(Biodiesel Magazine) ...(Ed) Hegland, (soybean grower from Minnesota, served as the NBB chairman for the past 3 years): One thing discussed at the November board meeting was the need to re-launch and redefine biodiesel as an advanced biofuel, rather than
Policy
Back TO HOMENational Sorghum Producers Teams Up with Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association
(National Sorghum Producers) National Sorghum Producers and the Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association (SSEA) are happy to announce a formal collaborative agreement between the two organizations. While NSP and SSEA have worked together in the past, the new collaborative agreement will allow
December 22, 2010 Read Full Article
The Signs: Good News for the Aces of Bio-Based May Spell Trouble for the Renewable Fuel Standard
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The USDA’s Sarah Biddleman speaks in terms of “standing up a biofuels industry” like a pop-up children’s book, in that all the pieces have to rise up, in the right way, all at once. ... Is the
December 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Political Winds
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) How will the new leadership impact ethanol policies? Some strong ethanol advocates lost in the November election, including Earl Pomeroy and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, acknowledges Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. Many more
December 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Court Rejects Refiners' Challenge to EPA Biodiesel Blending Rules
by Jenny Mandel (New York Times/Greenwire) An appeals court rejected a challenge today (December 21, 2010) by petroleum industry groups to U.S. EPA's biodiesel blending requirements, in a move affirming the agency's implementation of the renewable fuel standard (RFS2). A three-judge panel of
December 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Grassley Says Unity Is Vital to Ethanol Interests
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) The ethanol industry needs to stop its infighting to preserve its government support beyond next year, says Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia. "We can't stand any more division within biofuels," said Grassley, who led a successful fight
December 21, 2010 Read Full Article
E15 fears: More Ethanol in Gasoline is Bad News for Power Equipment, Critics Say
by Adrian Higgins (The Washington Post) ...But a push to add another 50 percent to the ethanol content of some automobile fuel has opened a barrel of worms. Automakers say they don't know how it will affect their cars; power-equipment
December 20, 2010 Read Full Article
House Votes to Extend Ethanol, Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel Tax Credits; Senate Drops Biofuels-Slashing Omnibus Bill
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the US House of Representatives voted by a 277 to 148 margin to approve the Obama tax deal, which extends the ethanol tax credit through 2011, and retroactively extends the biodiesel tax incentive and the renewable
December 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Panel Urges Oversight of Synthetic Biology
(UPI) A report says the U.S. federal government must take a lead oversight role in the emerging field of synthetic biology to balance the risks and benefits. The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues issued its first report Thursday on
December 17, 2010 Read Full Article
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance Calls on Cancun to Recognize Biofuels as a Way to Lower GHG's
(Global Renewable Fuels Alliance) The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) is calling on the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Cancun to do what could not be done in Copenhagen and recognize biofuels as a viable alternative to fossil fuels that offer
December 16, 2010 Read Full Article
Senate Tax Bill a Major Step Backwards for the Environment
by Jim Presswood (Switchboard) The tax bill agreed to last Thursday by Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell contains an energy package that would cause substantial environmental harm. ...The bill extends a 50 cent per gallon tax credit for liquid coal transportation
December 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Canada's Renewable Fuel Standard Takes Effect
(Scottrade) On December 15th, the federal government's landmark Renewable Fuels Standard officially comes into force. This will add some two billion litres of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, into the Canadian gasoline pool each and every year and change
December 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Long Shots: Why Throwing Money at Today's Clean-Energy Technologies Could Keep Us from Discovering Tomorrow's.
