Analysts F.O. Licht’s have reviewed the study point by point and state: “There are inherent difficulties in calculating the differences in the cost of producing fossil fuels on the one hand and biofuels on the other. Even the study authors warn that it should be noted that these projections are extremely uncertain, and thus the results derived are indicative”.

The analyses continues: “biofuel numbers that the authors use, and which were prepared by the UK’s Department of Transport, are currently subject to revision. This leaves the whole edifice of calculations comparing fossil and renewable fuels on quite shaky ground. Therefore the whole cost of production comparison allows only one conclusion: that a final conclusion is not possible”.

Petrol prices would likely rise

“There is no historical evidence that the introduction of biofuels has resulted in higher fuel prices at the pump. Why would this trend change? Most likely petrol prices will increase if biofuels were removed from the petrol mix. A 2008 Merrill Lynch report found that oil values at that time would have been about $20 barrel higher without the use of biofuels” said Mr. Rob Vierhout, Secretary General of ePURE.

… The studies were paid for by two NGOs campaigning against the development of biofuels but they forget to include the energy reality in Europe. … And vitally, it (ethanol) replaces the need for the most expensive and polluting marginal oil, such as tar sands. “Must we conclude from these studies that Friends of the Earth and ActionAid would actually prefer tar sands over fuel ethanol?” added Mr. Vierhout.  READ MORE and MORE  and MORE (Friends of the Earth)

The EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) does include sustainability criteria to avoid the production of biofuels in highly biodiverse areas. A major flaw is that such criteria only apply to biofuels. Therefore although the RED prevents a landowner clearing high biodiversity value land to grow biofuels, it does not stop him clearing the land for another crop that he already grows and then growing biofuels on the vacated land. Such indirect land use change (ILUC) is difficult to measure, but it is thought to be significant in terms of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions.  READ MORE and MORE (Institute for European Environmental Policy)

…However, less than three years after adopting a key law—which mandates that by 2020, 10% of the total energy used in transport will have to come from renewable sources such as biofuels—a tough debate has begun in the EU on whether biofuels really are better for the climate than conventional fuels.

…The majority of European cars run on diesel engines, and companies like Cargill, Sofiprotéol in France or Abengoa in Spain have all together invested billions of euros in building up biodiesel production capacity. But current capacity would already almost be enough to cover the EU 2020 targets, while regulatory uncertainty is doing its part in lowering interest in new investments, experts say.

…A liter of biofuel emits roughly the same carbon dioxide as a liter of fossil fuel when used in a car engine. But biofuels made from refining vegetable oils have been considered virtually carbon neutral because the plants from which the fuel is made has previously absorbed the carbon dioxide that is emitted by burning it.

…The commission itself is divided on the issue: Its energy department wants to stick with the target, but its climate branch is inclined to change it if it doesn’t actually help the environment, officials said.

Neste Oil says it isn’t worried about policy change. In Rotterdam, the company mainly produces NExTBL—a transparent, alcohol-like, odorless liquid, 40% of whose ingredients are waste products, like animal fat from the food industry. NExTBL has the potential to replace other biodiesels because it can be used in higher percentages when mixed with regular fuel, has a higher energy content and can stand lower temperatures, Mr. Lievonen said.   READ MORE and MORE

The fuels, gasoline substitutes derived from plants, probably won’t cut greenhouse gases because forests are chopped down to make way for biofuel plantations, Friends of the Earth and ActionAid said today in an e-mailed statement. The European Commission said that while biofuels cost more than fossil fuels, it’s “reasonable” for motorists to pay extra.

…EU energy spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said today in an e- mail that the biofuels target may increase cereal prices by as much as 6 percent and rapeseed costs by as much as 10 percent.

The commission is monitoring the effects on food prices. She said efficiency improvements alone won’t achieve the carbon cuts needed, and that pursuing renewables is necessary.

…An independent consultant, Malcolm Fergusson, carried out the cost analysis for Friends of the Earth and ActionAid. He extrapolated analysis relating to the costs in the U.K. and Germany across the EU. Fergusson was previously head of climate change policy at the U.K. government’s environment agency.  READ MORE

“An estimated 17.5 percent of the agricultural residue produced could be available today as feedstock for advanced biofuels. With this amount, enough advanced biofuels could be produced to replace over 50 percent of the forecasted 2030 gasoline demand,” said Steen Riisgaard, Novozymes’s CEO.

The report shows that the eight regions analyzed have the potential to diversify farmers’ income, generate revenues ranging from $1 trillion to $4.4 trillion between today and 2050 and create millions of jobs. Including 1.4 million jobs in the USA, according to the report.  READ MORE  and MORE (Bloomberg New Energy Finance)  and MORE

…The present energy taxation law results in perverse effects causing shortages of diesel, surpluses of gasoline, discrimination of biofuels when taxed as fossil fuels and loss of government income when taxes are unequal in neighboring countries. So, change is needed, but any substantial progress does not seem to be happening.

