Articles tagged with: land use
(European Environment Agency) Making Europe’s production, consumption and trade in food environmentally sustainable is possible, but it will require a major shift in public attitudes, policies and knowledge and seizing current opportunities for change, according to …
by Aino Siirala* (Advanced Biofuels USA) The 10th Biofuels International Conference and Expo took place in Edinburgh this year. The conference was co-located with Bioenergy Insight 2017 conference which gave the participants an opportunity to …
(EU Reporter) Ahead of key votes on the post-2020 EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) in the ITRE, ENVI and TRAN Committees of the European Parliament (EP), EU Biodiesel Chain held a debate in Strasbourg aimed …
(National Biodiesel Board) A new academic paper published in Biotechnology for Biofuels shows biodiesel’s benefits are even better than previous models suggest. Updated modeling from Purdue University suggests the advantage of using biodiesel has been underestimated by …
by Jeremy Deaton (Nexus Media) … Many are leasing their fields to solar developers in need of flat land clear of trees and other obstructions. This practice has become so popular that the Solar Energy Industries Association published …
by Dick Roche (Irish Examiner) When it was enacted in 2009, the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive was seen as a progressive step towards meeting Europe’s climate change targets …. — The directive — which provided …
(Bio-based News) U research project MAGIC kicks off — On 4-5 July 2017, the 25 partners involved in the EU funded research project MAGIC held their kick-off meeting at the Copa-Cogeca secretariat in Brussels. Led …
(International Renewable Energy Agency) Southeast Asia has considerable resources to produce liquid biofuels sustainably, using biomass feedstocks that would not cause carbon-dioxide emissions or interfere with food supply. Fulfilling the region’s biofuel potential would depend on …
(Biofuels International) Biofuels are needed to meet the UK’s commitments to mitigating climate change, according to a new report requested by the county’s government.
Second generation biofuels, made from wastes and by-products of other sectors, will …
(Phys.Org/ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) … To penalize the carbon emissions from this so-called indirect land use change, the USEPA and California Air Resources Board include an indirect land use change factor when considering the …
by James Bobreski (Finger Lakes Times) … Ethanol is the alcohol in our beer that we enjoy at a ball game, a party or after a long day at work. In this author’s opinion that’s where it …
(Phys.Org/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Corn is grown not only for food, it is also an important renewable energy source. Renewable biofuels can come with hidden economic and environmental issues, and the question of whether …
by Emily Druckman (Renewable Fuels Association) More than a decade after the original renewable fuel standard (RFS) was signed into law, tremendous progress has been made toward its goals of energy security, clean air and …
(BECOOL/AltEnergyMag) A new Horizon 2020 project will foster cooperation between Europe and Brazil in the development of advanced biofuels from sustainable agricultural value chains, based on lignocellulosic biomass. Coordinated by the University of Bologna, Department …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The production of Agrisoma’s Resonance Carinata is being expanded to multiple locations globally to provide a supply of sustainable, non-food oils for meeting the demand for sustainable biofuels. Resonance Carinata …
“Think of it as 100+ acres of energy storage and carbon sequestration,” said Kelly King, Vice President and Co-Founder of Pacific Biodiesel and recently inaugurated member of the Maui County Council. “There are 36,000 acres …
by Marc J. Rauch (The Auto Channel) … Faced with some actual governmental actions that were detrimental to gasoline/diesel dominance, instead of the virtual carte blanche pro-petroleum fuel policies that they usually receive from the government, …
by Tim Jamison (The Courier) The city is donating land and extending sewer in the Martin Road business park to lure a new biodiesel fuel blending facility.
Waterloo City Council members voted unanimously Monday to approve …
by Bruce Dale (Detroit News) Regarding “Renewable Fuel Standard has failed, April 16,” Prof. Wolfram has failed to do his homework.
The corn grown to make ethanol is not the same as sweet corn we eat. …
by Daryl Worthington (Biofuels International) Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the European Parliament Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforests, describing it as ‘discriminative’.
In addition, the ministry claims the EU decision was …
by Jim Lane (BiofuelsDigest) … For any society, an even more perfect class of technology assets would allow us to move in either direction — perfect convertibility. When energy prices are low and supply is …
by Jessie Stolark (Energy and Environmental Study Institute) Are we using the right tools to understand land use change, particularly at the local level, and how can understanding of land use change be improved?