by Vinod Khosla (Foreign Policy) ...A mid-2009 report by the reinsurance giant Swiss Re found that climate change could shave off anywhere from 1 to 12 percent of GDP in many countries thanks to shifting climate zones, floods, droughts, and
December 13, 2010 Read Full Article
DOE and Seven Other Agencies Launch Energy Export Initiative
(U.S. Department of Energy) U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today joined seven other U.S. Government agencies in launching the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative, a coordinated effort to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. In partnership with the
December 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Bi-Partisan Support for Biofuels Can Help to Achieve Energy, National Security Objectives
by Steve Maddox (The Hill) ...Although conventional, corn-based ethanol is not the darling of the environmental movement, it does have certain national security benefits that cannot be overlooked. And the next generation of biofuels being developed across the country offer
December 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels Shine amid Conflict and Confusion at COP 16
by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest Asia) The Cancun climate summit in Mexico kicked off last week at the same time as a “Cablegate” revelation that motorists buying fossil fuels at the pump are unwittingly funding terrorism in their own countries. The
December 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil 2010 Amazon Deforestation Data Shows Lowest Rate Ever Recorded
(PR NewsWire) Deforested area reaches lowest levels for second consecutive year Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon declined 14 percent from August 2009 to July 2010, reaching the lowest rates ever recorded for the second consecutive year, President Luiz Inacio Lula
December 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Renewable Fuel Body Wants Quotas Doubled
by Nicole Mordant (Reuters/Toronto Sun) Canada’s renewable fuels industry is pressing the federal government to double the percentage of renewable fuels it will require in gasoline and diesel, the head of the industry association said on Tuesday. The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association wants
December 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Getting the Facts Straight on Ethanol, Letters to the Editor
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association) Letter to the Editor, Chicago Tribune, Re: Dennis Byrne’s column “Time to stand up to ethanol interests.” ...First, Byrne’s facts and figures are accurate for the tax credits for domestic ethanol and the renewable fuels standards
December 01, 2010 Read Full Article
EPA: More Renewable Fuels Required
by Robin Bravender & Darren Samuelsohn (Politico) ...Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday said that the future of transportation fuels shouldn't involve ethanol, the gasoline additive that historically has received billions of dollars in federal subsidies. "Ethanol is not an ideal transportation
November 30, 2010 Read Full Article
Al Gore’s Flip-flop on Ethanol, He Had it Right the First Time
by Matt Hartwig (Renewable Fuels Association) Now he tells us: Al Gore was for grain ethanol before he was against it. Speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens, the former vice president declared “it is not good policy to have
November 23, 2010 Read Full Article
U.S. Corn Ethanol "Was Not a Good Policy": Gore
by Gerard Wynn (Reuters) Former vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal. U.S. blending tax breaks for ethanol make it profitable for refiners to
November 23, 2010 Read Full Article
Toward a Clean Energy Deployment Plan For Jobs, Security, and Broad-Based Economic Growth in 2011
by Bracken Hendricks, Lisbeth Kaufman, Ken Berlin, Monty Humble, Reed Hundt, Alex Kragie, Gerry Waldron (Center for American Progress) ... Congress must move immediately to reduce the cost of clean energy and remove infrastructure and regulatory barriers to its deployment so that
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Harkin Threatens to Oppose Electric Vehicles Bill if Ethanol Provisions Aren’t Added
by Andrew Restuccia (The Washington Independent) Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), in a floor speech today, called for expanding electric and natural gas vehicles legislation slated to come up for a procedural vote during the lame-duck session to encourage the use of
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
America Needs New Investment: In the Next Generation of Biofuels
by Christopher G. Standlee (Abengoa Energy/The Hill's Congress Blog) ...(T)here is bipartisan support for answering an urgent national challenge: replacing imported high-pollution petroleum with clean-burning American biofuels. ...There is bipartisan support for biofuels because their development, production and use serve great
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Bogus Logic in E15 Suits
by Mike Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine) In a thinly veiled attempt to further line their pockets, the meat and poultry industry, and the grocery and convenience store associations, are once again trying to stop the advance of ethanol use in
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels Industry CEOs Predict Parity with Oil in 12-36 Months, for Leading-Edge Companies
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In contrast to the “five years away” and subsidy-driven discussions that framed advanced biofuels conversations just two years ago, CEOs are widely reporting that they expect their companies to reach commercial scale within 12-36 months,
November 21, 2010 Read Full Article
King: GOP House Good for Ethanol, Biodiesel Tax Cuts
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Republicans taking control of the U.S. House is good for the chances of the federal ethanol and biodiesel tax breaks seeing renewal … that’s according to a GOP member from Iowa. AgriNews.com reports that U.S. Rep. Steve
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Will GOP Gains Mean Ethanol Producer Losses?
