by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Florida, the Digest today releases its annual review of biofuels mandates and targets around the world, looking at the state of biofuels mandates in 62 countries. The bulk of mandates continue to come from the
Kenya
Back TO HOMEProject on Bioenergy in Africa Successfully Completed
(Netzwerk Biotriebstoffe) The ERA-ARD project “Bioenergy in Africa: Opportunities and Risks of Jatropha and Related Crops” was officially closed at the end of March 2013. Within this project the coordinator published 5 Policy Briefs with the results of the project
September 19, 2013 Read Full Article
Board Ties Sugar Mill Licences to Power Generation
by Gerald Andae (Business Daily Africa) The Kenya Sugar Board asks firms to start ethanol and electricity production in next two years. Private and State-owned sugar millers that will not have started electricity generation and ethanol production in the next
August 08, 2013 Read Full Article
Biofuel Project in Kenya Ignites Land, Environmental Disputes
by Robyn Dixon (Los Angeles Times) Foreign firms seeking land in Africa for biofuel crops run into opposition from communities and environmental activists despite promising jobs and development. With its leaf-thatched mud huts, bad roads, chronic unemployment, crushing poverty and vast
June 25, 2013 Read Full Article
New Initiative Equips Farmers to Combat Climate Change and Increase Food Security
(BusinessWire) Radio Lifeline, a non-profit based in the US, announces the launch of the Black Earth Project, a new initiative designed to help farmers mitigate the growing effects of climate change. Radio Lifeline’s partner in this project is re:char, a leading developer of small-scale biochar
February 19, 2013 Read Full Article
Kenya: Kisumu Molasses Resumes Operations
by Justus Ochieng (AllAfrica) THE Kisumu molasses plant will outsource for raw materials from Uganda and Tanzania to continue its operations. Insufficient supply of molasses has derailed operations at the company. The plant had been closed for some few Weeks due
February 10, 2013 Read Full Article
Sustainable Energy for All: Focus of Sustainable Energy Symposium
by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) The United Nation’s emphasis of “Sustainable Energy for All” (SE4All) in 2012 wrapped up with a decision to continue the focus with a Sustainable Energy for All Decade. The Pennsylvania Sustainable Energy Fund (SEF)
December 14, 2012 Read Full Article
Kenyan Biofuel Dream Proves Elusive for Alberta Firm
by Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Edmonton Journal) Bedford Biofuels’ plantation is stalled, and along with it the company’s promise to provide jobs and cash for community development ...Though this is an arid and unforgiving area, the land surrounding Garsen should have been green with
December 03, 2012 Read Full Article
Food Crises and Technological Phobia
by Drew Kershen (BioFortified) ...I do not write to enter the debate focused on fuel standards, markets and commodity speculators. I acknowledge that other factors also contribute to food crises, particularly in developing nations – e.g., underfunded agricultural research and
September 07, 2012 Read Full Article
Swedish-Kenyan Wins Prize For Kenyan Biofuel Business
(Ventures-Africa) A 32-year-old Swedish-Kenyan has won the European-African Entrepreneurship Award for a proposal to covert used cooking oils, widely used in the restaurant industry, into biodiesel. The awards were held in The Hague in the Netherlands, with nine African-European entrepreneurs pitching their ideas
September 05, 2012 Read Full Article
CLC bio Collaborates with Donald Danforth Plant Science Center on the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa Project
(CLC bio) Today CLC bio and the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology (ILTAB) at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, announced a collaboration to benefit the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa project (VIRCA), a partnership including researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science
July 04, 2012 Read Full Article
Hero Seeks Ethanol Engine Partners for Brazil: Corporate India
by Karthikeyan Sundaram and Siddharth Philip (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (HMCL), India’s biggest motorcycle maker, is seeking partners for products such as blended-fuel compatible engines as it prepares to tap customers in Brazil and Kenya to combat sliding
June 06, 2012 Read Full Article
East Africa: U.S. Firm to Turn Hyacinth Into Ethanol
by David Muwanga (AllAfrica.com) As the East African Community (EAC) was planning to release a total of Ksh1b for the removal of the water hyacinth from Lake Victoria, a United States based technology company has written to the secretariat proposing
May 24, 2012 Read Full Article
JOil Announces Elite Jatropha Varieties Returns Repeatable Yields of over 2 Tons of Seeds per Hectare in First Year of India Field Trials
(JOil) • Tamil Nadu sites achieve first-year flowering in three months and first harvest in five months • Field trials now being conducted in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia JOil (S) Pte. Ltd., a scientific bioenergy crop developer of a new
March 22, 2012 Read Full Article
Sh12 Billion Biofuel Complex Set to Be Constructed in Bungoma
(Daily Nation) A Sh12 billion biofuel complex to produce fuel ethanol from tropical sugar beet will be started in Bungoma, with construction commencing immediately. The first trail run is expected early next year. The company, Webco, which is funded by investors
March 05, 2012 Read Full Article
African Wildlife Haven Threatened by Biofuels Land Grab
by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (FocusingOnWildlife.com) A Kenyan wildlife haven threatened by the rush to grow biofuels for European companies such as IKEA, has been saved. The Dakatcha Woodland in Kenya – home to several globally threatened
March 01, 2012 Read Full Article
Nigerian Government Agency Launches Microdistillery and Stoves to Provide Sustainable Ethanol Fuel for Household Cooking, Lighting and Small-Scale Power Generation
