Articles in Policy
by Philip Brasher (Zanesville Times Recorder) Motorists will use just a fraction of the next-generation biofuels in 2011 that Congress intended, and even that small amount depends on a single project in Iowa that isn’t …
by Stephen E.F. Brown (San Francisco Business Times) Oil supplies are likely to run out 90 years before there are viable alternative fuels readily available, according to a study from U.C. Davis.
Researchers Debbie Niemeier and Nataliya …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) In a letter hand (delivered) to President Obama this week, RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen urged the Obama Administration to maintain its commitment to the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced …
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) The oil industry is joining with food manufacturers, livestock producers and fast-food restaurants in an effort to block an increase in the amount of ethanol that can be added …
by Ben Geman (The Hill) Two environmental groups are trying to ratchet up pressure on G-20 nations meeting in South Korea this month to make good on pledges to slash fossil fuel subsidies.
White House officials say …
(BioBusiness Alliance) The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota announces the release of Minnesota’s Forest Biomass Value Chain: A System Dynamics Analysis. The paper is the result of a yearlong project involving over 100 experts in the …
by Pete Davey (Advanced Biofuels USA) Scientists, Engineers, Lawyers, Politicians and Businessmen/women alike descended upon Vancouver, WA for the 2010 Biomass Fuels Summit on October 12th. The summit’s first panel was introduced by the moderator John …
by Alex Morales (Bloomberg) Biofuels targets in the European Union could raise emissions of greenhouse gases because forests and wetlands will be destroyed to grow the crops necessary, nine environmental groups said in a study.
…The EU …
by Andrew Herndon (Bloomberg) Oil companies won’t be able to get as much cellulosic biofuel as they might need next year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
EIA, a unit of the Energy Department that compiles …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Washington, the Obama Administration developed and has been debating an option to kill the Section 1705 DOE Loan Guarantee program, and transfer remaining funds to a pool for Section 1603 investment …
by Dr. Mark Edwards (Algae Industry Magazine) There are several firms in the algae industry engaged in genetic engineering, (GE), with the intention of patenting designer algal strains. Some organizations have filed patents for naturally occurring …
(Platts) Ethanol producers could hold onto a strong position in the new
Republican-controlled House of Representatives, an ethanol lobbyist said
Wednesday.
Oklahoma Republican Frank Lucas, who is poised to become chairman of the
House Agriculture Committee, has warned some …
by Lindsay Morris (Renewable Energy World/Power Engineering) Rep. Dave Camp enters the energy policy spotlight as top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. Is that good or bad for renewables?
…Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) …
(NACS Online) Inside EPA says the guidance would address similar concerns that came about from MTBE.
According to Inside EPA, the EPA is crafting guidance addressing the compatibility of underground storage tanks with E15, “an effort …
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest-Asia) “Why wait for top-down solutions? Providing energy in a bottom-up way instead has a lot to recommend it. There is no need to wait for politicians or utilities to act. The …
by Dawson Williams and Rick Gilmore (GIC Group/Biofuels Digest) …The Climate Action Reserve (CAR), which was chartered by state legislation in California in 2001, has just proposed three new agriculture related offset categories, including: cropland management, …
by Vincent Cable (They Work For You) This Government’s economic ambition is to build a more balanced economy, driven by private sector growth. Today I am announcing the publication of the Government’s local growth White Paper, …
by Andrew Nusca (SmartPlanet) The U.S. Navy and Mountain View, Calif.-based biofuel outfit Cobalt Technologies on Wednesday agreed to jointly develop military jet fuel converted from biobutanol.
Under the new agreement, Cobalt’s biobutanol will be converted to …
Global Biofuels Alliance, Inc. (GBA), established in 2010, is a new nonprofit trade association representing small to midsize biofuels producers, traders, marketers, distributors, and other interested biofuels parties. The GBA’s formation was prompted by the …
by Peter Henderson (Reuters) California unveiled on Friday its final blueprint of a market system to curb greenhouse gases, relaxing expected rules in the face of a weak economy in a measure that could set the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … 1. The bottom line: moderately positive for biofuels. One of the few areas where Republicans and Democrats agree on priorities is the importance of reforming US energy policy, and biofuels …
by Charles Lane (The Washington Post) …The pitch is lyrical, almost religious. It asks consumers to make an economic and technological leap of faith – just as both GM and the firm’s biggest backer, the …
by Bob Dinneen (The Hill/Renewable Fuels Association) Given the latest news from two government reports, we need to start changing the “drill baby drill” chant to “distill baby distill.” One study, from the Department of Energy’s …
(Renewable Fuels Association) Today, PMAA and RFA joined forces to urge their members to limit E-15 sales to Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) until regulations governing the fuel are finalized and implemented. The following is the …
(Growth Energy) For the November/December issue of Washington Monthly magazine, Growth Energy Co-Chair General Wesley K. Clark wrote an in-depth examination of the costs of our nation’s addiction to foreign oil, and the opportunity for ethanol …
by Stephanie Dreyer (Renewable Energy World/Growth Energy) …You have one nutritionist with Tyson Foods speaking about the great value of DDGs (Dried Distillers Grains) as a feed for livestock. And then another expert takes it …
(PR NewsWire) Leaders of the advanced biofuel industry personally delivered an important message to the Obama Administration this morning at a White House meeting that included representatives of the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA), the Biotechnology Industry …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …for several years we have been tracking the growing complexity and size of the partnerships and strategic investments in bioenergy, as the industry inches towards the commercialization of advanced biofuels.
