by Alexis Madrigal (Wired Science)   For nearly 20 years, a government laboratory built a living, respiring library of carefully collected organisms in search of something that could grow quickly while producing something precious: oil.
But now …

 A new study by Douglas Bradley, Luc Pelkmans and Dieter Cupyers examines the potential supply and demand of 2nd generation biofuels up until 2030, and discusses various impacts on biofuel trade, ranging from cost advantages …

by Herman Trabish (New Energy News and REnewable Energy.com)  … Despite enormous amounts of money poured into research and development, a way to economically produce second-generation (non-crop) biofuels at commercial scale has eluded the most ambitiously …

The 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition will take place in Lyon, France, from 3 to 7 May 2010. The Conference subjects cover the entire range of bioenergy issues: Resource availability, conversion technologies, demonstration projects, …

Embraer, General Electric, and Amyris announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate thetechnical and sustainability aspects of Amyris’ No Compromise® renewable jet fuel. The initiative can culminate in a demo flight, by early …

by Jim  Motavalli (New York Times) Calling for what amounts to a Marshall Plan to start manufacturing plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars, a group of executives from the auto and utility industries, and prospective plug-in fleet …

(Environmental Leader)  Although electric vehicles show higher non-climate damages than many other technologies, they will not be significantly cleaner than cars powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from coal-fired power …

America’s greenest “tier-one” auto show just got greener. The Washington Auto Show®, which houses more green cars than any major U.S. auto show, is redoubling its efforts in 2010 with a 65,000-square foot display known …

BBI International and the 2010 Advanced Biofuels Workshop planning committee welcomes you to  St. Louis for this convenient one-day workshop on advanced biofuels. More than 400 people are expected to attend to learn about advanced technology …

BBI International and the 2010 Advanced Biofuels Workshop planning committee welcomes presenters to St. Louis for this convenient one-day workshop on advanced biofuels. More than 400 people are expected to attend to learn about advanced technology …

Consistentwith other examples of questions raised about the qualifications of reviewers and quality of reviews, Idaho Sustainable Energy details in a letter to supporters their experience with the DOE Intergrated Biorefinery Operations process.
Of particular interest …

by Carpe Diem  (benzinga.com)   Some excerpts from the new study “Green Protectionism in the European Union: How Europe’s Biofuels Policy and the Renewable Energy Directive Violate WTO Commitments” from the European Center for International Political …

Governor Sonny Perdue announced that Thomaston in Upson County will be home to a new biorefinery demonstration plant, the result of a partnership between Diamond Alternative Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, and …

by Stephen Power  (Wall Street Journal)  Two groups representing ethanol producers asked a federal court on Thursday to strike down a California rule that calls for a reduction in the carbon content of fuels sold …

by Naureen S. Malik (Wall Street Journal)  Cellulosic-ethanol production, a cornerstone of the U.S. government’s plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, is earmarked to overtake corn ethanol over the next decade. But the industry’s expected takeoff could be …

Funding Opportunity Announcement for Fuels from Sunlight Hub is Issued.  U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu outlined the Department’s plans to invest up to $366 million to establish and operate three new Energy Innovation …

(EnvironmentalExpert.com)  Australia’s bioenergy industry – which uses biomass for heat, power (bioelectricity) and liquid fuels (biofuels) – is relatively small. However, in the future it has very significant growth potential, driven by the need to …

(ABC Rural) Western Australia’s mining sector could be one of the first to reap the benefits of a biofuels trial in the state’s north-west.   The Gascoyne Research Station is halfway through a project to test …

Australian scientists are achieving the world’s best production rates of oil from algae grown in open saline ponds, taking them a step closer to creating commercial quantities of clean biofuel for the future.
A joint $3.3 …

by Greg Kelton (Adelaide Now)  THE U.S. parent company of uranium producer Heathgate Resources has held talks with the State Government over developing a renewable energy fuel in South Australia – from algae.  
Premier Mike Rann …

by Simon Grose  (TCE Today)  Algae, wood and sugarcane shared the honours in the bidding for funding through the Australian government’s Second generation Biofuels research and development program.  Announcing matching grants totaling A$14.4m ($12.1m) across seven …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A progressive culture, declining fossil fuel reserves, an emissions challenge, considerable sugarcane resources, native feedstocks such as moringa and the Australian Beauty Tree, a nexus of research into cellulosic bioprocessing, …

(Caribbean Daily News) The Jamaica government says it will continue to develop the biofuels industry so as to boost exports under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago and …

