ago I got an inquiry through the Web site from a reader wanting to know just how many coal-fired ethanol plants there are and how much irrigated corn went into ethanol. I replied saying we don’t track energy sources at ethanol plants, but I am aware of two coal-fired ethanol plants, and there may be one or two more. The vast majority, as we all know, are natural gas fired. And I happened to actually remember the amount of irrigated corn going into ethanol—a rather modest amount.

His reply?

Ethanol plants ought to sue the folks dishing out such misleading information. He had gotten the impression the vast majority of ethanol plants were coal fired, using irrigated corn.

Reaching out has an impact. I know a local Sierra Club activist couple. Not well, but I know them. I’ve mentioned what I do and in a chatty, friendly way, imparted a bit of positive ethanol information. The last letter to the editor several months ago from these Sierra Club members used more accurate, up-to-date information about corn ethanol, although still expressing doubts. (They didn’t get that information from me, they had to do their own research. But I like to think the motivation came from our chat.) I think the next time I run into them, I’ll offer to speak at one of their meetings.

-Susanne Retka Schill