by Nathanael Green (Energy Now/Natural Resources Defense Council)  …Our dependence on oil hurts our economy, helps our adversaries and puts our security at risk. Each day we send over $1 billion overseas for oil, often …

(Global Bioenergy Partnership)  In November 2011 the GBEP Steering Committee endorsed the report The Global Bioenergy Partnership Sustainability Indicators for Bioenergy. It was developed by GBEP Partners and Observers through the GBEP Task Force on Sustainability …

by Jim Lane  and Todd Guerrero  (Biofuels Digest/Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.)  Us federal judge rules that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard interferes with the “maintenance of a national economic union unfettered by state-imposed limitations on …

(WRAL)  Lack of action by state lawmakers and Congress is expected to raise gas prices in North Carolina by more than 8 cents a gallon, starting Sunday.
Half of the increase comes from the state. North …

(Orlando Sentinel) Editorial:  …This month a state House panel approved a bill to repeal the 2008 state law that requires most gasoline sold in Florida to include up to 10 percent ethanol. Sponsor Matt Gaetz, …

(FarmGateBlog.com)  Many Cornbelt farmers are planning to deliver corn stover to the local ethanol plant to generate a new income stream.  Others are planning to cultivate and harvest switchgrass, miscanthus, or other biomass crops also …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  There were IPOs a go-go, a big comeback from biodiesel. The global ethanol fleet has acquired new popularity amongst advanced biofuels developers looking for capital light steel in the ground. …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack headed the “Top 100 People in Bioenergy” as voted by the readers of Biofuels Digest and the Digest’s editorial board, just edging out BP …

by Alex Philippidis (Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News)  President Barack Obama’s administration has begun reviewing suggestions for a National Bioeconomy Blueprint detailing measures by which the Obama administration intends to apply biological research innovations toward national …

(ETC Group)  New report on Corporate Concentration in the Life Industries
From the UN Rio+20 preparatory meetings in New York, ETC Group today launchesWho Will Control the Green Economy? The 60-page report connects the dots between …

by Jeanne Roberts (Energy Boom)  On Wednesday, December 14, representatives from the nation’s biofuels, renewable chemicals and biobased products industries provided written testimony to a U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee aimed at insuring the smooth continuation of …

by Paul Stenquist (New York Times)  The U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars, a Washington-based advocacy group whose members include Bosch, Honeywell and BorgWarner, all major automotive suppliers, released a white paper on Monday to make …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …1. The USDA’s crop land report.
What: An in-depth analysis of U.S. land use patterns released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows total cropland decreased by 34 million …

by Kevin Skunes (InForum)  In response to Ross Nelson’s “Ethanol? I’ll supply the shovels” column on Nov. 27, we should take a look at these issues using current and correct information.
…Corn-based ethanol is a viable …

by Tyler Hamilton (OilPrice.com)  …This isn’t just about corn; it’s also about how we choose to use agricultural residues, municipal organic waste, wood waste, algae biomass, and non-food crops.
Does it make sense to just burn …

by Neil Winton (Detroit News)  Investment bank Morgan Stanley came up with a nasty surprise for Nissan-Renault and other cheer-leaders for battery powered cars when it cut its electric vehicle sales forecast by nearly 50 …

by Kim Clark (Nebraska Corn Board)  …Although you have increased horsepower when using ethanol blended fuel, fuel mileage may decrease as the amount of ethanol in your fuel increases. However, studies have shown the optimal ethanol blend …

by Mike Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …Between 2006 and 2011, the price of sugar, while having numerous peaks and valleys, has risen from about 18 cents per pound to as high as 29 cents per …

byJames C. Greenwood and Robert Johnson (The Hill Congress Blog/BIO/National Farmers’ Union)   Maintaining agricultural productivity in America is indispensable to our economic security, so a safety net for farmers is very important. But abundant affordable …

(The Wall Street Journal) Review & Outlook:  Years before the Obama Administration dumped $70 billion into solar and wind energy and battery operated cars, and long before anyone heard of Solyndra, President Bush launched his …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Your calls and emails are always the highlight of our days. Most questions can be answered johnny-on-the-spot. Some are still out there and well worth arguing over. Here are the …

by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine)  …In the letter, the group pointed out the need for programs like the 9003 Biorefinery Loan Guarantee Program offered through USDA. “Loan guarantees are the most cost-effective way to develop …

by Mike McAdams (Advanced Biofuels Association/Biorefining Magazine)  As I write to you, I am witnessing history at 40,000 feet above the U.S., a rare privilege, as one of the first commercial passengers on board the …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  This week, while the world’s biofuel producers were busy ramping up production towards the 54.1 billion gallon global capacity predicted by 2015, the people who regulate biofuels and make …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Brazilian and U.S. ethanol interests are challenging each other over ethanol trade policy.
The U.S./Brazil Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote a joint letter to Congress last week asking that the …

