It Grows On Trees

Astronaut Snags "Best of Show" with Work for Poet

Mostly, we try to track the wider world of green communications, but we recently received a decent enough reason to brag on our own work. In this, our first year entering work in the South Dakota Advertising Federation awards show, Astronaut took Best of Show in "electronic media," one of only two categories so honored.

The work that beat out scores of worthy entries (many from the old-guard agencies in our area) is a program called "Landscapes" we developed and produced for Poet, the world's largest ethanol producer and one of our best clients.

Its primary objective was to generate excitement, interest and action from farmers in the region to join Poet's effort to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale. Its secondary objective was to demonstrate the company's leadership and give others who support renewable energy and biofuels a clear star to steer by in Project Liberty, Poet's cellulosic ethanol effort. 

As with all agency work, this was a team effort. Landscapes is the result of one of those great moments of collaboration between our client, our shop and our production partner, VVI. So we want to share the love with them, big time. Best of all, our client/producer at Poet, Autumn Bates, reports the show did its job by generating real enthusiasm and buy-in from its farmer audience.

Props also to Insight Marketing Design, our friends who took Best of Show in the Addy's print category.
The awards garnered a little press here.      

Oh yeah, Astronaut also earned one Best of Class award, three gold Addy's and four silver Addy's. Not bad for the new kid on the block, huh?

From the Mouths of Babes and the Pockets of BP

More leadership in green communications from BP, which is leveraging the power of social media to get people's hands on their brand. This time it's in the form of a microsite called alittlebettergasstation.com. 

Clearly targeted toward a younger demo, the site features a fun little messaging tool called "Baby Mail." Nothing like a cute little toddler avatar to make a Big Oil company seem a little more cuddly. It's unfortunate that the company has more than a few gremlins that aren't so darling, but you won't see them on this site.

Few in energy communications are as good at the greenwash as BP, but quite frankly, they're blazing trail that companies in clean tech ought to pay very close attention to. It's flat out great work.

The Baby Mail application is almost identical to the Monk-e-Mail  developed almost two years ago by careerbuilder.com, except you can't send an original note but have to choose from a handful of canned messages.

On the other hand, you can copy and embed your message as I have here. That should tell you how clear the creators of the site are about creating a new media campaign for today's broadband-enabled consumer — who, the way, isn't necessarily a 20-something college kid.

I'd like to see recycling, wind, biofuel, solar and green building companies do this kind of work. And by the way, if BP wants a LOT better gas station, it should make it easier for consumer to choose biofuels at the pump.

BTUs: WTF?

The war over global warming — or is that "climate change?" — is often  a war of words. To win it, advertisers with sustainable products have win the skirmishes.

Newsweek stirred up the academics and true believers last week with its story on the greenhouse-effect disinformation machine. The deniers, as the article reveals, are masters at framing conversations to the disadvantage of those with the science on their side.

And while companies like Philips bask in the glow of adulation from treehuggers in love with their CFLs  (180,000+ of 'em "take the equivalent of 12,650 cars off the road," per a previous post) folks in ethanol (whose product took the equivalent of over a million cars of the road in 2004 alone) struggle with semantics that frame their renewable fuel in unflattering, even inaccurate terms.

So sayeth Michigan State University professor Bruce Dale. The question of net energy gain is a red herring, he explains in an article at Renewable Energy Access. The real issue is how effective an alternative energy source is at replacing fossil fuels.

"Net energy analysis is simple and has great intuitive appeal," Dale says, "but it is also dead wrong and dangerously misleading -- net energy must be eliminated from our discourse."

It's always been ironic to me that detractors of biofuels throw around BTU figures and claims of net energy gain or loss in the production of those fuels without applying the same standards to petroleum production. Dale says we need to reframe the conversation to get the appropriate picture of the benefit of renewable energy.

How are you framing your conversation?

ACE Day Two: Punching the "Gas" to Drive Change

Yesterday a record 1,800 people packed the second day of the ACE annual conference, "Driving Change for 20 Years." And for good reason: the "change" ACE's members want to drive seems to be experiencing a real turbo-charge, not simply in funding or even interest in ethanol and renewable fuels, but in the sophistication of the industry at all levels.

It was a day packed with presentations that were informative for both their content and what they represent: the maturation of the industry. Although a lot of good folks in green business still debate the efficacy or enviornmental benefit of biofuels, the people here are miles ahead and barrelling forward at break-neck speed to develop the technologies and improve practices that make ethanol the dominate force in renewable energy in America.

