ethanol

The latest episode in the long-running drama over whether U.S. drivers will be offered gasoline with more ethanol in it came very early Saturday morning.

Algae are attracting attention because the strains can potentially produce 10 or more times more fuel per acre than the corn used to make ethanol or the soybeans used to make biodiesel.

When Congress mandated in 2007 that refiners blend a rising volume of ethanol into gasoline, fuel consumption had been growing for years.

Then came the recession.

Brazil's president is proposing a plan to prohibit sugarcane-ethanol plantations in the Amazon and other ecologically sensitive areas.

Researchers in the Oklahoma Panhandle are trying to figure out if making ethanol from switchgrass is cost effective.

North Dakota's Public Service Commission plans to seek permission to go ahead with a state insolvency case against an ethanol factory that is under bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

With demand for gasoline, and the ethanol that goes into it, expected to rise as the economy recovers, oil companies are positioning themselves to benefit.