(Michigan Radio)  …A new advisory council is heavily weighted with voices from the timber industry, and there will be more emphasis on developing forest products to boost the state’s economy.
Governor Rick Snyder says there’s a …

(25 x ’25)  Amid the political clamor surrounding congressional efforts to cut federal spending over the next decade and reduce the nation’s deficit, the ethanol industry has conceded that a seven-year subsidy benefiting the sector …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Capacity for alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel is at 44.6 billion gallons a year in 2011, but systemic hurdles will constrain their growth to under 5% annually through …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A coalition of livestock and poultry lobby groups submitted a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leaders on Dec. 7, requesting a hearing to evaluate the …

by Bret Korsgaard (SeekingAlpha)  …Companies like Solazyme (SZYM), KiOR (KIOR), GEVO (GEVO), Amyris (AMRS) and Codexis (CDXS) were generally met with favorable terms in the public markets. The Street seemed to acknowledge that for a …

by Garry Niemeyer   (National Corn Growers Association)  Back in August, the Green Scissors Project identified ways the federal government could shave $380 billion from the federal budget over five years. But their $380 billion in …

by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register)  Programs the Obama administration has been pushing to promote next-generation biofuels are likely to have little funding in the next farm bill, according to the top Democrat on the …

by Louise Downing (Bloomberg)  Governments need to make it “very clear” that jet fuel made from sources such as inedible plants and organic waste aren’t taxed like regular fuel, said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic …

by Ann Marie Edwards (DomesticFuel.com)  The Renewable Fuels Association(RFA) has sent a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leadership refuting statements that were made in a Nov. 30th letter sent to the committee by …

by Mary Rosenthal (Algal Biomass Organization)  …There are four key takeaways from these meetings that I think are critical for our industry as we close out 2011 and plan for 2012.
1. Support for renewable energy …

(Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association/PR NewsWire)  In response to the introduction of H.R. 3552, legislation sponsored by four members of the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the import tax on foreign ethanol, the Brazilian Sugarcane …

by Timothy Hurst (Earth & Industry)  The commercial aviation industry could go from being one of the dirtiest to being one of the cleanest in ten years, according to one of the industry’s best-known figures.
Richard …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  Europe, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re not going to stuff the biofuels genie back in the bottle. And let’s face it, you’ve got much …

(The Boston Globe) Editorial:  …But Solyndra’s subsequent failure isn’t a sign that the administration has gone too far; rather, it’s a sign that Congress, which tolerates all manner of explicit and implicit subsidies for fossil …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Let’s talk about Range Fuels, the good and the bad.
In Georgia, the AgSouth Farm Credit bank, which is the lender of record for an $80 million construction loan that Range …

by Martin LaMonica  (CNET News)  Even though it’s supposed to be a time of federal fiscal austerity, Bill Gates says its time to double down on energy research.
The software industry icon and philanthropist on Friday …

by Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Washington Post) OpEd:  More energy from the sun hits Earth in one hour than all the energy consumed on our planet in an entire year.
In those terms, it is absurd that …

(Environment and Energy Study Institute)  A steadily rising tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels would be a powerful, market-based approach to addressing one of the greatest crises of our time – global climate …

by Kris Bevill and Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) …The challenges for cellulosic ethanol developers are daunting, but the executives representing those firms see the opportunities far outweighing the challenges and are quite optimistic for …

by Mackinnon Lawrence (Reuters)  …Coming off several years of steady industry growth but facing a difficult 2012, Advanced Biofuels Markets 2011 was tinged with exigency. With deficit reduction at the forefront of policy objectives for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Amyris and Total exemplify the trend, with their announcement of agreements to expand their current R&D partnership and form a joint venture to develop, produce and commercialize a range of …

(Biofuels International)  Adair Turner, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has acknowledged that the aviation sector may be an area in which fossil fuels have to be used, highlighting that we are looking …

(Eurasia Review)  The European Union renewable energy regulation may became a subject of dispute in the World Trade Organization (WTO),  warned Monday the Globalization Institute, adding that lack of transparency and discrimination towards foreign biofuel …

(Green Car Congress)  A new study by economists at Oregon State University questions the cost-effectiveness of current biofuels and says they would barely reduce fossil fuel use and would likely increase greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers focused …

by Carey Gillam (Reuters)  The U.S. biofuels industry has more than 14 billion gallons in annual production capacity for fuel ethanol, according to new industry and government data, but growth has hit a plateau and …