by Kris Bevill  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Witnesses projected strong growth for renewable fuels use in both the power generation and transportation sectors over the next 20 years during a Senate energy committee held Jan. 31, …

by Susanne Retka Schill  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Looking for a middle ground where environmentalists and ethanol advocates could meet, the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy released a paper by Julia Olmstead reflecting on the lessons learned …

by Kent Misegades (General Aviation News)  Mississippi State Senator Michael Watson has just introduced Senate Bill 2137, “An act to require retail dealers and distributors of gasoline to offer for sale or use nonethanol-blended unleaded premium grade …

(The Costa Rica News)  …Blame it on increased awareness of climate change or on the fact that humans have found this new appreciation for nature but biofuel production is the newest craze to hit Costa …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The challenges?    Well, there have been three grand ones.
First, the development of economically feasible technologies. Second, the financing and construction of new capacity, including any bolt-ons, restarts or retrofits …

(Netzwerk Biotreibstoffe)  As a potential substitute for fossil fuels, wood energy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. FAO’s programme on wood energy promotes sustainable wood energy systems as a contribution to sustainable forest management, livelihoods …

(EurActiv)  Greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels such as palm oil, soybean and rapeseed are higher than those for fossil fuels when the effects of Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) are counted, according to leaked EU …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  2.4 million man-years of employment – from replacing 10 percent of gasoline consumption with ethanol made from agricultural waste?  That’s the tale of the tape from the  “Moving Towards a …

by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine)  Experts say it’s counterproductive, but biorefining firms continue on with government
The government is a tricky organization to work with. At least that’s what Pamela Serino, director for the quality and …

by John Mathews (The Globalist)  …Today it is no longer evil oil companies riding roughshod over ranchers in Texas, but shale gas prospectors riding over communities’ rights wherever they drill — in the Antrim shale …

(MSN Autos)  New-vehicle buyers heavily influenced by a general feeling about a brand, but specific about fuel-efficiency ratings.
…Fuel efficiency, in fact, was found to be “the most influential reason for purchasing a particular vehicle model,” …

by Mary Rosenthal (Biofuels Digest/Algal Biomass Organization)  …We need to change our approach. Below are three things the biofuels industry in general, and the algae industry in particular can do in 2012 to help accelerate …

by Joanne Lipman (The Daily Beast)  For more than three years, President Obama has been singing the praises of electric cars. He’s repeatedly called for 1 million plug-in and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. He’s …

by Steve LeVine (Foreign Policy/Oil And Glory)  In the new issue of Wired, Julie Eilperin writes that clean-technology investment is in the throes of going bust, at least in the United States. That includes solar, wind and biofuels.
…Citi …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Like oil in World War II, U.S. Army Ret. General Paul J. Kern believes that biofuels are the “ammunition” for America today. …The main focus of the highly decorated retired army …

by  Rudy Ruitenberg (Bloomberg Business Week)  Criticism of biofuels and their impact on commodity prices by the new director general of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization is “simplistic and misinformed,” an industry lobby said.
Higher …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)   In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama voiced strong support for renewable energy and an end to oil subsidies.
“We have subsidized oil companies for a century. …

Gov. Terry Branstad is quick to counterattack against any and all of Iowa’s critics and on Tuesday he included the nation’s largest business newspaper in comments to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association annual meeting in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Colorado, Gevo has received a patent on its GIFT separation unit, addressing the separation technology used to produce propanols, butanols, pentanols, and hexanols.  The claims also address how ethanol plants …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Bloomberg New Energy Finance launched its report “Moving towards a next-generation ethanol economy”. Commissioned by Novozymes, the report estimates the socioeconomic prospects of deploying advanced biofuels in eight of the highest agricultural-producing …

by Robert E. Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  Here’s the President’s new energy policy. 
“This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full …

by John Daly (OilPrice.com)  …While U.S. energy companies began fracking for gas in the late 1990s, there was a dramatic increase in 2005 after the administration of President  George W. Bush exempted fracking from regulations …

by Robert E. Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  Retain Agricultural Land: Agricultural and forest lands are vulnerable to loss due to reduction of the dairy and pulp/paper industries and conversion to residential or commercial development.  They …

by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today)  American ethanol production is creating jobs, energizing rural economies, reducing oil imports, and helping all consumers save money at the pump emphasized the Renewable Fuels Association today in a letter to …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In California, Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill denied the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) motion to stay the decision he issued on December 29, 2011 that had halted the enforcement of …

(National Corn Growers Association)  Ongoing media coverage on corn usage tends to sensationalize trends by pitting demand from the ethanol industry against that from livestock, but Corn Board member Wesley Spurlock, a Texas farmer, has …