It …
Dean Taylor (Des Moines Register/Iowa Corn Growers Association) …Iowa farmers have made measurable progress in conservation and water quality. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, farmers’ use of nitrogen and phosphorus per bushel has …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) Ethanol prices have strengthened over the past several months in response to higher corn prices and growing ethanol demand. Some have attempted to single out the escalation in ethanol prices …
by Michael Kanellos and Jim Imbler (Green Tech Media) To help this industry thrive, governments need to develop and implement a strategy that will last decades, argues Zeachem CEO Jim Imbler.
the advanced biofuels industry is determined …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Hawaii is a code word meaning “paradise” not only to sun-starved tourists, but to bioenergy developers. It has all the hallmarks of the “perfect market”.
1. A state that generates no …
(United Nations Environment Programme) Water, land use change and invasive species are key factors that must be addressed alongside greenhouse gas cuts
Water could determine the degree to which bioenergy can contribute to combating climate change by …
(BIO) Mainstream Agriculture Was Given a “Decidedly Minor Voice” Representatives from national and regional agriculture, food and feed organizations withdrew en masse this week from the Leonardo Academy’s sustainable agriculture standard setting initiative citing “fatal, …
by David Fig, Jennifer Franco, Lucia Goldfarb. Les Levidow, Mireille Hönicke, Maria Luisa Mendonça (Transnational Insitute)
The biofuel project is an agro-industrial development and politically contested policy process where governments increasingly become global actors. European Union …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A new Biofuels Digest report found that states that produced enough energy to meet their internal demand for gasoline maintained growth rates 2.5 times above the national average, and either …
by Jim Nussell (The Washington Times) letter to editor Tuesday’s Washington Times editorial “Administration caves to Big Corn” (Comment & Analysis) ignores the hidden costs of our addiction to foreign oil and what moving to higher …
(The Citizen Reporter) Tanzania urgently needs to put in place a policy framework to guide biofuel crops production and stave off the danger of serious food shortages in communities around biofuel plantations, a new study has …
by Mark Gehlhar, Ashley Winston, and Agapi Somwaru (USDA Economic Research Service) Achieving greater energy security by reducing dependence on foreign petroleum is a goal of U.S. energy policy. The Energy Independence and Security Act of …
(EIN News/USDA) …USDA announced assistance under the Recovery Act for 334 broadband expansions designed to reach more than 6 million people and 250,000 businesses in rural and remote areas.
…By launching the USDA led effort “Know …
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) California’s clean energy initiatives and businesses are at a crossroads, pending the outcome of Proposition 23 on the November ballot. Should the proposition succeed, it would suspend California’s 2006 history-making …
by Bill Moore (Reuters/EV World) In September, the Center for New American Security (CNAS) issued a 36-page study entitled Fueling the Future Force: Preparing the Department of Defense for a Post-Petroleum Era (PDF).
…Why the urgency …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) …“For every three bushels of corn that comes in, you get a bushel of DDG out, and what we sell that DDG for helps us to create a revenue stream so …
(EPA) EPA is concurrently proposing a regulatory program to promote the successful introduction of E15 into commerce by ensuring that E15 is used in approved motor vehicles and reducing the potential for the misfueling of E15 …
(Ghana News Agency) Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture, on Monday noted that the commercial cultivation of cassava as an alternative source of bio-energy, would not compromise Ghana’s agricultural lands or threaten its …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In the long term, major oil companies like Shell and ExxonMobil see global transition in the 30-40 percent range by 2050. That may sound like small potatoes. Voters, project developers, and …
By Juan Forero (The Washington Post) …Once seen as a wasteland, the Cerrado is now the motor of an agro-industry so potent that Brazil threatens to surpass the United States as breadbasket to the world. …
(Times Live) … She (MaNoa director Esmé Bluff) says although it’s not feasible for everyone, first prize is to get off the grid as much as possible – which is not as expensive or tricky as it …
by Damian Carrington and James Randerson (The Guardian) Renewables Advisory Board and Office for Renewable Energy Deployment among bodies axed
Two renewable energy quangos have been axed, with a leaked letter describing the function delivered by one …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) …U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ 8th) came out in support of bipartisan leaders of the House Armed Services Committee for urging Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to study new ways of reducing …
by Fred Kaplan (Slate) How the military’s shift to renewable fuel could lower the entire nation’s energy costs.