The Renewable Fuel …
(Alliance Bio-Products) The company’s patented CTS process presents a viable option for growing biofuel production efforts with its ability to produce cellulosic ethanol at a lower cost and without harmful environmental impact — Alliance Bio-Products, …
edited by John Love and John A. Bryant (Wiley-Blackwell) With increased public and scientific attention driven by factors such as oil price spikes, the need for increased energy security, and concerns over greenhouse gas emissions …
by Ashwin Raman (Duluth News Tribune/Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association) I believe the March 21 story, “Habitat loss highest near ethanol plants,” did a disservice to readers because it cited a study that contains dubious and inaccurate conclusions.
The …
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) RFA’s president and CEO highlights key facts from the organization’s annual industry outlook handbook in the View from the Hill column — … The handbook dives into …
by Jordan Lubetkin (National Wildlife Federation) Millions of acres of wildlife habitat are being lost to crop production, according to a new peer-reviewed study published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, which found a …
David C. Walmsley Rob Bailis, and Alexandra-Maria Klein (Environmental Science & Technology) Despite setbacks, interest in Jatropha cultivation remains high. This study addressed the question to what extent Jatropha cultivation has replaced specific vegetation and …
by Stephen Rapundalo (Morning Consult/MichBio) The United States Department of Agriculture just dropped a truth bomb. According to the agency’s new landmark report, the carbon benefits associated with homegrown ethanol have far surpassed previous expectations …
(Phys.Org) A new study published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico offers the first regional look at lands being converted to palm oil plantations in …
(RightsAndResources.org) Experts at Dakar event point to a significant cause of investment losses, work stoppages and violence across Africa: the failure of governments and companies to respect the land rights of indigenous and local communities
Sixty-three …
by Nicolas Loris (DownsizingGovernment.org/The Heritage Foundation) … The problem is not with the voluntary use of biofuels in the marketplace, but rather policies that mandate and subsidize biofuels. …
Congress should end its intervention in the biofuels …
(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) Climate Researchers Study Impacts of Land-use Change on Carbon Dioxide – Reforestation Is Important to Climate Protection and Species Diversity – Study in Nature Geoscience — CO2 emissions caused by changes …
(U.S. Department of Energy/Ethanol Producer Magazine) The 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16), Volume 2: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from Volume 1, jointly released by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Oak Ridge …
by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the Competitive Enterprises Institute has put forth proposals for the next session of Congress including freezing the Renewable Fuel Standard below the blend wall while setting a sunset …
(Environmental Research Web) Cultivating algae for food and biofuel could make a serious dent in our greenhouse gas emissions, as well as helping to save freshwater resources and reduce deforestation.
Currently the emissions associated with land-use …
by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In Belgium, following on from the November release of their joint publication “The Black Book of Bioenergy”, Birdlife Europe and Central Asia has again teamed with Transport & Environment on …
by David DeGennaro (National Wildlife Federation) Since Congress passed into law in 2005 a federal mandate to blend corn-based ethanol and other renewable fuels into conventional gasoline, the increased demand for corn – which has supplied …
by Dick Roche (EurActiv/Pannonia Ethanol) A response delivered by Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete in the European Parliament last week demonstrates just how dangerously out of touch with reality the executive is on a policy that …
by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) The Great Plains lost more grassland to agriculture in 2014 than the Brazilian Amazon lost to deforestation, says a recent report from the World Wildlife Fund. And it argues that …
by Carol Werner (Environmental and Energy Study Institute/Morning Consult) … H.R. 5180, a proposal introduced by U.S. Representative Bill Flores (R-Texas), would place a 9.7 percent cap on consumption of homegrown biofuels, rolling back 11 years …
by Jeremy Cox (DelmarvaNow.com) … The measure would bar the energy projects from lands in agricultural zones. That would rob solar developers of their preferred land-use type for building. The recipe for catching rays, after all, …
by Anthony Adragna (Politico’s Morning Energy) … YOU BUILD ME UP: The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate released a report today that found $90 trillion in infrastructure investments will be needed over the …
(International Council on Clean Transportation) … Indonesia’s policies promoting the development of biofuels has always been portrayed as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Government officials and the oil palm industry assert that implementation …
