(U.S. Department of Energy)  U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today(December 16, 2010) the Department is accepting applications for up to $184 million over three to five years to accelerate the development and deployment of new …

(Green Car Congress)  The US Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking input from industry, academia, and other biofuels stakeholders regarding supply systems and services for the production, handling, storage, transport and delivery of algae via a …

by Damian Carrington (The Guardian)  Scientists raise hopes for a large-scale renewable source of liquid fuel with a simple reactor that mimics plants
A simple reactor that mimics plants by turning sunlight into fuel has been …

by M.S. Swaminathan(The Hindu)  …  On December 26, 2010, which marks the sixth anniversary of the tsunami which caused severe damage in Tamil Nadu and other States, a Salt Satyagraha Memorial Programme is being launched …

(Green Car Congress)  The Nikkei reports that Tokyo Institute of Technology, Takenaka Corp. and other partners are planning to build an offshore pilot plant to grow algae for use in biofuel production. …The wide-ranging project aims …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   …For our 2010 batch of predictions, we give ourselves 6 marks out of 10.
We gave ourselves 1 full mark for predicting the spread of Low Carbon Fuel Standard activity, the …

(AP/The Ledger Independent)  A new program to explore the viability of biofuels is seeking to establish 700 acres of switchgrass fields and is offering financial assistance to Kentucky farmers.
The project follows another that began in 2007 …

By Don Hofstrand (Iowa State University Extension/JoplinStockyards.com)   U.S. energy policy has recently moved into the background due to concerns about the current economic downturn. However, the importance of the two major drivers of energy policy …

By: Sara Krauskopf  (The Science Teacher)  A life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool used by engineers to make measurements of net energy, greenhouse gas production, water consumption, and other items of concern. This article describes an …

(State Journal-Register)  …As a former secretary of agriculture, I know that continuing to encourage the ethanol industry is good for rural America and the entire nation. Ethanol generates jobs, preserves the environment, and protects our …

by Willie Vogt  (Farm Futures)  …Cellana, an algal biofuel research company based in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, is leading a consortium that includes Cornell, Duke University, San Francisco State University, the University of Hawaii and the …

by Nicholas Zeman  (Associated Content/Yahoo!)  Asia’s Largest Ag-Firm Discusses the Global Biodiesel Market
…New Diesel Magazine spoke with an official from Wilmar, on the condition of anonymity, about the implementation of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive …

by Susanne Retka Schill  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Miscanthus will see a giant leap in acreage in 2011, thanks to Soperton, Ga.-based Repreve Renewables LLC. The company currently has 500 acres planted in five locations in …

(UPI)  U.S. scientists have uncovered a gene responsible for plants’ key growth characteristics, specifically their density, a finding that could improve agriculture.
Researchers at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Oklahoma say denser plants have more biomass …

(Reuters)  China’s Finance Ministry has retroactively exempted consumption tax on pure biodiesel made from waste animal fats or vegetable oils, and will refund taxes already paid over the last two years.
The policy is backdated to January …

(EurekAlert/University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana)  A newly engineered yeast strain can simultaneously consume two types of sugar from plants to produce ethanol, researchers report. The sugars are glucose, a six-carbon sugar that is relatively easy to …

by Joelle Brink  (Biofuels Digest Asia)  2010 is sure to be remembered as the year Asia’s biofuels boom became self-sustaining. Double digit Asian economic growth, government and private investment, international business collaborations and research networks drove …

by Katie Fehrenbacher  (New York Times/GigaOM)  Biofuels took a step away from the limelight in 2010, replaced by the buzz surrounding electric vehicles. But there were still a variety of policy decisions, and economic milestones …

(Bloomberg)  China, the world’s biggest grains user, has started an anti-dumping investigation into U.S. shipments of dried distillers’ grains, an animal feed ingredient, adding to tensions in ongoing trade disputes.
The government will probe for unfair trade …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Today, we’ll reach into the mailbag and voicemail box and shed some light on topics both important and bizarre, in our occasional “Biofuels Fact or Fiction” series.
Q. Will the USDA …

by Dave Dreeszen  (Sioux City Journal)   The South Sioux City Council on Monday agreed to issue $25 million in revenue bonds to help finance the proposed Nature’s BioReserves plant at the Roth Industrial Park…  The 60-million-gallon-per-year …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  The National Research Council has proposed to the National Academies to appoint a committee to examine the promise of sustainable development of algal biofuels, identify potential concerns, unforeseen sustainability challenges and unintended …

by Dave Rodman   (NASCAR)  NASCAR is trying to make pit road safer in all three of its national tours in 2011 as the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series will now adopt the refueling system …

by George Will (The Washington Post)  Cowlitz County in Washington state …approved construction of a coal export terminal from which millions of tons of U.S. coal could be shipped to Asia annually.
Both Oregon and Washington …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel)  According to former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, Americans will be paying $5 per gallon for gas by 2012 due to growing demand for oil, tighter supplies and inadequate responses …

by Luke Geiver  (Biodiesel Magazine)  Confined Animal Feeding Operations and algal biomass may have a unique link that could help move algae-to-energy developments closer to commercialization. Why? According to Thomas Byrne, president and CEO of …