…The Navy is also experimenting with fuel made from algae. And the Air Force is planning to convert its …
(PR Newswire) Syracuse partnership substitutes petroleum diesel with biodiesel
Syracuse University today announced a partnership to advance the use of biofuels by the U.S. armed forces as an alternative energy source. The effort involves entrepreneurs John …
From 7:00-9:00 pm, on Tuesday, October 19, 2010, at The Park in Sacramento, the Green Technology Leadership Group, No on Prop 23 Campaign is premiering an action video short, “Don’t Bully California,” featuring actor-activist David …
by Erin Voegele (BioDiesel Magazine) Legislation currently pending in Pennsylvania could negatively impact the state’s biodiesel industry. On Oct. 6, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives adopted an amendment, SB 901, which seeks to impose a …
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) There’s a growing consensus among the budding cellulosic ethanol community that the renewable fuels standard (RFS) is not doing its job. Enacted in 2005 and amended in 2007, the …
by Beatrice Philamon (IPP Media) Tanzanian and Brazilian experts are expected to carry out a countrywide survey to identify and propose strategic areas that would be allocated for biofuel farming.
“Our intention is to have special areas …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) (T)he Digest spent time this week with Gary Luce, CEO of Terrabon, whose advanced biofuels technology converts MSW and other residues into drop-in biogasoline, renewable diesel and jet fuel.
The company, which …
by Bill Sweetman (Aviation Week) Fuel-cell manufacturer SFC of Germany has rolled out a new product in its line of methanol-air electrochemical cells, a system designed to provide secondary power to military vehicles – for …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) U.S. farmers will continue to produce an abundance of food and feed for both the domestic and international markets. This was an often repeated message at the Export Exchange, …
(BioTechNOW) Congress urged to restore funding to DOE Loan Guarantee Program
Growth of clean energy has been stifled, biofuel advocacy groups maintain, by a lack of funding and shortcomings in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee …
by Kwok W. Wan (Reuters) Biofuel could cut plane carbon emissions by 20 pct by 2030. Aviation biofuel costs similar to jet fuel.
Biofuels have a growing role to play in cutting carbon emission in the aviation …
by Bob Meyer (Brownfield Ag News) …The American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, Renewable Fuels Association and National Corn Growers issued a joint statement noting “Global coarse grain supplies are nearly unchanged, the USDA reports …
by Todd Neeley (Progressive Farmer) In the eternal mudslinging between supporters and opponents of biofuels, “subsidies” are one of the opponents’ biggest and most painful mud balls.
“If ethanol is such a good idea, why does …
by Robert (Aglines) The battle is raging over the public airwaves about the proposed oil tar sand pipeline from Canada that will cross Nebraska.
As, the proponents rightly state, there are plenty of oil and gas pipelines …
(US Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today waived a limitation on selling fuel that is more than 10 percent ethanol for model year 2007 and newer cars and light trucks. The …
by Ron Brochu (BusinessNorth.com) …Federal loan guarantees are available to support construction of the high-tech Flambeau River Biofuels refinery in Park Falls, but project sponsors say the government’s terms could derail their chance to succeed. Those …
(BusinessWire) American Biofuels Now is a broad coalition of local (Tampa, Florida) biofuels producers, trade and environmental organizations, academics, and energy users who want smart, comprehensive policies to support the development of American Biofuels Now.
America Biofuels …
By Cindy O’Connor (Advanced Biofuels USA)The Washington DC, September 30 briefing topic was why the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) should not be renewed.
