‘Renewable Energy Chopper’ Up for Grabs in Iowa
by Eric Kane, New York, NY on 05.21.07
In an effort to promote Iowa’s role in renewable energy, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has launched a campaign called ‘Join the Ride Iowa’ . The campaign will tour the state throughout the summer and will support renewable energy resources such as wind, biomass, and biodiesel. 'Join the Ride Iowa’ will focus primarily on educating Iowans about the important role that agriculture plays in renewable energy. Launched last week at the opening of a new E85 pump at the Kum & Go in Grinnell, the campaign will also offer Iowans the opportunity to win a custom-made ‘Renewable Energy Chopper’. The Iowa Farm Bureau commissioned Orange County Choppers of ‘American Chopper’ fame to build the nation’s first motorcycle that will run on E85. Although only one lucky raffle ticket holder will win the yet to be unveiled chopper, others can rest assure that their ticket purchases will not be wasted. Proceeds from the sale of $10 raffle tickets will support the American Lung Association of Iowa’s ‘Clean Air Choice’ program. See also ::Man Creates Electric Motorcycle Using Simple Retrofits and ::Electric Motorcycle Breaks Speed Record
Did anyone find a link to a place to buy a raffle ticket? Or even information about how to buy a raffle ticket? Choppers are inherently stupid bikes, but it would be cool to have an E-85 burning engine. It could probably be jammed into a normal bike?
But I digress, any links to the raffle or information about it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
This is dumb.
I live in Iowa and you'd have to live under a rock to not know about wind energy and ethanol - they don't need to be promoted here.
If you ever wondered what the Gold Rush was like, come to Iowa - corn ethanol fever has struck.
Out of curiosity, I looked at the "tour dates" for the chopper and almost every date is at a Chevrolet dealership - this looks more like a thinly-veiled promotion for Chevy's e85 engines (which probably aren't selling because everyone knows that you get terrible mpg with e85) that an actual educational initiative.
Thanks to big agribusiness and General Motors for pretending to care.
I live in Iowa, too, and have family that have farmed for generations here and while people here know that agriculture is involved in energy, they mostly think of only ethanol. The real energy opportunities here are in our sustainable resources that lead to new, cleaner industries. Hats off to FB for raising awareness that energy goes beyond ethanol and drawing the national eye towards us. We don't need to lose more research opportunities like the $500 million investment to state's such as California who do not understand agriculture like we do.
Thanks to the Farm Bureau for spreading the word about Iowa's renewable energy oppurtunities. I live in Iowa as well. And yes, much of the state is aware of E85 and other renewable fuels. But the rest of the nation doesn't know everything that Iowa has to offer. Good job FB.
Click on the "Join the Ride Iowa" site for details on buying tickets.
I would also like to thank the Iowa FB for offering to donate all proceeds to our non-profit program dedicated to reducung air pollution in Iowa by expanding the use of cleaner-burning biofuels like E85 and biodiesel.
Bob Moffitt
Communications Director
Clean Air Choice program
American Lung Association of Upper Midwest
www.CleanAirChoice.org
The American Lung Association of Iowa's Clean Air Choice program got a check for $113,000 after the raffle. The money will be used to promote cleaner-burning biofuels in the Hawkeye State.