by Keith L. Kline, Siwa Msangi, Virginia H. Dale, Jeremy Woods, Glaucia M. Souza, Patricia Osseweijer, Joy S. Clancy, Jorge A. Hilbert, Francis X. Johnson, Patrick C. McDonnell, Harriet K. Mugera (Global Change Biology Bioenergy) Understanding the complex interactions among food security, bioenergy sustainability, and …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association/Denver Post) Re: “EPA dodges responsibility on ethanol,” Sept. 3 editorial. The ethanol industry agrees with The Denver Post that the Environmental Protection Agency should conduct updated scientific assessments on …
by Dick Roche (Biofuels Digest/Pannonia Ethanol) Just as the EU institutions were shutting up shop for the long summer break the EU Commission issued its strategy to reduce transport emissions in the post 2020 period, ‘European …
(U.S. Geological Survey) The Northern Great Plains of North and South Dakota, which support over 40 percent of United States commercial honey bee colonies, are quickly becoming less conducive to commercial beekeeping as a result of …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) … Mr. (Mark) Perry suggests (without any scientific support or a single citation) that ethanol expansion has somehow led to “destruction” of prairie in the Great Plains, but says not …
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/U.S. News and World Report) … Indeed, it’s fairly obvious that (Mark) Perry’s yarn is simply intended to shift attention away from the real culprit behind destruction of prairie in the Great …
(Collective Action and Property Rights) In this blog, Farai Mutondoro, Mary Jane Ncube, Manase Chiweshe and Derick Hamunakwadi discuss the impact of land corruption, particularly on women. The blog is informed by a case study …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A recent column provides some insight into anti-ethanol stances by making a connection between beef prices, the cow herd expansion and restaurant profits, with rather breath-taking simplification. — A …
by Nicolas Loris (The Heritage Foundation/The Intelligencer) … President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law and expanded it in 2007. The RFS, which originated with that act, mandates that refiners mix …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) … With a potential omnibus spending package on the table this fall, the oil industry and some environmental groups have raised again the proposition of RFS reform. Two major claims made …
by Jessie Stolark (The Hill/Environmental and Energy Study Institute) … The total amount of U.S. land under production by American farmers is down– not just over the last 50 or 100 years, but also over the last decade according …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) Here we go again. We didn’t think it could get much worse than the Associated Press hit piece on ethanol in late 2013. But an ethanol hatchet job by …
by Spencer Chase (Agri-Pulse) … When it comes to land use, Colin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, testified that a University of Wisconsin study had shown that 7.3 million acres of land had …
by Jeremy Martin (Union of Concerned Scientists) Most discussions about biofuels center on ethanol, but biodiesel—a diesel-substitute made from vegetable oils and animal fats—is increasingly important as well. But where does biodiesel come from, and what …
by Keith L. Kline, Siwa Msangi, Virginia H. Dale, Jeremy Woods, Glaucia M. Souza, Patricia Osseweijer, Joy S. Clancy, Jorge A. Hilbert, Francis X. Johnson, Patrick C. McDonnell, Harriet K. Mugera (Global Change Biology: Bioenergy) … Understanding the nexus of food security, bioenergy sustainability, and resource management …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … The headline from the event is that projects and feedstock providers are more engaged than we have seen previously — a wave of technology development that once took place …
(Algae Biomass Organization) As we noted in a recent post, Carbon Balance and Management journal published a study in late 2015 touting the emissions reduction potential of algae when used as animal feed. The authors …
by Liz Gyekye (Biofuels International) A cross-party group of MPs has said that the UK government would probably abandon the EU’s biomass and policy if it was not committed to it by EU law.
The group, part …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In the world of fuels, Neste Oil has backed away from palm oil in order to expand in the US market on more favorable terms, with palm’s lowly status after …
by John Vidal (The Guardian) Climate change and poor returns on wheat and dairy drive rural revolution in ‘future-proof’ agriculture — … In Essex, David Eagle is growing acres of sea buckthorn, a salt-tolerant plant that …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … (W)hen you compare them to homogenized, uniform, high-yield, purpose-grown energy crops. residues may be queer, but they are here. Not only available, but reliable, you can count on the …
(Comet Biorefining) Cellulosic Sugar Producers Cooperative, an Ontario-based farmer’s cooperative, confirms that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Comet Biorefining to collaborate on the development of a sustainable agricultural biomass supply chain …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In South Africa,, Chromatin and Zaad Holdings have entered into an alliance to produce and distribute planting seed for grain and forage sorghum throughout the African continent.