by Gary Clark and Rachel Ziemba (Forbes) Doctor Doom: With Congress gridlocked, the U.S. may put the brakes on biofuels support. Following the Republican Party's capture of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, U.S. policy on the use of biofuels for
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Veteran’s Day - Honoring Those Who Have Served
Robert White (Renewable Fuels Association) ...The U.S. ethanol industry has the capacity to produce nearly 14 billion gallons of domestic renewable fuel annually, or more than 10% of our fuel supply. The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) calls for this to
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
U.S. Biofuel Production, Use Lags
by Philip Brasher (Zanesville Times Recorder) Motorists will use just a fraction of the next-generation biofuels in 2011 that Congress intended, and even that small amount depends on a single project in Iowa that isn't ready yet. ... Cellulose and algae are
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
As Oil Runs Out, Alternative Fuels Need a Boost
by Stephen E.F. Brown (San Francisco Business Times) Oil supplies are likely to run out 90 years before there are viable alternative fuels readily available, according to a study from U.C. Davis. Researchers Debbie Niemeier and Nataliya Malyshkina found that oil is
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Report Slams G-20 Nations on Fossil Fuel Subsidies
by Ben Geman (The Hill) Two environmental groups are trying to ratchet up pressure on G-20 nations meeting in South Korea this month to make good on pledges to slash fossil fuel subsidies. White House officials say they’re looking to the Nov.
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Obama May Kill Key DOE Loan Guarantee Program
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Washington, the Obama Administration developed and has been debating an option to kill the Section 1705 DOE Loan Guarantee program, and transfer remaining funds to a pool for Section 1603 investment tax credits that, as currently
November 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Gen. Wesley K. Clark says Ethanol Key to Fixing Economy, National Security
(Growth Energy) For the November/December issue of Washington Monthly magazine, Growth Energy Co-Chair General Wesley K. Clark wrote an in-depth examination of the costs of our nation’s addiction to foreign oil, and the opportunity for ethanol to help strengthen our national
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Assumptions in the European Union Biofuels Policy: Frictions with Experiences in Germany, Brazil and Mozambique
by David Fig, Jennifer Franco, Lucia Goldfarb. Les Levidow, Mireille Hönicke, Maria Luisa Mendonça (Transnational Insitute) The biofuel project is an agro-industrial development and politically contested policy process where governments increasingly become global actors. European Union (EU) biofuels policy rests upon
October 25, 2010 Read Full Article
OriginOil’s Riggs Eckelberry on CA Prop. 23
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) California’s clean energy initiatives and businesses are at a crossroads, pending the outcome of Proposition 23 on the November ballot. Should the proposition succeed, it would suspend California’s 2006 history-making climate bill, AB32, which mandates,
October 21, 2010 Read Full Article
American Biofuels Now Coalition Calls for Real American Energy Policy
(BusinessWire) American Biofuels Now is a broad coalition of local (Tampa, Florida) biofuels producers, trade and environmental organizations, academics, and energy users who want smart, comprehensive policies to support the development of American Biofuels Now. America Biofuels Now wants a homegrown solution
October 11, 2010 Read Full Article
The Health Benefits of Ethanol
(Ethanol Across America) C. Boyden Gray, one of the architects of the historic 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments that established the nation's reformulated gasoline program, called for increased regulation of air toxics by the Environmental Protection Agency and in so
October 06, 2010 Read Full Article
Journal of Peasant Studies Publishes Perspectives on New Agrarian Relations Related to Biofuels
(Journal of Peasant Studies) In this collection we ask a number of questions emerging out of the new agrarian political economy created by the ‘biofuel complex’. Together the papers offer perspectives from political economy, political sociology and political ecology, and
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Breaking the Chains: 6 Solutions for Ending Dependence on Foreign Oil
by Lewis Reynolds (Politics Daily) America doesn't have to depend on overseas sources for one of its most vital national needs. A move toward energy independence, aside from creating as many as 14 million new jobs, can help rebuild our
September 13, 2010 Read Full Article
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson Discusses Farm Bill Issues with Saratoga County Farmers
by Paul Post (The Saratogan) ...For local dairy producers, one of the most pressing concerns is ethanol production that drives up corn prices — hurting small family farms in the process. ..."We’ve got a big problem in the ethanol industry," (House
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Another Dirty Secret of Oil Dependence
by Jim DiPeso (The Daily Green) The hidden health threat (and $100 billion annual cost) in the gasoline we pump into our cars. ...China supplanted the U.S. as the biggest energy consuming country in the world. China's growth, along with India's,
August 31, 2010 Read Full Article
Readout from Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum
By Chanda Beckman & Kirsten Rasmussen (USDA Foreign Agriculture Information Service) On May 27, 2010, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture hosted the fist Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum in Beijing.