Five big issues dominated the day's formal presentations:

The industry is Maturing. Fast.

Several presentations focused explicitly on what ethanol producers need to do to mange their risk exposure -- which is just another way of minimizing costs, increasing efficiencies and maximizing profits. From insurance "architecture" to managing rail logistics, the conversation here is about managing the volatility of the business. The question of whether ethanol is here to stay or not is moot. The question of which producers will be here to stay for the long haul is very much alive. Thus industry players are scrutinizing everything they can do operationally and financially to accomplish two key objectives: adapt to breathtaking operational advancements and run a tight business — two things that aren’t always compatible.

Cellulosic ethanol: Get ready.

For those in the industry, the conversation is not "hey, we should do this," but "here's how we're going to do it." As I drafted this post, Poet Energy's Larry Ward was demonstrating his company's model for collecting, handling and fermenting corn stalks and stover to make ethanol. His rationale for that feedstock as opposed to, say, prairie grasses or wood chips, is that there's already an installed base of technology and infrastructure for harvesting corn, and, considering that most existing biorefineries are in the cornbelt, it makes sense to plan to capture cellulose accessible through corn producers. Earlier in the day, a panel gave a fascinating presentation on "Overcoming Obstacles for Cellulosic Ethanol." The room was packed for both of the groups morning presentations. What's clear to me is that the scientists, most notably South Dakota State University's Kevin Kephart and Chris Zygarlicke of the Energy and Environmental Research Center have already divined the path to cellulosic ethanol — at both the molecular level and the regional, operation level. It’s not that they or anyone else needs convincing that cellulosic biorefining is coming — it’s which path we’ll take. Numerous players are stepping in to answer that question, including Poet, BlueFire, Verenium and Mascoma.


Food V. Fuel: The Myth, The Madness

Attendees took delight crushing the idea that ethanol made from corn is either driving up food costs or threatens overall food supply. But the message — however false — seems attractive for its simplicity. After all, people eat corn. Cows and chickens eat corn. People eat cows and chicken. Therefore corn grown to make fuel must mean more scarce or more expensive food. Not. As John Ubranchuck demonstrated  to the audience, the price of corn accounts for a very small percentage of the cost of food. A box of corn flakes, for example, contains 4 pennies worth of corn. Of greater impact to food prices is energy. A barrell of oil, for instance, today fetches $78.00, a new record.

The Bite of the Opposition

The fiction of food versus fuel, in addition to other complaints raised by those who oppose ethanol, are a thorn in the side of those in the industry: a small but painful distraction. The industry is marching forward despite the hue and cry of the armchair quarterbacks who haven’t got the message about ethanol’s positive energy balance or its true impact on food prices. But the antagonism still stings. People at the conference are frustrated with that blind spot for the fuel’s massive environmental and economic benefits. That’s a problem for the industry; groups like ACE and EPIC still struggle to manage that message.

The Big Guns

Some of the more impressive presentations actually came from politicians: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and South Dakota Senator John Thune aren’t just the farm-interest shills some would claim. Both gave rousing, articulate support of ethanol and described what each is doing in government to compel biofuels #1 patron and antagonist — gasoline companies — to distribute higher blends of ethanol.

More to come.

(PS: So my plan to fully live-blog the event turned out to be a little tape-delayed. Sorry!)

Live Blogging the ACE Ethanol Conference

I'm in St. Paul this week for to cover the 20th annual conference and trade show of the American Coalition for Ethanol, or ACE. The trade group is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I live, and has been exploring and growing the ethanol industry for about as long as anyone.

This year's event promises to be a pivotal moment for everyone interested in the industry. But it should also be a focus for for anyone interested in renewable energy: this is a gathering of the players who have the greatest potential to alter the energy profile of the United States. This much is certain: never has the industry gathered with much opportunty or as much antagonism as it does here at the Riverplace in the heart of St. Paul.

Full disclosure: in the course of doing business as a creative director and writer, I've done a ton of work for the ethanol industry. So I've learned quite a bit about it, and one of the chief things on my mind as I blog from the event are the shortcomings in the industry's commutations and overall brand. You may be among the skeptics, the antagonists or the misinformed, but I'm here to tell you I'm a believer. And as I blog the event in the next two days, I'll share some of the news that may make you one, too.

No one in the ethanol industry thinks their product is a silver bullet. But it's a very, very important start. So it goes with this post. Stay tuned.