(Futures and Commody Markets News)  Proposed legislation would create or extend a diverse array of federal programs necessary to help advanced biofuel producers secure financing for construction of first-of-a-kind projects.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) thanked …

(Newsvine/Just4ThePlanet)   When we think of the brand Shell, we see a global group of energy and petrochemical companies in more than 90 countries and territories. We do not associate the Shell brand with Biofuels or …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  According to Texas A&M University’s Robert Burns, writing in the Western Farm Press, Texas AgriLife Research engineer Dr. Alex Thomasson has developed an optical-electronic sensor to automatically measure algae growth stages and …

(Green Car Congress/FavStocks)   A study by a team at the German Aerospace Center (Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) identified autothermal reforming in combination with a water gas shift reactor as the preferred option for …

(Walta Informatin Center)  The (Ethiopian) Ministry of Water and Energy said that 18 investors and enterprises with over 3 billion birr combined capital have been engaged in biofuel development.  
Ministry Public Relations and Communications Directorate Director, …

(Khabrein) A new Swiss Study by the federal office of power and environment assured that the so-called “second generation of Biofuels” has good chances for the environment and development as well.
“Second generation biofuels impress, because of …

by Mychal Wilmes   (Agri News/Post-Bulletin)  …The conservative and liberal think-alikes want to kill the ethanol tax credit for different reasons. The liberals say that ethanol, at best, is environmentally neutral. The conservatives argue is that …

(NewsGuide)  Conversion of biomass to fuel requires several steps: chemical pretreatment to break up the biomass – often dilute (sulfuric) acid, detoxification to remove the toxic chemicals required in pretreatment, and microbial fermentation to convert the …

(The Forum of Fargo-Morehead)   The use of a specialized sugar beet to produce ethanol could be a breakthrough in weaning the industry off corn. An announcement a few days ago of plans to build a …

by Robin Braverder (Politico)  …Cory Gardner (Colo.) — Like many of his colleagues, this newcomer with strong agricultural ties hopes to advance “hearty oversight” of the EPA from his new perch on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
On …

by Mathew Murphy (The Sidney Morning Herald)  …NSW and Queensland’s attempts to increase the local ethanol industry are being stymied by the federal government’s planned reduction in excise for foreign ethanol from 38¢ to 25¢ …

by Cynthia Barnett (Florida Trend)   Some Florida businesses are squeezing a trickle of fuel from algae, claiming they can help power the world. But right now, a few expensive drops in the bucket are all they …

by  Fiona Harvey   (Financial Times)  …Green Biologics, an unlisted company, has signed deals with two Chinese biochemical businesses – Guangxi Jinyuan Biochemical and Lianyungang Union of Chemicals.

Under the deals – expected to be worth about £10m …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The technologies are, in many cases, ready to scale. Coskata CEO Bill Roe declared a year ago now that “Coskata is open for business, ready to scale,” but the financiers we …

by Beata Mostafavi    (Flint Journal/MLive.com)  Just two months after the government allowed more ethanol in gasoline, the ongoing debate about how the greener fuel affects older cars continues to be studied in Vehicle City.
The Department of …

by Mark Sweney   (The Guardian)   A complaint to the advertising watchdog by Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner George Monbiot has caused a national press ad claiming biofuels offer a sustainable alternative to oil to be banned.
The …

by Allison Dowd  (Winnepeg Free Press)  The City of Brandon is saying goodbye to its biodiesel processor.
Getting the proper licensing from Manitoba Labour to run the processor proved too expensive and time-consuming, said Rod Sage, Brandon’s …

by Robert Behre  (The Sun News)  As Janice Ryan-Bohac looks on, Jonathan Edwards steers straight over a long row of dying vines while his tractor’s rear chain digger unearths sweet potatoes as big as bowling balls.

These …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …But there’s another boundary, right around 374 degrees C of temperature and 218 atmospheres of pressure. At that point, the boundary between liquid and gaseous phase water disappears, and what …

(IStockAnalyst/Cedar Rapids Gazette)  U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack thinks soon-to-be announced federal grants for cellulosic ethanol plants are helping boost flagging ethanol support in Congress.
Vilsack said the government plans to announce measures in …

In the India, CJP is set to hold Global Algae Biodiesel World India Programme 2011 in India from APRIL 5 to 6 , 2011. CJP’s Global Algae World India 11 focuses on the entire algae …

(Algae Industry Magazine)   …(W)e decided to go right to the experts and see what was on their minds over this past year. It’s pretty easy to do this in the Internet Age. Through analytics we …

(Europa.eu)  An EU-funded collaboration between universities and industry is overcoming limitations in current technologies to develop new bioethanol engines.
Driven by the need for more sustainable and less polluting sources of energy, the European Union is now …

(PR-Inside)  Hunt Global Resources Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tombstone Technologies Inc., (OTCBB: TMCI) announced today (December 23, 2010) that its BioSolutions Division has launched an exclusive research and product development project with Carbon Green Inc, …