Cereplast, Inc., a leading manufacturer of proprietary bio-based, sustainable plastics, announced today that it expects the U.S. bio-plastics market to top $10 billion in sales by 2020. As of 2007, the U.S. bio-plastics market accounted …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … 2009 has taught us that the excess of emissions in the skies and shortage of land on the ground may well be solved underwater, through microcrops: algaes. diatoms, cyanobacteria …

by C. Neal Stewart, Jr. (Sun Grant Initiative)  This presentation reviews the benefits and challenges of using switchgrass as a biofuels feedstock.  It includes good graphs of cell wall structures, maps of biomass crop potential …

by J.W. Walkinshaw and S.E. Poniatowski (University of Massachusetts and Terrasonics)  This presentation illustrates the usual process of breaking cellulose into sugars for ethanol fermentation by using an enzymatic process and, then illustrates the results of speeding …

Robert C. Brown and Jennifer Holmgren (Iowa State University and UOP)  This presentation describes the fast pyrolysis process and products.  READ MORE

(Camara Argentina de Energias Renovables/CADER)
 
  · In the last few months the Argentine biodiesel industry has stabilized output, if not profitability, and in August 2009 produced some 109,000 tons after a very good July;
 
  · …

by John A. Mathews and Hao Tan, (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) While debate on biofuels and bioenergy generally has sparked controversy over claimed greenhouse gas emissions benefits available with a switch to biomass, these claims have …

by Vadim Bespertov, et al. 
This document is the production of a team of aviation and aerospace industry experts who have joined efforts and know-how for a 4 month strategic planning & research exercise as …

by Richard Newell (SAIS for the US Energy Information Administration)  The EIA’s annual energy outlook.  Charts, graphs depicting current status and projections of energy use.
Included are:

“Biofuels meet most of the growth in liquid fuels supply”
“Biofuels …

To encourage suppliers to source sustainable biofuels, the RFA requires fuel suppliers claiming Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates to submit monthly reports on the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) saving and the sustainability of the biofuels they …

Elizabeth Doris, et al. (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)   As U.S. states increasingly focus on developing renewable energy resources, there is a need to track the progress of development, as well as the policies and support …

Martin Keller, Ph.D. (BioEnergy Science Center) Presentation details biomass recalcitrance and various methods being researched to break down cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, lignins into sugars as an intermediary step to ethanol production or to serve as …

by Ron Putt (Auburn University)  Alabama has an immediate opportunity to lead the nation in becoming self sufficient with respect to liquid fuels for transportation. Mass cultivation of micro-algae in the state, using less than …

by Todd A. Taylor (Fredrikson & Byron)  From his presentation at the Algae Biomass Summit in October 2009, Todd Taylor outlines the process, challenges and expectations of finding funding for any new technology/advanced biofuels company.  …

by Curt Rich (VanNess Feldman)  Presentation from the Algae Biomass Summit, October 2009 reviews federal grant and loan programs, climate change legislative proposals from an algal biofuels perspective.  READ MORE

by Jeremy Hsu (Space.com) NASA may concern itself largely with space exploration, but it also wants to keep Earth on a steady course in the face of rising energy costs and climate change. Now the U.S. …

by Joseph Milton  (Financial Times)  … The prospect of a second generation of biofuels, derived from waste materials rather than food crops or palm oil, has recently been raised. It is this new generation which …

by Emmanuel Sulle and Fred Nelson  (Tanzania Natural Resource Forum’s Forestry Working Group and the International Institute for Environment and Development)  In recent years, biofuels have rapidly emerged as a major issue for agricultural development, …

Zenergy International, Inc.  intends to expand the current facility recently acquired from its current capacity of 5 Million Gallons Per Year to 10 Million Gallons Per Year, literally doubling the facility production capacity.  It’s anticipated …

by Joshua F.  Berger Ethanol production has been widely perceived as a solution to the global energy crisis, with the added benefit of reinvigorating declining agricultural economies. Moves towards dedicating crop production to ethanol however have …

Dynaflow, Inc.®, a leader in R&D services and products in fluid dynamics and applied sciences, today announced that it has been awarded a Department of Energy (DOE) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract …

On December 3rd 2009, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced approval of the project proposal submitted by Pond Biofuels Inc. under the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate program.  The approved project includes …

by Mritunjay Kumar Shukla†, Thallada Bhaskar, A.K. Jain, S.K. Singal, M.O. Garg (Indian Institute of Petroleum Dehradun)  A presentation that details the emissions, yields, costs and advantages of bio-based DME, compared to conventional diesel fuel, …

by Charlotte LoBuono (heatingoil.com)  A Canadian energy company has proposed building a biorefinery to produce dimethyl ether, or DME, the CBC reported Wednesday. In November, Calgary-based GV Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with the …

(EurActiv)  EU rules for calculating indirect land-use changes caused by biofuel production would not be legitimate without an internationally-accepted methodology, a group of developing countries has told the European Commission.  The warning was sent to …