(Project Gaia) Nigerian Government Agency Launches Microdistillery and Stoves to Provide Sustainable Ethanol Fuel for Household Cooking, Lighting and Small-Scale Power Generation The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), a parastatal under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, has commissioned
February 28, 2012 Read Full Article
Horn of Africa Famine – Ethanol Cookstoves for Dadaab Refugee Camp
(Project Gaia) Project Gaia, Inc., a U.S. non profit with operations in East Africa, is working with the UNHCR and others to bring relief to refugees from the Horn of Africa Famine in a very immediate way—cooking. Project Gaia promotes alcohol
November 30, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuels in Eastern Africa: Dangers Yes, but Much Potential as Well
(Netzwerk Biotriebstoffe News) Biofuel production is booming. Worldwide, production of ethanol for fuel has almost quintupled since 2000, while that of biodiesel has risen by almost 25 times. This is, in part, a response to policies to replace fossil fuels for
October 12, 2011 Read Full Article
Madagascar: Don't Revoke Jatropha Licence, Tana Leaders Plead
by Henry Wanyama (AllAfrica.com) Tana River councillors have asked the National Environmental Management Authority not to revoke a biofuel project licence in the area. Led by Tana River County Council chairman Salim Golo, they said they are happy with the
September 29, 2011 Read Full Article
Bedford Biofuels Threatens Kenya's Tana Delta
(Nature Canada) Nature Canada is concerned that a Canadian company – Bedford Biofuels – plans plans to set up a jatropha tree plantation in Kenya's Tana Delta, an area that provides refuge for 350 bird species. ...The latest news from our
September 08, 2011 Read Full Article
Kenya Develops Unique Bio-Ethanol Gel Biofuel for Kitchen Use
by Joao Peixe (OilPrice.com) The bio-ethanol gel is an alternative biofuel developed by Consumer's Choice Limited to reduce Kenya’s reliance on imported petroleum. ...Consumer's Choice Limited developed a bio-ethanol gel made from molasses derived from sugarcane. Kadhi noted, "During the sugar
August 22, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuels Land Grab in Kenya's Tana Delta Fuels Talk of War
(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 could carry to start again
July 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Investor Yet to Meet conditions for Licensing of Jatropha Project
By Mazera Ndurya and Daniel Nyassy (Daily Nation) The environmental watchdog has not licensed a controversial multi-million shilling jatropha project because the investor has not complied with some of the conditions set by the government. Although the government has not out
June 08, 2011 Read Full Article
European Commission Sued for Lack of Transparency on Biofuels Policy
(Client Earth) The European Commission has been sued, accused of violating European transparency laws. Environmental law organisation ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE), FERN and Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) filed the lawsuit following the Commission’s refusal to provide access
May 27, 2011 Read Full Article
Tanzania: Expert Faults Commercial Jatropha Investments
(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 recently that jatropha as a
April 29, 2011 Read Full Article
Microfuelers: Biofuels Companies Aim Big, by Thinking Small
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...NGOs in Africa have been touting for some time the use of ethanol cook stoves, to replace three-stone, wood based stoves that can trigger local deforestation and expose women and girls (who do much of
March 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Jatropha Biofuels More Harmful than Oil
by Ricardo Sequeiros Coelho (CoolTheEarth) A report by ActionAid, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature Kenya revealed that using biofuels from jatropha results in more greenhouse gas emissions than using oil (PDF). More specifically, taking into
March 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Kenya: NEMA Orders New Study On Biofuel Tree
by Mazera Ndurya (AllAfrica.com) A team of specialists has been set up to study the viability of the controversial jatropha trees after renewed interest by foreign investors to start the project. The team was formed by the National Environment management Authority
March 10, 2011 Read Full Article
Firm Plans to Generate Electricity from Ethanol
by Xinhua (Business Daily) A Kenyan green energy firm has announced plans to generate ethanol-based electricity. Gravitas Ltd managing director Lorna Omuondo said the company will introduce ethanol-powered cells into the market by mid year. This is expected to replace
January 06, 2011 Read Full Article
Reality Check for 'Miracle' Biofuel Crop
by Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku (SciDev) It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders. That is what
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Mumias to Start Production of Ethanol Next Year, Says Kidero
by Joseph Bonyo (Daily Nation) ...The plant that is expected to produce about 22 million litres of ethanol a year will be the latest addition to the firm’s portfolio. According to the company, the ethanol will be targeted for sale within
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Mumias Sugar of Kenya Gets $20 Million Loan for Power Plant, Nation Says
by Eric Ombok (Bloomberg) Mumias Sugar Co., Kenya’s largest producer of the sweetener, secured a 1.6 billion-shilling ($20 million) loan for its ethanol plant to be commissioned next year, the Daily Nation reported. A group of banks led by Ecobank
September 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuel Project Sparks Wrangle
(AllAfrica) A planned biofuel project in Magarini District (Kenya) has put Malindi County Council and ecologists on a collision course. This follows a request by the National Environment Management Authority for residents' views on the project, which requires 50,000 acres to
May 14, 2010 Read Full Article
How a Biofuel 'Miracle' Ruined Kenyan Farmers
by Nick Wadhams/Kibwezi (Time) Everyone in Kibwezi, a village in southeastern Kenya parched by four years of drought, remembers the promises. It all started in 2000, when the government started preaching the word about a plant called jatropha curcas. That