In Africa, sorghum is …
(Phys.Org) Despite high expectations and extensive research and investment in the last decade, technological options are still in developing stages and key resources for algal growth are still too onerous for economically viable production of …
(Purdue University) Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the …
by Tom Dennis (Grand Forks Herald) … What happened is that crude oil production soared in North Dakota and elsewhere around the United States. More domestic oil production means less need to import foreign oil—and …
For Immediate Release February 12, 2016—Frederick, MD Advanced Biofuels USA correspondent Robert E. Kozak analyses the potential for a reinvigorated US shale oil/gas industry with and without government subsidies; and compares it to the potential for near-term …
Efforts to promote a sustainable use of natural resources are not a waste of money, but rather an investment capable of providing other economic benefits in the medium term. If we look at the larger …
(Petro-Online.com) The roads of Brazil are flooded with over 36 million cars. With over 60% of vehicles running on ethanol based petrol, the environmental credentials of the country are impressive. Over the past few years, …
(ePURE) … At ePURE, the association representing European ethanol producers, we believe that renewable ethanol can play an important role in decarbonising transport.
Because ethanol can be blended with petrol to run in existing engines, it is …
by Stephanie Pearl (US Department of Agriculture) Alaska Airlines will conduct a demonstration flight in 2016 using 1,000 gallons of jet fuel made from forest scraps.
The aviation biofuel was derived from twigs and small branches …
(Farm Futures) Biofuel from stover could favor continuous corn, other production changes — … If technology and government support become economically viable, converting corn stover to biofuels would affect farmers’ planting decisions and crop rotation …
(US Department of Energy) BETO recently published a report summarizing the proceedings of the second Incorporating Bioenergy in Sustainable Landscape Designs Workshop, held June 24–26, 2014, in Argonne, Illinois. The workshop focused on agricultural landscapes and …
by Stephanie Mercier (Ag Web) The U.S. biofuels sector marks its birth back in 1979, when Congress established a blender’s credit for ethanol as the earliest piece of federal biofuel policy as part of the Energy …
(Biofuels Digest/Bloomberg) The Earth Partners, LLC restores and develops degraded lands. The company also engages in the production of biomass, which restores the land’s soil health and water resources; restoration of mined land; development of …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As America’s farmers hit retirement age and technology options explode, what comes next?
… The average age of the US farmer reached 58.3 years in the USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture. …
by Padma Nagappan (TakePart) … Now researchers at the United States Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory think they have a solution that allows farmers to profit from growing both food and advanced biofuels while benefitting …
by Jose Graziano DA Silva (UN Food and Agriculture Organization/AllAfrica.com) Over the past several years, biofuels have become a bone of contention. For some, a renewable energy source produced from organic matter amounts to a …
by Payal Marathe (Argonne National Laboratory) We ask a lot of the land: feed the world with crops, power the world with bioenergy, retain nutrients so they don’t pollute our water and air. To help …
(SciDev.net) At least 500 million hectares are available for growing biofuel crops; This is after considering rising food demand and growing urbanisation; Only up to 200 million hectares would be needed to slash fossil fuel use
Converting grazing …
(ePURE) On the occasion of its annual general assembly, the European renewable ethanol association (ePURE) has today released its annual 2015 State of the Industry Report.
The annual report offers a comprehensive look at the European ethanol …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) HOSPRO is dedicated to battle the 95+% import of petroleum for energy and electricity generation by promoting the development of tree based oil seed crops. We are focusing on oil …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) In a May 8 letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Senators Markey and Warren, both Democrats from Massachusetts, question the value of bioenergy, energy sourced from cellulosic and woody material, …
(SCOPE) Bioenergy & Sustainability is a collective effort with contributions from 137 researchers of 82 institutions in 24 countries. The volume is the outcome of an assessment that included a meeting held at UNESCO, Paris, …
(Phys.org) A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that, when looking at the production site alone, growing biofuel crops can have a significant impact on climate depending on location and crop …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) It may soon be possible to certify that biomass is not only sustainably sourced, but also considered low-risk for indirect land use change (ILUC). The Roundtable on Sustainable …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) A recent study published in Environmental Research Letters by authors at the University of Wisconsin uses error-prone satellite data to suggest that growth in U.S. corn and soybean production …
(Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison) Clearing grasslands to make way for biofuels may seem counterproductive, but researchers show that crops, including the corn and soy commonly used for biofuels, expanded onto 7 million acres of new …