August 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Ethanol at Boom/Bust Crossroads
by Elton Robinson (Southeast Farm Press) ...It’s not what President Barack Obama has been saying in recent speeches that worried several market analysts speaking at the Brock Decision 2010 Seminar in Memphis. It’s what he hasn’t been saying. In speeches outlining
August 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Advanced Biofuels One Step Closer to Deployment in Europe
(Novozymes) ...Relying on agricultural and forestry residues and waste as feedstock, advanced biofuels can spur rural growth, promote job creation, increase energy security and save up to 90% CO2 emission. “Technology for advanced biofuels exists, but the sector needs clear political
July 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Advanced Biofuels USA Policy on Federal Energy Subsidies
by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) Background At the request of New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman (D), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently produced a superficial and misleading report on US government financial subsidies for the development of a US biofuels
July 20, 2010 Read Full Article
GAO Report Urges Changes to DOE Loan Guarantee Programs
(Renewable Fuels Association) ...“Access to capital is a chief hindrance to the commercial deployment of cellulosic ethanol technology,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “DOE has created a loan guarantee program that in theory is helpful, but in practice
July 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Does Biofuel Have a Friend in the White House? Not if Actions Speak Louder than Words
by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) The Washington Post business section today included an article on President Obama’s latest push on behalf of “Clean Energy." The paper also helpfully included a list of the eight (8) “Clean Energy” events the Obama
July 13, 2010 Read Full Article
America’s Slippery Slope of Support for Renewable Energy
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) Our country is quickly sliding down a slippery slope. Not too long ago, we were the leaders in renewable energy – wind, solar, biofuels. Today, not only have the major technological advancements come from overseas, our manufacturing
July 09, 2010 Read Full Article
The Biofuels Investor Migration to Brazil
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) A colleague of mine, Will Thurmond, who is the CEO of markets research firm Emerging Markets Online, sent me this great article about why companies are spending billions of dollars investing in advanced biofuels in Brazil
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
Regional Inequities in Votes, Dollars and Jobs May Imperil USDA’s Plan for Achieving RFS2
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...It has been pointed out repeatedly by advanced biofuels developers that the public sector must craft long-term, stable national policies to support and incentivize new capacity, with the return on investment coming in the form
July 06, 2010 Read Full Article
USDA Produces Short Video on Ethanol, E85
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Just two weeks after USDA released its “Regional Roadmap to Meeting the Biofuels Goals of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” it now has a short video, touting the importance of ethanol and other biofuels in
July 02, 2010 Read Full Article
NIMBY, NUMBEE and Nod
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) editorial A recent US poll, taken in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, revealed that 58 percent of Americans believe that US energy policy needs to “fundamentally” change, but 51 percent say
July 01, 2010 Read Full Article
ABFA President to Congress: Advanced BioFuels Will Drive America's New Economy and Fuel the Future
(Advanced Biofuels Association) Advanced Biofuels Association President Michael McAdams briefed the House Agriculture Committee this afternoon, telling its members, "It's time to take politics out of renewable fuels and let sound science and sound energy policy govern biofuels policy moving
June 24, 2010 Read Full Article
BP Oil Spill Shows Need for Biofuels, Developers Say
By Carey Gillam (Reuters) The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates a pressing need for the United States to pass legislative incentives to drive investment dollars into cellulosic and algae-based biofuel facilities, biofuel industry leaders said on Thursday. "This
June 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Advanced Biofuels Association Launches New Online Series Spotlighting Top Industry News in Washington
(Advanced Biofuels Association) The Advanced Biofuels Association launched a new online video series today. The Clean Fuels Forecast spotlights the top public policy issues and maneuvering in Washington affecting the advanced biofuels industry. In its first episode, now posted on the ABFA
June 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Algal Biomass Organization Publishes Annual Report
by Mary Rosenthal (Algal Biomass Organization) It was a great year for algae – and a great year for the Algal Biomass Organization. In the past 12 months, the algae industry has reached a number of critical milestones: significant federal policy
May 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Crude Oil Imports and National Security
by Robert M. Ames, Anthony Corridore, Edward Hirs, Paul W. MacAvoy (Yale Graduates Energy Study Group) The authors demonstrate that the United States profits handsomely in all circumstances by imposing an embargo on imports of foreign crude oil. The US removes its
February 26, 2010 Read Full Article
Industrial Biotechnology in China Amidst Changing Market Conditions
by Elizabeth Nesbitt (Journal of International Commerce and Economics) The increasing use of industrial biotechnology by the Chinese liquid biofuels and chemical industries is expected to help offset energy security and environmental concerns generated by China’s robust economic growth. The expanding use of bioprocesses