By Douglas L. Faulkner (Biofuels Digest)  What should be the priorities for federal government support for bioenergy, in an era of fiscal austerity and a broken consensus on energy policy?
My goal is develop interactively with …

by Ezra Klein, Brad Plumer (The Washington Post)  …In 2010, the world spent $409 billion on fossil-fuel subsidies to artificially lower the price of coal, gas and oil. Eliminating those subsidies would curb fuel use …

(National Petrochemical & Refiners Association/Yahoo!)  The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, American Petroleum Institute and Western States Petroleum Associationjointly filed a petition today requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency waive the 2011 cellulosic biofuel volume mandate in its entirety, …

by Peter A. Letvin (Biomass Power and Thermal/Energy & Environmental Research Center )  Algae holds promise as a next-generation biofuel, both for heat and electricity and especially for transportation fuels. Algae could potentially be a game …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is rejecting the notion that greater efforts need to be made to include fossil fuels in the nation’s fuel supply.  Specifically, the RFA is very critical of …

by Robert E. Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  In last days of the 2011 session the US Congress, with a job approval rating of 11% , cancelled the VEETC ethanol subsidy and dropped the tariff on …

by Gal Luft (The Washington Times)  …At current oil prices, ethanol is more costly than gasoline while the alcohol fuel methanol, primarily made from natural gas, is cheaper than gasoline on a per-mile basis. But …

by Mario Giampietro (Cassandra’s Legacy)  …(Y)ou may find a lot of help in the recent book “The Biofuel Delusion” by Mario Giampietro and Kozo Mayumi. If you are unsure about why exactly biofuels are the disaster …

by Robert Vierhout (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  One would think that a relatively easy way for governments to promote biofuels would be to tax biofuels less than fossil fuels—avoid lengthy debates on mandates and simply change …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …We cannot relax now; we must work harder.
Because, in growing as fast as it has, the industry has frightened those who only believe in a failed yesterday of “fossil fuels …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council, turned attention to free market principles and market access, after the New York Timesran astory on cellulosic biofuels mandates, titled “A Fine …

(Chicago Tribune)  …Congress and the federal agencies responsible for managing the biofuel industry need to stop trying to artificially create a market for a high-tech product that may never exist on a commercial scale.
…At current …

by Bob Dineen (Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine)   …The scientific community has better data, improved modeling tools, and a better appreciation of the uncertainty and complexity involved in ILUC analysis. But, above all, they …

by Richard G. Steiner (Los Angeles Times) OpEd:  Not two years after the Deepwater Horizon debacle, the U.S. is proceeding with plans to expand oil drilling instead of pushing alternatives.
…And after making only modest reforms, many …

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association)  …In recent weeks, many headlines have trumpeted the argument that gas prices will be higher as a result of expiration of the VEETC. As is often the case, a …

by Damian Carrington (Government Online)  For the first time in a decade, the vast biofuel industry has stalled. But with crude prices still high, charting a course towards biofuels that do more good than harm is …

by Don Siefkes (E100 Ethanol Group/Biofuels Digest)  To The Editors of the Wall Street Journal:   Cellulosic ethanol has been a debacle, but not for the reasons stated in your editorial “The Cellulosic Ethanol Debacle” of …

by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today)  Jay Berry, with Central Indiana Ethanol in Marion, says many stations do not have the equipment to handle higher ethanol blends. He told HAT there are no regulations that …

by Heather Thornstensen (AgriNews)  While they had a leader from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association at their recent annual convention, the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association brought together a panel to discuss whether the ethanol and …

by Mark Steil (Minnesota Public Radio)  A couple of key federal subsidies for the renewable fuel industry are about to end, cutting billions of dollars tax credits for the ethanol and biodiesel industries.
Congress could renew …

by Robert Pear (New York Times)  …“We are in a fairly prosperous period for agriculture,” said Dean C. Taylor, a former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “Agriculture has not been as much of a …

by General Wesley Clark (U.S. Army, Retired)   …But without those 13 billion gallons of ethanol, motorists in the U.S. are all part of a captive market that is controlled by Big Oil. The alternative …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  ZeaChem launches its 250,000 gallon per year core process.  How could this possibly matter, in the context of a 500 million gallon cellulosic biofuels target for 2012, that was waived …

by Doug Sombke (Rapid CityJournal/South Dakota Farmers Union)  …What the ethanol industry needs now is investment in improved infrastructure to get ethanol closer to being equal in the marketplace with regular gasoline.
For decades, big oil …