by Todd Neeley (DTN Progressive Farmer) Though real-world data suggest biofuel production has not led to so-called indirect land-use change, the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, continues to see ILUC as a vital part of …
by Thomas N. Thompson (Biofuels Digest/U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), Washington) … This superb collection of essays shows that Latin America is emerging as a major global producer of biofuels as countries across the region seek to …
by Eduardo Porter (The New York Times) Does combating climate change require burning the world’s forests and crops for fuel? …
Absent a big increase in bioenergy supplies, the climate change panel’s analysis reported, it would …
by Robert Pool, Rapporteur; Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Institute of Medicine (National Academies Press) Liquid fuels are a major part of modern life. They supply …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) In the World Resources Institute (WRI) working paper, “Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land,” the authors work off the assumption that land-use decisions are used making an “either-or” …
(Renewable Fuels Association) Today (January 30, 2015), the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) criticized a new report by World Resources Institute (WRI) for its false data on the environmental and land use impacts of biofuels. …
(Union of Concerned Scientists) A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) finds that reducing emissions from the land sector must be part of a global climate solution in order to close the “emissions …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) A new analysis of real-world land use data by Iowa State University raises serious concerns about the accuracy of models used by regulatory agencies regarding “indirect land use changes” (ILUC) attributed …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Biofuels now account for 1 percent of global energy use, a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development finds. “The State of the Biofuels Market: Regulatory, …
by Al Costa (Global Biobusiness) …To this end, it becomes increasingly clear that “verticality” is a key issue. This means crops which occupy little space horizontally and as much space vertically. After all, a …
by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post) The multibillion-dollar Anschutz Exploration Corp., which helped make its founder, Philip Anschutz, one of the richest men in America, filed a lawsuit three years ago against Dryden, a small town in …
(PR NewsWire/Illinois Corn Marketing Board) Land attributable to ethanol will drop from current 25% to as little as 11% of U.S. corn acres
A too common error made in reporting the amount of land used for U.S. …
(Sierra Express Media) Addax Bioenergy (SL) Limited has been fully and formally certified under the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB). This is said to quite an achievement and everyone involved has to be commended. RSB …
by Anna Locke and Giles Henley (Overseas Development Institute) • People worry that using crop-based biofuels to increase the volume of low-carbon fuels could worsen hunger in poor countries by pushing up global food prices and endangering local food …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) After six years of debate — finally a database appears on actual indirect land use change. The Partners? Including Google, UNEP, Imazon, the Center for Global Development, the University of …
(Friends of the Earth Europe) Illegal and harmful production of palm oil in Indonesia is continuing, reveals a new report released today by Friends of the Earth.
The study concludes that voluntary guidelines, such as those …
by Felix Creutzig, Esteve Corbera, Simon Bolwig and Carol Hunsberger (IOP Science) Integrated assessment models suggest that the large-scale deployment of bioenergy could contribute to ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. However, such a shift would …
by Mackinnon Lawrence (Forbes) … Companies like SG Biofuels, Ceres, and others are squarely focused on biotechnology innovation, involving complex biological modifications at the crop’s cellular and genetic level. The central focus of these efforts is the optimization of …
(Ghana Business News) Mr Cyril T. Quist, Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Agriculture, has said mining and biofuel production in the country posed a threat to agriculture. He said efforts at promoting sustainable food systems …
(BioenergyCrops.com) A brand new study (2013) found that the projected energy demand (2035) in developing countries, can be covered with energy crops in surplus agricultural lands, then not competing with food production. The study, from the Department …
(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 …
by Makhtar Diop (AllAfrica) Few development challenges in Africa are as pressing and controversial as land ownership and its persistent gap between rich and poor communities.
With a profound demographic shift in Africa from rural areas …
by Carlo Hamelinck (Euractiv.com/Ecofys) …By effectively decreasing the ambition on biofuels, as it is currently debated in the European Parliament and the Council, we walk away from concerns without solving them.
There are a few key …
(EurActiv)
Leaders of the EU and their partners in the G8 nations are under mounting pressure to reconsider their support for biofuel targets amid concern that plant oil production competes with food output in poor countries.
Britain, …
(European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Energy and Transport) In the current European energy policy framework, biogenic CO2 emissions from combustion of forest biomass used for energy and transport purposes are set to zero.