The first speaker, Dr. Harry de Goerter, Cato Fellow and Professor, …
(US Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), are announcing the next step toward reducing greenhouse …
(Science Daily) Faster development of the promising field of cellulosic biofuels — the renewable energy produced from grasses and trees — is being significantly hampered by a “deep and thorny regulatory thicket” that makes almost …
by Darren Goode (The Hill) Texas lawmakers in both parties are seeking legal protection for oil refiners and others that fear exposure to costly lawsuits if EPA allows an increase in the amount of ethanol …
(Ethanol Across America) C. Boyden Gray, one of the architects of the historic 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments that established the nation’s reformulated gasoline program, called for increased regulation of air toxics by the Environmental …
(USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) Public comments sought on how USDA agencies can assist California’s biofuel’s industry
California’s USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) and USDA Rural Development (RD), and the …
by Roland Hiederer, Fabien Ramos, et al. (European Commission Joint Research Centre) This study implements a new methodology developed by the JRC IES and IE for estimating changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soil and …
(Journal of Peasant Studies) In this collection we ask a number of questions emerging out of the new agrarian political economy created by the ‘biofuel complex’. Together the papers offer perspectives from political economy, political …
By Arpita Bhattacharyya, Andrew Light (Center for American Progress) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday an impressive collaboration at the Clinton Global Initiative that brings together U.S. agencies and the United Nations Foundation to …
by Anna Austin (Biomass Magazine) A bill (AB 222) that would have expedited the introduction of new conversion technologies to produce green power and advanced biofuels from solid waste materials in California is officially dead, …
by Matt Hartwig (Renewable Fuels Association) A Bloomberg story today warned that deficit hawks in Congress – and potentially those that might be elected this fall – are targeting ethanol as an example of wasteful …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …We have spoken to farmers, local business owners, environmentalists, community development officials, engine developers, scientists, policy makers, producers, investors, lenders, blenders, wholesalers, retailers, and end users. We have visited development projects …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) The Truman National Security Project has released its 2010 Fuel Scorecard and ethanol scores near the top of the list as viable fuel options for the future. Based on several factors that affect …
(Eco Periodicals) During a recent meeting in San Salvador, member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) weighed up the possibility of standardising criteria for assessing the quality of biofuels and their potential impact in …
Interview of BIO’s Brent Erickson by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …BE: I have been a little bit disappointed in the Obama administration. When he was in the Senate he as very pro-biofuels. He had to …
by Stephen Lacey (RenewableEnergyWorld) We often wonder when the next Google of clean energy will materialize. When will the lone inventor finally emerge from his garage to change the world and solve our energy problems? …
by Graham Warwick (AviationWeek) In just five years, the aviation industry’s decades-long reliance on petroleum-based fuels has been turned on its head. The future lies in fuels from sources that range from animal fat to microalgae. …
(Des Moines Register) Biofuels producers don’t like to think of themselves as a cause of global warming, but that’s how they could be regulated under the Obama administration’s regulations on greenhouse gases.
The regulations, due to …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Canada, Dr. Clive James, executive director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), said that “In the next 50 years, the global population will consume …
by John Voelcker (GreenCarReports.com) We’ve written before about just how worried automakers are at proposals by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to increase the ethanol content of pump gasoline from 10 to 12 or even 15 …
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest Asia) There’s blast furnace heat but little light so far in the debate on the UK biofuels target for 2020. Some advisors have urged that the current target of 10 …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering equating biogenic carbon emissions with fossil fuel emissions under the Tailoring Rule, which requires the accounting and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions under the …
by Cindy O’Connor (Advanced Biofuels USA) Report from a Washington DC, September 14, 2010 briefing sponsored by Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council
With legislative work beginning on the next Farm Bill and new WTO rounds; the …
by Alex Morales (Bloomberg) Biofuels made from plant waste and municipal trash rather than food crops could replace more than half of gasoline used in the European Union by 2020, industry analyst Bloomberg New Energy Finance …
by John Davis (DomesticFuel) The next generation of biofuels must be developed in conjunction with advanced combustion engines, if there is to be long-term success of those biofuels. That word comes from researchers at the Sandia National …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …The Navy’s long term strategy is to supply 50% of its energy from renewables by 2020.
How much is that? Well, statistics on energy consumption from the Department Energy Supply Center …
by Gal Luft (Foreign Policy) The Middle Eastern oil cartel celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. Here’s how to keep it from running our lives for another half-century.
…To weaken OPEC we must change the playing …
by Lewis Reynolds (Politics Daily) America doesn’t have to depend on overseas sources for one of its most vital national needs. A move toward energy independence, aside from creating as many as 14 million new …
by Barbara Grondin Francella (Convenience Store News) …The EPA is considering a request to authorize the use of E15, while ethanol advocates are calling for the immediate approval of E12 and longer-term, even higher ethanol …
(Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels) In November 2009, the RSB Steering Board approved Version One of the RSB Principles & Criteria (P&Cs) and the Certification System for pilot testing after public regional outreaches and extensive consultation …
by Lori Montgomery (The Washington Post) …
The senator is a strong advocate of responsible budgeting and has long called for increasing the gas tax, the traditional financing source for the nation’s roadways. He said he …
by Paul Post (The Saratogan) …For local dairy producers, one of the most pressing concerns is ethanol production that drives up corn prices — hurting small family farms in the process.
…”We’ve got a big problem …
by Hopewell Radebe (Business Day/Reuters) The government yesterday brought hope to grain farmers who are struggling to find alternative markets to dispose of surplus maize following a bumper crop that drove prices down.
… Last month, Grain SA chairman …
