by Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer  (Daily Yonder)  …As we listen to this debate, the implied assumption is that the sole purpose of farming is to provide food and certainly that has been …

Russell W. Stratton, Hsin Min Wong, and James I. Hileman  (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)   The presence of variability in life cycle analysis (LCA) is inherent due to both inexact LCA procedures and variation of …

by Andrew J. Weaver (Science)  Expectations are high that the Kyoto Protocol, intended to reduce emissions of certain greenhouse gases (GHGs), will be extended after its first reporting period ends in 2012. The mechanisms available …

(OriginOil)  OriginOil, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technologyto extract oil from algae and an emerging leader in the global algae oil services industry, yesterday announced that Ennesys, its joint venture partner in France, is working with …

(Grain Farmers of Ontario)  Canadian biofuel is better for the environment than biofuel produced further south- in part due to our different agricultural practices – according to a new study released by the Grain Farmers …

by Martin Brown (GreenTechMedia)  By 2050, for example, the global population is expected to reach 9 billion, and in order to feed all these people, we’ll have to increase the world’s food production by 70 percent.
On its own, …

by Harry Cline  (Western Farm Press)  Camelina, a weed in the mustard and distant relative to canola, may be emerging as the front runner in California agriculture’s continuing search for a biofuel crop.
It captured the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  An interview with James Garton, president of Mission Biofuels USA subsidiary. We look at the jatropha 1.0 catastrophe, actual biodiesel capacity in the US, palm biodiesel, the RFS, and more.
…The …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The animal feed created as a byproduct of U.S. ethanol production could supply beef for 50 billion quarter-pound hamburgers every day, the Renewable Fuels Association says in a report. U.S. ethanol producers generated …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Over the past 12 months, it has become hard to count the number of advanced biofuels companies that are setting up partnerships, or exploring them, in Brazil – but it …

by Nathanial Gronewold (Greenwire/New York Times)  …Though 85 percent of Colombia’s cane crop is harvested this old-fashioned way, industry leaders say they have no intention of mechanizing the harvest, for fear of mass unemployment in …

(Reuters)  Namibia may ban large-scale growing of biofuel crops in the fertile Kavango and Caprivi regions after a recommendation by Environment and Tourism Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the Namibian Sun reported on Monday.
The ban is likely …

by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register)  The time could come when farmers aren’t getting on their tractors every spring to plant their crops, or even plowing their fields, exposing them to erosion.
At least that’s the …

by Lynwood Broaddus  (Free Lance Star/Fredericksburg.com)  …The editorial begins, “Ethanol production boosts food prices, steals feed corn for fuel. ”
One bushel of corn can produce 2.5 gallons of fuel ethanol, 12.4 pounds of 21 percent …

(Committee on Climate Change)  The Committee on Climate Change said today, that renewable energy should make a major contribution to decarbonising the UK economy over the next decades.
The conclusions are set out in the Committee’s …

by David Schwartz  (Algae Industry Magazine)  As an environmental engineering professor at California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo, CA, Dr. Tryg Lundquist researches how wastewater can make algae biofuel and how algae biofuel …

by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com)  Some researchers say that, at current production levels, algae biodiesel is not a commercially viable product. But some algae advocates believe researchers might have some ulterior motives for coming to that …

(Climate Solutions)  Alaska Airlines, The Boeing Company, Port of Seattle, Port of Portland, Spokane International Airport, and Washington State University have initiated a strategic stakeholder process to develop a “Flight Path” (action plan)  to produce …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The California State Assembly Committee on Transportation voted 6-3 on May 2 to defeat a bill that would have repealed the state’s ethanol producer incentive program (CEPIP) and made …

by Ariel Schwartz (Fast Company/EIN News)  Remember a few years ago when everyone decided that using algae as a biofuel feedstock would be the best thing ever? Well, progress on that front is moving so slowly …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  This was one of the best weeks yet in the Asian biofuels industry. China decided to promote 2G biofuels production and reduce its CO2 emissions by up to 45 …

by Yeh, Sonia, Sarah Jordaan, Adam Brandt, Merritt R. Turetsky, Sabrina Spatari, David W. Keith  (Institute of Transportation Studies/University of California-Davis)   Debates surrounding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use of biofuels production …

(GLG Research)   …Trade is the mechanism that has a better chance of triggering innovation and technological advancement that create markets and improvement in productivity that ultimately leads to lower costs. Subsidies and trade tariff protection …

BEFSCI is reaching out to producers to catalogue and showcase innovative approaches that have been used in sustainable bioenergy initiatives. We want to hear stories, experiences, lessons learned about what made these pioneering activities a success …

by Pete Harrison  (Reuters)  A divisive European debate over the green credentials of biofuels has stalled investment and threatens the future of some producers, but could also create lucrative opportunities, companies said on Tuesday.
After a …

by Nathanial Gronewold (New York Times/Greenwire)  …Government support for biodiesel has spurred a robust demand for palm oil that has put 50 percent more income into the pocket of farmer Misael Monsalve Moreno. He is …

