Articles in Policy
by Deepak Rajagopal, Steven Sexton, Gal Hochman, David Roland-Holst, David Zilberman (California Agriculture) Biofuels have been criticized for raising food prices and reducing food production. While biofuels have rightly been blamed for contributing to reduced …
In a presentation called “This is 1992,” Riggs Eckelberry compares the state of the advanced biofuels industry to that of Internet-related industries in 1992 proposing a “distributed partnership model” of limited capital expenditure, clean balance sheets, minimal …
by Sam Hopkins (Green Chip Stocks) … Hermann Scheer is something like a Founding Father of international clean energy policy progress. He was instrumental in the crafting of Germany’s feed-in-tariff (FIT), which kickstarted a national …
by Bryan M. Jenkins, Robert B. Williams, Nathan Parker, Peter Tittmann, Quinn Hart, Martha C. Gildart, Steve Kaffka, Bruce R. Hartsough, Peter Dempster (California Agrigulture) Biomass constitutes a major renewable energy resource for California, with …
by Grace Azubuike (Leadership Nigeria) The cassakero project has targeted the installation of 10,000 small scale bio-ethanol refineries in the 36 states of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), over the next four years …
(Biofuels Digest) Allegations concerning falsified and suppressed documents relating to climate change and peak oil have been leveled on several fronts this week, creating fears that the debate over fossil fuels and its replacements may …
The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda begins with an evidence-based technology approach, focusing on biotechnology applications in primary production, health, and industry. It describes the current status of biotechnologies and, using quantitative analyses …
On November 12, 2009, some three years after a first exploratory multi-stakeholder meeting was held at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels has released Version One of its international standard for …
by Paul Argryropoulos (EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality) This presentation given at the Cellulosic Biofuels Summit November 2009, provides the EPA OTAQ perspective on issues pertinent to discussions related to the Renewable Fuel Standard and its …
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC). The FRRCC is a …
… Unfortunately, many of the federal government’s existing policies exempt algae from receiving benefits similar to those enjoyed by other biofuels. Such oversight can be easily remedied if the government takes the following actions:
1. Financial …
(AllAfrica Editorial) … Rwanda entered a groundbreaking agreement with two international firms Eco-fuels Global LLC, from the United States and Eco Positive Ltd from the UK. The two firms will invest $250 million to grow Jatropha …
Growth Energy, the coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters, called on the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to allow the public to comment on documents pertaining to their low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) rulemaking that were not …
… The scale of denial is breathtaking. For as Heinberg’s analysis makes depressingly clear, there will be NO combination of alternative energy solutions that might enable the long term continuation of economic growth, or of …
(Reuters) Indian sugar firms are seeking a higher price for ethanol to ensure steady supplies to oil firms which blend the liquid with petrol, a senior industry official said. Diminishing cane output and rising sugar …
by Kevin Clark (Sunderland Echo) The move to electric vehicles being spearheaded on Wearside could lead to a rise in greenhouses gases, claims a new report. The Environmental Transport Association (ETA), which campaigns for sustainable …
by Sharon Begley (Newsweek) Interview with Al Gore: … But next-generation biofuels are a different story, he says. “The pathway that I think is likely to be the winner is enzymatic hydrolysis, which essentially uses engineered enzymes …
(Renewable Energy Magazine) In this, Renewable Energy Magazine’s latest in-depth interview, Mark Emalfarb describes the interesting path that led him to develop Dyadic’s patented C1 technology platform and his thoughts on the future of the …
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy today announced projects selected for more than $24 million in grants to research and develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million …
(FarmOnline; North Queensland Register)
Not enough cellulosic ethanol may be produced to fill the United States proposed 100 million gallon mandate for 2010, prompting a rethink from officials. At a recent conference, Environmental Protection Agency Office …
(TradingMarkets.com) The Government of Canada announced Tuesday that it would invest up to C$77.75 million over seven years to help support ethanol production in Saskatchewan, said National Resources Canada in a press release November 10. …
by Mark Barkoviak (Daily Tech) The United States Air Force hopes to conduct research related to alternative fuels that could one day help the military transition away from gasoline. The $2.5 million Assured Aerospace Fuels …
by Anna Austin (Biomass Magazine)Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy talked about the direction the DOE is taking to accelerate the development of algae-based biofuels at the Pacific …
(Marketwire) The International Energy Agency (IEA) released its 2009 World Energy Outlook, which confirms the growing need for low carbon biofuels to increase global energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) relative to petroleum.
