by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  he debate over ethanol, greenhouse gases and land use continues – and that was the topic of a panel discussion at the recent 17th annual National Ethanol Conference.
The panel, moderated byRenewable Fuels …

(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 …

(US Environmental Protection Agency)  he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) to release its lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis of palm oil used as a feedstock to produce biodiesel and …

(PRNewsWire/Moneylife)  Scientific findings and process on biofuel crop presented in a paper delivered at INSULA (International Scientific Council for Island Development) / RSB (Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels), Conference in UNESCO, Paris
JOil (S) Pte Ltd, a scientific …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   Biofuels Digest senior editor Meghan Sapp, in her other role as Secretary-General of the Europe-based PANGEA (Partners for Euro-African Green Energy), released her organization’s breakthrough report on biofuels and …

by Achten, W. M. J., and L. V. Verchot (Ecology and Society)  Biofuels are receiving growing negative attention. Direct and/or indirect land-use changes that result from their cultivation can cause emissions due to carbon losses in …

by Rick Westhead (The Star)  …Indian industrialist Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi has his eye on this lush scenery, too, but he sees something much different: the potential for large-scale commercial farming.
Karuturi, from the South Indian city …

by Robert Vierhout (Ethanol Producer Magazine/ePURE)  …Even if that extra demand would not exist, why would European politicians want to increase idled land, knowing that year-on-year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the …

by Damian Carrington (The Guardian/The Observer)  The collapse of Sun Biofuels has left hundreds of Tanzanians landless, jobless, and in despair for the future
“People feel this is like the return of colonialism,” says Athumani Mkambala, chairman …

(US Department of Energy)  The Biomass Program released the “Land-Use Change and Bioenergy” summary report. This publication describes the Biomass Program’s efforts to examine the intersection of land-use change and bioenergy production. It outlines legislation …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …ILUC mitigation practices identified by Ernst & Young include the development of advanced generation biofuels, improvements to crop yields on existing agricultural land, the use of co-products for animal feed …

by Finnigan Wa Simbeye    (AllAfrica.com)  An ambitious biodiesel project which was allocated over 8,000 hectares of land by Kisarawe district officials in 2008 is in trouble.
Employees and casual workers of Sun Biofuels Plc, told Business …

by Vivienne Raper  (Wall Street Journal)  Jumbo jets powered by chip fat and algae could be appearing on the horizon soon
…But behind the eye-catching headlines, debate rages about whether enough cheap fuel made from renewable …

(Radio Netherlands Worldwide)  ”Shell must leave our land… The companies must stop using indigenous land,” said Ambrosio Vilhalva, a Guarani from the Caarapo municipality in the southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
“We want justice, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Can biotech and biofuels relieve pressure on water, land, food and fuel by revolutionizing meat production?
…(O)ne sector that fell outside our focus on biofuels – but has important consequences for …

by Mario Osava (Aljazeera)  Biofuels are an alternative energy source that can drive local development by generating jobs, know-how and technology. But they can also cause social damage, as locals fear in the case of …

by Tiffany Stecker (ClimateWire/Scientific American)  A study looks into giving farmers permission to harvest cellulosic feedstocks on land set aside for wetlands and wildlife conservation
Growing cellulosic feedstocks on federally subsidized conservation land could balance the biofuels emissions …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  At the Biomass 2011 conference in Washington, a lively debate session provided a bumper crop of questions from the audience – too many to answer at the time. At the …

by Julia Olmstead (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Traveling together to Brazil, Americans representing a range of perspectives on ethanol and environmentalism attempt to forge a shared path toward ethanol sustainability
…The divisiveness of the indirect land use …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  In the Philippines, a new study by that Asian Development Bank finds that “Pongamia provides better economic returns [than other Indian feedstocks]. Even under a 15% social discount rate …

(European Commission)  Brussels, 19 July 2011 – Biofuels can represent an environmentally-friendly replacement of fossil fuels. However, we need to make sure that tropical forests and carbon rich peatlands are not turned into oil palm …

(Rainharvest)  To achieve “win-win outcomes” for bio-energy, food security and poverty reduction, we must recognise that these outcomes are possible.
This is what Prof Lee Lynd, of Dartmouth College and the Mascoma Corporation, told delegates during …

(Guardian News and Mail)  Gamba Manyatta village is empty now, weeds already roping around the few skeletal hut frames still standing. The people who were evicted took as much of their building materials as they …

(Business Wire)  Addax Bioenergy S.A. (“Addax Bioenergy”), a subsidiary of the Swiss-based energy group, The Addax and Oryx Group Limited (AOG), announced today the signing of a loan agreement with seven European and African development …

(US Department of Energy)  The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Biomass Program will be conducting detailed biennial peer review meetings of its activities throughout the first half …

(AllAfrica/The Citizen)  Tanzania is set to import ethanol from Brazil in its bid to lower fuel prices by 10 per cent.
This was said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend by Mr Leo Lyayuka, a …

by Sarah Pilgrim and Mark Harvey  (Sociological Research Online)  In this paper, we argue that a consortium of NGOs has played a significant role in shaping the market for, and restricting the use of, biofuels …

(Minnesota Public Radio News)  The Assertion: The state and federal government should continue subsidizing ethanol
Ethanol’s promise as America’s path to energy self-sufficiency once seemed strong. But in recent years, that attraction has been tempered. Even …

by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia)  Before the advent of cheap petroleum, farmers often had their own “fuel patch” of local oilseed crops that served as feedstock for the biodiesel needed to power pumps, generator …

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 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 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 …

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 …

(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 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 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 …

The latest report from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Biofuels: ethical issues, is published today. …
The report considers the ethical, social and policy issues raised by biofuels. The rapid adoption of biofuels has been driven …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The public says “depends on the feedstock,” but generally more moral than converting land for oil & gas or housing. An in-depth Digest survey looks at a wide variety of …

by Deepak Rajagopal, G. Hochman, and D. Zilberman (Science Direct)  A common assumption in lifecycle assessment (LCA) based estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits (or costs) of renewable fuel such as biofuel is that it simply …

by David Zilberman, Gal Hochman, and Deepak Rajagopal  (AgBioForum)  Concern about the possible effects of biofuels on deforestation have led to assigning biofuel producers with the responsibility for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the …

by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Biofuels Digest)   …This faux debate is as important to future ethanol producers as it is to existing ethanol producers. And those looking to capitalize on starch-based ethanol’s public relations …

by Jenny Mandel (New York Times/Greenwire)  Conducting in-depth life-cycle assessments of the environmental impacts of biofuels is complicated, and new research suggests some questions in comparing biofuels to alternatives like petroleum-based fuels will never be …

by Samihah Zaman  (Gulfnews)   More production aids development
There is currently no need to worry that increasing biofuel crops for transport purposes will create food shortages and food price rises in the world, a panel …

by Charles Abbott  (Reuters)  The higher quality of the U.S. corn crop could yield more ethanol per bushel and divert less of the crop to biofuels, which could raise tight ending stocks by 20 percent, …

by Robert Vierhout  (ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  It took the European Commission several stakeholder meetings, two public consultations and many more economic modelling studies to conclude that the indirect land use change (ILUC) effects of biofuel …

by Steven Sexton, David Zilberman   (National Bureau of Economic Research)  Increased global demand for biofuels is placing increased pressure on agricultural systems at a time when traditional sources of yield improvements have been mostly exhausted, generating …