Since April, member states are trying to agree on a more balanced tax law. After a delay of more than a year before the bill was put to the member states, the Polish president of the EU spent most of the past six months derailing the proposal, because it runs counter to Poland’s coal policy.

All hopes are now set for the first half of this year when the Danes hold the presidency. Even though a brand new government and not very experienced, the Danes want a pragmatic approach: Focus the law on what really will deliver a change in European transport fuel consumption by aligning taxation of diesel and gasoline and forget about all the other goodies, such as introducing a CO2-based tax, taxation on energy density or a higher tax on coal.  READ MORE

…As of late 2011, the Control Union had certified the sustainability of about 25 U.S. ethanol companies under the ISCC standard. The certification process is just that—a process—but Demianew says it doesn’t have to be a painful one. In fact, it is very likely the ethanol plant will be halfway to certification before the actual process even begins.  “Most of the ethanol plants are probably 50 to 60 percent ready, but they need to make sure they have the GHGs calculated and that they have enough of a farm base ready to sign,” he says.

… Rudolph stresses the value of proven sustainability and says certification could also be attractive to financiers. And considering that the domestic market is at its blend wall, anything producers can do to expand their marketing abilities may be well worth the cost. Demianew says certification can be viewed by ethanol producers as an outlet to new markets and an assurance that they will be able to enter the European market if and when they decide to do so.  READ MORE

In New Mexico, Dr. Jose Olivares is head of the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB), a consortium funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop innovative technologies that will help bring algal biofuels to a commercial reality. Jonathan Williams sat down recently with Dr. Olivares after he had completed a wide-ranging tour of some of the algal hot spots around the globe.

…

India

India has a long history of working with algae, but mostly as a nutritional source or for wastewater treatment. They are trying to develop those areas into a biofuels industry to some extent.

…Reliance Industries Limited, which is one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world and is located in India. They have two of the world’s largest refineries and they are in the top 20 petrochemical producers in the world.  Reliance Industries is in the process of developing a strategy for biofuels and algae biofuels in particular.

…

Japan

Japan has had an even longer history than most countries in developing algae for commercial purposes, mostly macroalgae, for nutritional sources and food sources.

…Much of this research is concentrated at the University of Tsukuba. There, they have actually identified a new species of algae that grows very, very fast and has fairly good oil productivity. It’s very consistent and very fast growing in large numbers, so its overall productivity looks promising for the biofuels industry.

…

China

…We are collaborating with Dr. Jian Xu in the sequencing and the annotation and analysis of Nannochloropsis salina  strain 1776 which we are also sequencing here at Los Alamos. This collaboration also involves NMSU and Solix Biosystems which played a key role in developing our collaboration.

Another entity in China working in the algae industry is ENN, they have been developing some interests in photobioreactor-based systems for carbon sequestration and the development of algae for biofuels and bioproducts.

…

Taiwan

…The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) itself is actually working very closely with Taiwanese universities in transformation of algae, photobioreactor systems, belt screen based harvesting technologies and supercritical extraction systems.

…

Australia

Australia has been in the news for quite some time and has been developing quite an industrial interest in algae. Muradel, a small company forming in Adelaide and in Karratha (from a joint venture between Murdoch U., Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty Ltd and SQC Pty Ltd) is developing a small 10 acre facility and currently has about two acres under development. Additionally, Aurora Algae has started developing some facilities in Karratha, and MBD Energy is active in Queensland.

…

Europe

There are four new algae projects being funded by the European Union. Three of them are located in Spain.

…Repsol has a number of algae projects developing around Spain, including at the Univeristy of Alicante. Their research is looking at plastics for photobioreactors, greenhouse containment systems, strain selection, photobioreactor design, and fuel conversion.

…Of course, there has also been great work by Rene Wijffels at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, in understanding different types of photobiorector systems and cultivation systems for the European-type environment.

…A nice, new technology just emerged out of a company called Evodos looking at a new centrifugal technology that is very low energy and fairly well developed.

…

Israel and Korea

We’ve heard quite a bit from Israel who has had a long history in developing nutraceuticals and now are using their photobioreactor systems mostly for biofuels.

…

(T)he U.S. is probably still the largest funding source for algal development from a public standpoint. Even from a private standpoint there are many more industrial and commercial efforts developing in the U.S. as compared to the rest of the world.  READ MORE and MORE (Biofuels Digest update Israel comments) and MORE (GIAVAP)