Speedling Incorporated and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. today announced a collaborative agreement to jointly research, develop, and commercialize a cost-effective propagation and production system for Mendel’s advanced Miscanthus product candidates. Speedling will apply its proprietary propagation …

by Amy Lorentzen  (AP)  A central Iowa plant could soon begin producing jet fuel from poultry fat.  Bolingbrook, Ill.-based Elevance Renewable Sciences plans to build a $15 million plant in Newton, adding onto an existing …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The Digest has prepared several maps which help to visualize the distribution in the US of advanced biofuels development. Maps include:
1. Locations of the companies in the 50 Hottest Companies …

Sandra W.A. Hintz, et al. (Journal of Cereal Science)  Filamentous fungi are widely used for enzyme production for the biofuel industry. The ascomycetous fungus Chrysosporium lucknowense C1 was isolated as a natural producer of neutral …

by Nick Chamber (Gas2.0) Volkswagen has announced that the documentary “Racing Under Green”—detailing the trials and tribulations of the Jetta TDI Cup, the U.S.’ only professional green racing series—will premiere the week of January 18 on …

The Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (AEO2010) reference case released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) presents updated projections for U.S. energy consumption and production through 2035.
“Our projections show that existing policies that stress energy …

 From a letter to Underwriters Laboratories from Renewable Fuels Association:  I am writing to express the Renewable Fuels Association’s (RFA) position that Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) has selected an inappropriate test fuel to emulate fuel …

by Louis Bergeron (Stanford University)   Ethanol — often promoted as a clean-burning, renewable fuel that could help wean the nation from oil — would likely worsen health problems caused by ozone, compared with gasoline, especially …

The Inter-American Development Bank has approved a $25 million loan to support an innovative private biofuels project currently being developed in the department of Piura, Peru.
An initiative of Maple Energy Plc, an energy company that …

ENVIROTEK announced the company’s Corona, California-based Extreme Bio-Diesel (EBD) division has successfully completed the first phase of its refinery expansion and is in full production of Bio-Diesel fuel, ahead of the projected January 2010 schedule.
ENVIROTEK President, …

Valero Renewable Fuels Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation , announced today that it has signed an agreement with ASA Ethanol Holdings, LLC to buy two ethanol plants that had been …

The Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, announced that a core group of airlines has signed groundbreaking memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with two different producers …

by David Shepardson (Detroit News)  Audi’s top U.S. executive said here Monday that political leaders have “fallen in love” with electric vehicles even though widespread use may be two decades away.   At a speech at …

Bioenergy includes any kind of chemical energy accumulated through photosynthetic processes in organic plant matter (i.e., biomass). Example sources of bioenergy include dedicated energy crops (short rotation wood, perennial grasses), agricultural and forestry products and …

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the launch of a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries.  Secretary Chu also welcomed progress under the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) and …

North Carolina’s traditional tobacco farms are switching to other crops, so the state’s Southeastern Community College in Whiteville, has initiated a program to educate farmers on the ins-and-outs of biodiesel manufacturing, anticipating producers will be …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Biofuels Digest provides a summary of various cellulosic ethanol production technologies; and who is using them where.  —… Companies that have been in the R&D phases for years — if …

(Los Angeles Times)  The 2010 Audi A3 TDI was named Green Car of the Year at the L.A. Auto Show today, giving the Germans and clean diesel technology back-to-back wins.
The four-door hatchback, which has a …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) “What you win is the right to negotiate,” chuckles Jim Imbler, CEO of ZeaChem, reflecting on the company’s recent success in winning one of the DOE’s recently announced 19 awards for …

The Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference brings together the leaders guiding the development of advanced biofuels — including cellulosic ethanol, renewable diesel, renewable gasoline, renewable jet fuel, biobutanol, as well as emerging feedstocks including algae, jatropha, …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced it has selected INEOS
Bio and its partner, New Planet Energy, for a $50 million dollar grant for its advanced
bioenergy facility in Indian River County, Florida. The grant …

by Yong Jiang  and Scott M. Swinton  (International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology) 
Advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are of great interest in the USA. With agriculture being the major source of feedstock for …

by Yan Ma, et al.  (International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology)  Sustained growth in agricultural productivity has become an ideal model and a political goal of agricultural development in China. Local participation is …

(Biomass Magazine)  The Energy & Environmental Research Center Foundation and Whole Energy Fuels Corp., headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., are poised to commercialize a novel and groundbreaking cellulosic biofuel technology developed at the EERC at the …

by Lisa Gibson (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  California-based Mendel Biotechnology Inc. has more than 2,000 varieties of miscanthus under development on several different plots and hopes to have significant plantings for biomass power generation in the …

(Biodiesel Digest)  Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), and Bayer Technology Services GmbH (BTS), announced a licensing agreement for the worldwide marketing of the registered BayFAME technology, …