(Radio New Zealand) /…Stuart Locke, who heads Waikato University’s Institute of Business Studies, says the need to free up land to produce ethanol will put pressure on farmers to house cattle and feed out supplements, …

by Steen Riisgaard (Huffington Post Green)  …More complicated types of biomass — corn cobs, wood chips, waste paper — are far more difficult to turn into energy. But this type of biomass–known as “cellulosic biomass” …

by Allison Kilkenny (Huffington Post)  This week marked the world premiere of GasHole, a new documentary film (narrated by Peter Gallagher) about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuels.
Biofuel gossip has been …

(GreenAirOnline)  The landmark White Paper on EU transport policy through to 2050, presented recently by the European Commission, unveiled a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent across all transport sectors relative to …

(Biofuels Center of North Carolina)  The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has awarded $1.6 million for 15 projects statewide to accelerate the commercialization of renewable liquid fuels. Awards are made through the 2011 Statewide Biofuels …

by Wang Xiaotian   (China Daily) The nation has plans to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 45 percent by 2020
China can become a leader in the production of second-generation (2G) biofuels, made from agricultural …

(AllAfrica.com)  Jatropha should not replace any crops in arable farms and instead should be cultivated by smallholder farmers as hedges for farms, an expert has warned.
Pamoja Inc Co-Director Jonathan Otto said in Dar es Salaam …

by Tonette Orejas  (Business.Inquirer.net)  Test farming of sweet sorghum in the last six years showed crop production in the Philippines to be 50 percent higher than in India, increasing the crop’s potential as a source …

(Pakistan Today)  Brazil and Pakistan produce huge amount of sugarcane and Brazil will soon establish its industry to help Pakistan in ethanol extraction or production from sugarcane which would bring about stability in petroleum prices …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  It was quite a shock to return from the exciting and very sustainability-oriented Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in Washington, DC to headlines like “Are our biofuel mandates fueling Islamic …

(JapanCorp.net)  Project to Make Efficient Use of Soft Cellulose
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has successfully established technology to produce ethanol for automobile fuel, satisfying the standards of the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO), from lignocellulose …

by Tom Lutey (Billings Gazette)  Camelina, the biofuel that five years ago Gov. Brian Schweitzer called his new girlfriend, now struggles for a planting date with Montana farmers.
“The biggest challenge of all is the price of wheat,” …

by Steven Medina (Biofuels Digest)  “He intensively grows corn for ethanol in clay soil that once grew corn for bootleg liquor and a variety of other crops to varying degrees of success, allowing my mother’s …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A new generation of technologists aim high in value, low in cost, as the race for sugars to process into biofuels amps up a notch or three
“You know, we hear …

by Bright Owusu  (Ghana mma)  The time has never been riper for the people of Ghana to speak out about the terrible negligence of consecutive governments who have allowed horrendous land grabs by foreign nationals …

by William McLennan (The Ecologist)  Campaigners are outraged over airline Lufthansa and German government funding for jatropha biofuels trial
The German government is financing a leading European airline’s biofuel trials despite claims from environmental groups it …

(Biocommodity.com)  Bhavnagar based research institute Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute(CSMCRI), is likely to initiate talks with oil companies for manufacturing jatropha-based biofuel on a commercial scale.
“We have recently been granted the US patent …

by David Bennett (Western Farm Press)  As food prices rise, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is not fond of claims that ethanol production is a major cause. He also says an uptick in grain prices will …

by Heather Thorstensen  (AgriNews.com)  Four Minnesota farmers were part of a group that traveled to Brazil in March to learn more about indirect land use change, a divisive issue surrounding biofuels.
The Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and …

(Industrial Fuels and Power)  A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that the widespread deployment of biofuels can play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector and enhancing …

by Kelly Brunkhorst  (Journal Star /Nebraska Corn Board)  J. Patrick Boyle’s column, “Corn ethanol: Burning up food budgets,” (LJS, April 21) may make a couple of valid points, but he omits many facts that need to …

by Morgan Gallagher (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …Rather than look at only the total mass yield of either the corn grain or the crop residue, we took a different approach. We measured the mass yield of …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)   Although natural gas is king of power generation at ethanol plants, there’s increasing interest in renewable energy technologies that could help ethanol plants someday produce a domestically grown …

(ScienceNewsLine/Carnegie Institution)  …Now scientists from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology have found that sugarcane has a double benefit. Expansion of the crop in areas previously occupied by other Brazilian crops cools the local …