The …
Field investigations by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak reveal that ill-prepared indigenous Papuan communities are being enticed, tricked and sometimes coerced into releasing large swathes of forested land to powerful conglomerates, backed by …
As bioenergy policies are increasingly being adopted by governments, it is important for decision makers to have the most up to date information on the science and debate surrounding modern bioenergy. UNEP is responding to …
The algae biofuels industry is comprised of many pathways to produce fuels from algae and is developing rapidly, with most companies operating in “stealth” mode. This makes measuring progress toward the promise of algae extremely …
Despite the improved efficiency of vehicles, ships and aircraft, and the use of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, there has been a 175 percent increase in gallons of fuel used per day, per United States …
From July of next year, fuel suppliers in Ireland will have to include an average of 4% biofuels (fuels derived from sustainable sources) in their annual fuel sales. The Obligation will be on the companies in …
by Chris Kraul (LA Times) Who could resent the attention being showered on electric cars? Stylish and clean, they’re the darling of the renewable-energy crowd, which is hailing the scheduled rollout of several e-powered models next …
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) today responded to a report on biofuels produced by the United Nation’s International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. The report, “Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels”, …
(Or, Why We Need More Public Education on Advanced Biofuels)
by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson (PublicAgenda.org and REnewableEnergyWorld) … Right now, too many Americans are heading into this fight unarmed. Four in 10 Americans can’t name …
The Conference is intended to be a major event showcasing the state of the art in aviation alternative fuels, and an event at which a road map for the implementation of aviation alternative fuels will …
Tim Holden (D-PA) chair of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research, held hearings concentrating on the future of next generation biofuels.
Dallas Tonsager, Under Secretary for Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture …
Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley: Biofuels and the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday, October 29, 2009
… The first issue I’m speaking about relates to the EPA’s proposal to penalize biofuels for greenhouse gas emissions …
(National Corn Growers Association) The Midwest Legislative Conference of The Council of State Governments issued a series of resolutions recently containing policy resolutions adopted that aim to increase the use of both ethanol and blender …
Dear Secretary Chu:
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the national trade association representing the U.S. ethanol industry, is writing to express our concern about the current operation and direction of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) …
The International Centre of Science and High Technology of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (ICS-UNIDO) has been promoting programmes on capacity building and knowledge transfer in developing countries in several selected areas, including renewable …
by Juliet Eliperin (Washington Post) More than a decade ago in the northeast corner of Bolivia, a group of polluters and environmentalists joined forces in the first large-scale experiment to curb climate change with a …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the US Department of Energy is requiring that to receive DOE loan guarantees renewable energy projects meet a debt rating standard higher than 63 percent of all US …
by Jerry M. Melillo, et al. (Science Express) A global biofuels program will lead to intense pressures on land supply and can increase greenhouse gas emissions from land-use changes. Using linked economic and terrestrial biogeochemistry …
(Reuters) Biodiesel is better than ever at harnessing the power of the sun and turning it into fuel. In fact, a study shows the fuel is returning more than four times the energy that
it takes …
… Damages per vehicle mile traveled were remarkably similar among various combinations of fuels and technologies — the range was 1.2 cents to about 1.7 cents per mile traveled — and it is important to …
(United Nations Environment Programme) The number of scientific publications devoted to biofuels is growing exponentially, and the number of reviews is increasing rapidly. For decision makers it has become a hard job to find robust …
by Peter Fairley (Technology Review) … Producing advanced biofuels on the scale of tens of billions of gallons per year will mean financing several hundred commercial-scale biorefineries at a net cost of roughly $250 billion. …
by Robert E. Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) Looking at some real-world numbers, it becomes clear that the fear raised in Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error, Science, October 23, 2009, misses the point. Growing energy …
A study published in Science magazine promotes a policy which would penalize American biofuels industries in US legislation and regulation and in international global climate change agreements. Advanced Biofuels USA would like to point out …
by Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post) The world’s policymakers and scientists have made a critical error in how they count biofuels’ contribution to human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a paper published Thursday in the journal Science. …
Tom Buis (Growth Energy) “Ethanol is part of the natural carbon cycle. It has taken the lifetime of our planet to produce the oil that is in the ground. Biofuels come from the top of …
(Renewable Fuels Association) Biofuels produced from biomass feedstocks (i.e. plant matter) are, by definition, carbon neutral because carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions from the combustion of biofuels are readily absorbed by growing plants. As such, the tailpipe …