The first Bioenergy Feedstocks Symposium was held in 2005 and sponsored by the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR) Special Research Initiative: Bioenergy Energy Crops Investigated for Power and Heat Generation in Illinois. …

Gov. Bill Richardson and the New Mexico congressional delegation today launched an initiative to develop a statewide strategic plan to make New Mexico a national leader in the emerging biofuels industry.
“Clean, sustainable domestic sources of …

Just in time for the critical climate talks now underway in Copenhagen, new data once again confirms the significant greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from global biofuels production.
Prepared by (S&T)2 Consultants Inc., an internationally recognized energy …

Mission NewEnergy Limited (“Mission”) a biodiesel refiner and one of the world’s largest Jatropha plantation companies by acreage announced that it has entered into a binding five-year biodiesel Supply Agreement with Valero Marketing and Supply …

by Jon Vomhof (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)  … “Ethanol, I think, is going to be a global commodity in the not too distant future, and as that future unfolds, it’s in everyone’s best interest to …

by Matthew Chin (Science Daily) In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel …

by Heather Lammers, NREL (Renewable Energy World)  Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and ethanol producers are racing to come up with ways to make ethanol from cellulosic biomass that are cheaper and …

(Renewable Energy World)  Solazyme Inc. will build its first integrated algae fuel refinery in Pennsylvania. The biorefinery will be built in Riverside, Pennsylvania and will be funded in part by a US $21.8 million federal …

 PetroAlgae Inc., announced today that its has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Foster Wheeler AG’s Global Engineering and Construction Group for engineering services to be performed in conjunction with PetroAlgae’s micro-crop technology, which allows …

Bloomberg L.P., has acquired New Energy Finance, a global leader in providing news, data and analysis on renewable energy, carbon markets, energy efficiency, biofuels, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear power.
 
“This acquisition is the next …

New North contracted with Resource Analytics to conduct a biomass supply analysis within a fifty mile radius of Niagara, WI for the purposes of evaluating this site as a location for a cellulosic biomass ethanol …

by Linus Atarah (IPS)  As Finnish energy major Neste Oil scales up production of its ‘green’ diesel NExBTL, environmental activists fear that more land will go under palm oil plantations at the expense of Southeast …

(Pre-Salt)  The president of Petrobras, José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, … presented an overview of activities in 2009 .
… “Petrobras has expanded production capacity allowed in biodiesel plants and intensified contacts to expand presence in …

Growth Energy’s request to Congressional tax writers to fix a program intended to promote the installation of fuel pumps that dispense mid- and high-level ethanol blends drew support from a total of 152 organizations – …

What’s brewing in Caye Drapcho’s bioreactor may well be a fuel of the future. Drapcho, a biosystems engineer at Clemson University, is investigating a bacterium that produces hydrogen. The microbe is called Thermotoga neapolitana. And …

Logos Technologies, Inc. and EdeniQ, Inc. announced that they have been awarded a $20.4 million grant to modify and operate a pilotscale bio‐refinery plant to produce low‐cost ethanol bio‐fuel from cellulosic feedstock, such as corn …

by Tom Doggett (Reuters)  Two key Republican lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday to study the impact of boosting the amount of ethanol that is blended into U.S. gasoline supplies.
The request was made …

by Grant Gustafson / Kate Cyrul (IowaPolitics.com)  Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today wrote to Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, urging them to …

by Ben Geman (The Hill)  The broad $31 billion tax extenders package the House approved Wednesday afternoon includes a one-year extension of the $1-per-gallon tax credit for biodiesel that is set to lapse at year’s …

Research reported in the December issue of the American Society of Microbiology’s journal Applied and Environment Microbiology on the development of a thermostable enzyme opens the way to a new pathway for low-cost biofuel production …

(Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal)  Pacific Renewable Fuels (Sacramento, California) and Red Lion Bio-Energy (Toledo, Ohio) have announced that they have formed Synterra Fuels, a joint venture, to focus on the commercialization and deployment of …

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will pilot a program to accelerate the examination of certain “green” technology patent applications, Secretary Gary Locke announced on Monday. The new initiative, coming days before …

The Brazilian National Plan on Climate Change, launched in December 2008, comprises a set of over one hundred actions and programs to reduce carbon emissions across different sectors of the Brazilian economy.  The two main …

Shifting to renewable energy sources, such as wind and bio-energy, would bring significant job growth, economic investment and revenues to Arkansas’ struggling rural communities, according to a new report released today by the Natural Resources …

(Economic Times, Reuters)  A United Nations panel has approved the inclusion of biofuels in a global scheme to reduce cargon emissions, a move that should boost investments in such projects, a Brazilian government official said …

ARPA-E announces the creation of the “ARPA-E Fellows Program” and invites America’s next generation of leading energy innovators to help shape our nation’s energy future. ARPA-E Fellows will be competitively selected from the best and …