<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><p class="source"><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ6NJ5GKL&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1491&amp;RH=855#/SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ6NJ5GKL&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1491&amp;RH=855&amp;PN=1">Reuters/Karl Plume</a></p></div></div>Walls are generally bad. Just ask the Chinese, the East Germans, or Roger Waters.  </p>
<p>The U.S. is about to slam head-first into its own barrier: the renewable fuel "blend wall."</p>
<p>This is the limit on the amount of <keyword id="6533570" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ethanol">ethanol</keyword> — aka corn byproduct — refiners are capable of adding to consumer gasoline.</p>
<p>The reason why they aren't adding more: Americans aren't using as much gas as they did when the current renewable fuel standard was passed.</p>
<p>That was 2007 — the idea was to both curb fossil fuel use and reduce dependence on overseas oil. Congress said refiners must blend an ever-increasing amount of ethanol into their products, and must hit 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022 — <strong>regardless of how much fuel is actually in demand</strong>.</p>
<p>And since 2007, U.S. fuel use has plummeted. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-26/epa-says-ethanol-bounty-may-push-refiners-over-blend-wall.html">According to Bloomberg's Mark Drajem</a>, average daily gasoline use in 2012 was 8.3 percent lower than in 2007.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">In theory, refiners could get around the problem by using a higher concentration of ethanol.</span></p>
<p>But that's actually another constraint: refiners are basically confined to using a blend with very low ethanol concentration — E10 (which is 10% ethanol).</p>
<p>That's because <strong>there are lots of hurdles to using blends with the highest ethanol content</strong>. E85 can only be used in flex-fuel vehicles, and the infrastructure capable of transporting and storing even E15 remains limited. </p>
<p>So what's the answer?</p>
<p>Refiners seeking to bypass the requirement are supposed to buy renewable identification numbers — RINs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/100866132">But as Reuters' Gerard Wynn writes</a>, demand — and prices — for RINs have been skyrocketing, suggesting we're careening into the wall. </p>
<p>RIN prices surged $0.12 yesterday to reach a new all time high of $1.32. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">And those prices are going to be passed on to consumers. </span></p>
<p>The ethanol industry <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-14/ethanol-rins-aren-t-raising-gasoline-prices-rfa-s-dinneen-says.html">has denied there's a correlation</a> between higher <keyword id="154077" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gas-prices">gas prices</keyword> and increasing RIN rates. </p>
<p>But that was in March, when prices were barely over a dollar. The EIA says there's some evidence RIN prices could already be driving diesel and jet fuel higher.</p>
<p>The <keyword id="52232" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="EPA">EPA</keyword> is expected to finalize its targets for ethanol consumption in 2013 within the next two weeks.</p>
<p>“It’s really not a pretty picture next year,” an East Coast ethanol blender told him.</p>

How A 2007 Ethanol Law And A Decline In Driving Could Be Contributing To A Rise In Gas Prices

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Airbus,</span> the €50 billion (£36 billion, $56 billion) French aircraft maker, has potentially uncovered a number of inventions that could transform the aviation industry in the future.</p><p>After receiving around 500 submissions for its "<a href="https://www.airbus-fyi.com/">Fly Your Ideas</a>" competition this year, to seek out ideas from students with a mix of engineering and non-engineering backgrounds, Airbus unearthed a number of pretty incredible innovations that could be created, patented and implemented in aerospace production. </p><p>The five finalists' inventions were so cool that a senior Airbus engineer walked Business Insider through the blueprints. </p><p><span><span>"The competition isn't for us to steal people's ideas and make a massive profit from it, we have been very clear from the start that the intellectual property is owned by the students and the academic insitutions they come from," <span>said Professor Ian Lane, senior expert, composite analysis at Airbus to Business Insider. "This is our version of an outreach programme that can generate and inspire the next world generation of engineers and <span>potentially create some industry changing innovations in the process. Students are a freethinking bunch."</span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>Airbus invests €2 billion (£1.4 billion, $2.2 billion) a year in research and development and files over 600 patents a year. </span>Some of the ideas are pretty cool and could make the grade for future production.</span></span></span></span></p><p><strong>Drones and "Birdport"</strong></p><p>Team Birdport from the University of Tokyo, Japan, proposes <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">deploying a flock of drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to guide birds from airports to a comfortable habitat nearby. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It is aimed at significantly reducing the number of bird strikes to aircraft and also enhancing aircraft availability. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The drones use tactics of "separation, alignment and cohesion" to manipulate flocks and divert them to Birdport, which is a natural habitat where birdsong and decoys are used.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Professor Lane said that this was the first time a drone concept had been entered into the competition, which takes place every two years.<br /></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Energy-harvesting skin</strong></p><p>Team Multifun from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has the idea of dressing the plane wings with a composite skin that <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">harvests energy from natural vibrations or flex in the wings. Using piezoelectric fibres, electrical charges are gathered by even the smallest movements during flight.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The energy can then be stored in battery panels integrated in the fuselage and can be used to power auxiliary in-flight systems, such as lighting and entertainment systems. It is aimed at reducing the energy footprint of the aircraft and has the potential of replacing </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">the entire power source for ground operations.<br /></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span><span><span><span><strong>Game console-inspired infra-red guidance system</strong> </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Team Aft-Burner-Reverser from the Northwestern Polytechnical University in China proposes applying</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> motion-sensing technology from a games console to an aircraft guidance system for use when the aircraft is taxing.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It is aimed at saving airlines millions of dollars a year by reducing the t<span>he turnaround time of aircraft between flights and the cost of damage as </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">the model uses infra-red and visual information to warn the pilot and ground crew of high-risk obstacles. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The faster trolley trash system</span></strong></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Team Retrolley from the University of São Paulo, Brazil proposed a new system that is aimed at reducing <span>waste in-flight and cutting down the time taken to collect and sort rubbish post-flight.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>It is also aimed at </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">speeding up airline operations particularly on short-haul carriers. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The bespoke trolley model is designed to intelligently sort rubbish and recycling by minimising the volume of foils, paper and plastic and collecting residual fluid. The team estimates that the model can reduce the weight of galley equipment by up to 30kg. This has the potential to reduce airline fuel consumption while also offering more space for in-flight for refreshments.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Wireless and greener ground operations</strong> </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Team Bolleboos from the City University London, <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> is the only all female team to enter the finals. One is studying Business/Finance/Management and the other two are engineering students.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The group proposes to use a "WEGO" system that </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">picks up energy during taxiing. It is aimed at reducing airlines' carbon emissions by 50%. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The model uses transmitter sections on the ground, located just underneath the aircraft in the tarmac, transfer electrical power inductively to a receiver placed between the nose-wheels. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The winning team will be announced on May 27, and will receive €30,000 (£21,489, $33,404) in prize money. The runners-up will share €15,000 (£10,744, $16,705).</span></p><p>"The competition doesn't guarantee a job with Airbus at the end of it but it does provide a fantastic platform to get recognised and show us and future employees their ideas, abilities and enthusiasm for engineering," said Professor Lane. "Some previous winners have ended up working for us as either an intern or a permanent employee though. We want to be a company that students aspire to join and I think them meeting us demystifies us as we can come across as scary I suppose."</p><p class="tagline"><div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:114px; padding:4px;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/research-store?IR=T&amp;utm_source=House&amp;utm_term=CtgrPr-Drones&amp;utm_campaign=CtgrPr#!/THE-DRONES-REPORT/p/47962272/category=11987294"></a><strong> Get THE DRONES REPORT now!</strong> Commercial drones are already a reality. <strong>BI Intelligence</strong> takes an in-depth look at the most important aspects, including market forecasts for commercial applications, regulatory process, and the leading players.  <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/research-store?IR=T&amp;utm_source=House&amp;utm_term=CtgrPr-Drones&amp;utm_campaign=CtgrPr#!/THE-DRONES-REPORT/p/47962272/category=11987294">Get the Report Here »</a></strong></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-thrones-economics-2015-3">'Game of Thrones': The Iron Throne is a terrible investment</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tvNncydDrkw0Adz4yS0Vsg8DPK1cte-i" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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