Biomass …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In the Netherlands, PANGEA (Partners for Euro African Green Energy) is launching today a booklet outlining Myths and Facts about Bioenergy in Africa. The brochure is intended to demystify the …
(American Chemical Society) Amid efforts to expand production of biofuels, scientists are reporting new estimates that downgrade the amount of additional land available for growing fuel crops by almost 80 percent. Their report appears …
(ActionAid) At a seminar on biofuels in Dublin yesterday, David Barissa, a leading expert on food security and land rights from ActionAid Kenya spoke of the litany of broken promises, rights violations and destruction which …
(Renewable Fuels Association) A new research article published last month in the academic journal Biofuels concluded that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is producing significant positive economic effects in the United States. According to the paper, authored by researchers …
by Marie-Martine Buckens (Europolitics) Interview with MEP Corinne Lepage (ALDE, France)
French MEP Corinne Lepage (ALDE) was named rapporteur, in late 2012, on the controversial issue of biofuels. She prefers to call them agrofuels, in reference to …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) The USDA estimates that farmers in the U.S. will plant nine million more acres in corn in 2013 than they did in 2011, an increase of almost 10 …
by Robert Vierhout (ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine) … Hopefully, European regulators will take note of what has happened. If they are intellectually honest, they should acknowledge that if the U.S. biofuel policy has no real …
by Obey Manayiti (News Day) Dozens of angry villagers last week fought running battles with Zimbabwe Republic Police officers over disputed land between villagers and Green Fuel in Chisumbanje.
The clashes started last Monday, but turned …
by Gerald Kitabu (IPP Media) The government of Tanzania has been urged to localise biofuel commercial production by empowering small farmers in terms of training, loans and marketing.
The call was made by Tanzanian researchers and …
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 …
by Jason Motlagh (The Washington Post/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting) Long a preferred cooking ingredient in developing countries, palm oil is now in greater demand in Western markets because of its low price and long …
(IPPMedia/The Guardian Reporter) The government has been urged to reduce the maximum land size of each bio-fuel developer from the proposed 20,000 ha to 10,000 ha and give investors conditions which would enable them deliver.
Speaking …
(The Guardian) Tighter EU rules on biofuel production are failing to protect the land rights of Indonesia’s indigenous communities
…To understand the scale of the problem, Sawit Watch (sawit means palm oil in Indonesian) is supporting smallholders and indigenous …
by Robert Vierhout (Ethanol Producer Magazine/ePURE) After almost three years of study, debate, hours of meetings, many reports, public and nonpublic consultations, the European Commission has released its legislative proposal on how to address the indirect …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) Dr. Jesper Hedal Kløverpris and Dr. Steffen Mueller have proposed a new approach to measuring the climate impact of biofuels related land-use changes (ILUC) as opposed to other land use changes: “Baseline Time Accounting …
“Into Africa- Building Local Markets, Improving Farm Productivity & Increasing ROI”
“ Key highlights
Climate change and the impact on global agriculture market
Investment opportunities & land utilization in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Liberia …
(PR NewsWire) Accounting for dynamics in the global agricultural area reduces the current estimated contributions to global warming from ILUC by 60-70%
Indirect land use models that forecast the global warming impact of biofuels production incorporate …
by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) BSR, a nonprofit membership organization focused on consulting, research and cross-sector collaboration, has released a new report that assesses the sustainability impacts of commercial transportation fuels, as well as …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Increasing demand for bioenergy feedstock is generating debates about food versus fuel and indirect land-use change. An interdisciplinary team of 11 scientists from seven European countries and the U.S. …
by Nathanael Massey (Scientific American/Climatewire) A new study shows that degraded, marginal or abandoned land may not be very productive for growing fuel crops
…From the California desert to the badlands around Chernobyl, Ukraine, bioenergy is taking …
(Newstime Africa) The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative …
by C.-C. Tsao , J. E. Campbell, M. Mena-Carrasco, S. N. Spak, G. R. Carmichael, and Y. Chen (Environmental Science and Technology) Although biofuels present an opportunity for renewable energy production, significant land-use change resulting from …
by Louise Gray (The Telegraph) Drivers will be forced to pay an extra £35 a year due to a European climate change target, a report by Oxfam has found.
…The report states that a family currently …
(Reuters) The European Union will impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels over fears they are less climate-friendly than initially thought and compete with food production, draft EU legislation seen by Reuters showed.
The …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Five years ago today, Biofuels Digest debuted with two subscribers and a hunch that a daily, 5-minute news summary, combined with original journalism and news analysis, would find a place …
(World Watch Institute/Environmental News Network) …In response to global criticisms that biofuels drive deforestation and threaten food security, Central American governments and interest groups specify that biofuel expansion will occur on “tierras ociosas”�—or vacant, unproductive …
(SurvivalInternational.org) …But some of its sugar cane is grown on land claimed by the Guarani tribe, one of the most persecuted and impoverished in South America. Their leaders are regularly killed by gunmen acting for the sugar cane …
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 …
