Ethanol action lauded by Broin

This week’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow 15 percent ethanol blends in 2007 and newer vehicles won praise from the CEO of Portland’s ethanol plant.
POET CEO Jeff Broin said, “Approval of E15 in 2007 and newer vehicles is a positive first step toward opening the market for more ethanol to complete with gasoline. However, the EPA must move quickly t o take the next step: Approval of E15 in older vehicles.”
Gasoline currently contains 10 percent ethanol and ethanol producers are pushing for the government to allow the “normal” rate in consumer gasoline to be 15 percent.
“Greater market access will give investors the needed confidence to commit to bringing cellulosic ethanol to commercial scale,” said Broin.

Wal-Mart programs
Wal-Mart has taken on several programs locally and nationally recently.
Portland Walmart recently awarded Redkey Elementary with 10 $100 gift cards to help teachers purchase supplies for their classrooms. Wal-Mart is giving $4.5 million through the Teacher Rewards Program nationally.
Portland’s Walmart also recently donated all the food collected during its Hoosiers Fighting Hunger program that ran during September to the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. Walmart and its customers donated 7,180 pounds of food collecting during the drive.
Starting this week, Portland Walmart is teaming up with General Mills to raise money for local schools. The store will collect box-tops from General Mills’ Box Tops for Education and will distribute the earnings from the program among participating Jay County schools.
Nationally, Wal-Mart is planning to double its stock of fresh produce in the U.S. by 2015. The company is making the move as part of a sustainable agriculture initiative that will look to increase purchases from small- to medium-sized farmers as well as reduce environmental harm caused in farming. The company hopes to increase income for farmers and help reduce use of pesticides, fertilizers and water in the growing process.
The goals will also have Walmart stores stocking more local produce.

Wal-Mart business
Wal-Mart Stories Inc. is planning to open several smaller stores across the nation and is also altering benefit plans for its employees.
The company will focus on opening small stores in small towns and urban areas to help jumpstart sales in the U.S. Despite a $405 billion annual sales performance. The company continues to fight against factors that have depressed revenue, including high unemployment and low credit availability.
The world’s largest retailer is also ending profit-sharing contributions for employees and will instead make matches to employee 401(k) accounts.
The company formerly put up to 4 percent of pay into the profit-sharing plan, but in a move to reduce expenses, Wal-Mart will now match up to 6 percent of contributions to a 401(k) retirement fund.

iPad sales
Verizon Wireless will begin selling and offering data plans for Apple’s iPad portable computer.
Verizon will begin selling the iPad online and in retail stores beginning Oct. 28 and will offer a $20 per month data plan. Previously, Apple products could only get service plans through Verizon competitor AT&T Inc.

Saint-Gobain ventures
Saint-Gobain will team up with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. to construct a high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) solar panel plant in Korea.
Hyundai already has two PV plants in process and the 50-50 joint venture with Saint-Gobain will be the third. The plant will be able to produce 850,000 modules annually, which can be used for roofs or solar fields by utilizing Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide thin-film on top of a glass substrate.
The annual production of the solar panels should be able to produce 100 Megawatts of energy.
The company is also forming a joint venture with Russian company Trakya Cam to build a flat glass manufacturing unit.
Saint-Gobain will take a 30 percent ownership stake in the venture with a total investment of about euro184. The project should help increase business in Russia, where the flat glass market has potential for expansion.

No. 2
POET CEO Jeff Broin was ranked as the No. 2 person in bioenergy in Biofuels Digest’s Top 100 People in Bioenergy ranking.
Broin was ranked No. 2 behind only Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
POET has several ethanol production plants across the nation and also unveiled in the past two years plans for an ethanol pipeline running from the Dakotas to the East Coast.

 New scoreboard
Bank of Geneva recently donated $18,369 to South Adams Schools to purchase a new scoreboard for its baseball field.
The bank donated the money which will be used to purchase a new inning-by-inning scoreboard for the Harry Anderson Field. The old baseball scoreboard will be moved to the softball field.
The scoreboard will arrive at South Adams on Nov. 11.

Retirement breakfast
Bank of Geneva will host a retirement breakfast for long-time employee Clarence “Ittle” Buckingham on his last day, Oct. 29.
Buckingham, 93, has worked for Bank of Geneva for 29 years after retiring from Naas Foods (now Red Gold) in 1981 where he worked for 38 years.
The breakfast will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Geneva main office.

Service award
Two Jay-Randolph Developmental Services Inc. employees were honored for 40 years of service with the organization recently.
Brenda Litton and Jim Sloniker were given 40-year honors and several other employees were honored for 30, 20, 15, 10 and five year marks.
Other employees and clients received awards for their service or personal goals met as part of JRDS.

Lower gas prices
Vectren Energy Delivery announced that natural gas costs should help keep winter energy bills low.
Gas supplies are high and is holding at costs of about 50 cents where it was about $1 to $1.20 per therm two years ago.
The low prices could attribute for energy bills about 5 percent lower than last winter.
According to averages, customers can expect winter gas costs could be around $530 to $560 per household.

Executive in court
Former Muncie Eye Center Group executive Frank Winconek appeared briefly in court this week leading up to a Nov. 18 trial in Delaware Circuit Court 5.
Winconek is facing theft charges for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 from the company during his time as chief financial officer and CEO.
The charges were filed against Winconek in February.

REMC contest
Electric Consumer magazine in coordination with local electric cooperatives is hosting the 2012 Calendar Art Contest.
The contest is open to K-12 students and rules can be found at www.electricconsumer.org.
Electric Consumer is also teaming up with Hoosier Salon, an Indianapolis non-profit art organization, to showcase the art of the calendar winners in the Indiana State Museum.[[In-content Ad]]