Friends of the Earth International (FOE) has released a report about Africa’s move to produce biofuels to help meet the global needs of renewable energy. “Africa, up for grabs: the scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels” looked at 11 African countries and found that five million hectares of land, or an area the size of Denmark, is being …
Propel Sends Out a Thank You to Its Customers
Propel is taking a leadership role in California and Washington in bringing biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel to drivers. Earlier this month, Propel opened a new E85 station in Oakland, California, just one of nearly two dozen planned for the Bay area. Also this summer, Propel received an $11 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the …
Algae Assoc. Conference to Focus on Commercial Scale
The National Algae Association (NAA) will be holding its national conference next week, and the focus of the gathering will be on commercial scale production of the green microbes. NAA officials say at the Sept. 23-24 conference at the Sheraton North Houston near George Bush Intercontinental Airport, they will be working on the premise that algae will be delivering on …
Solazyme Inks Deal to Provide Algal Biofuel to Navy
Our friends at Solazyme, Inc. have inked a new deal with the U.S. Navy to provide 150,000 gallons of advanced biofuels made from algae. This post on BrighterEnergy.org says the San Francisco supplier of the green fuel has already delivered more than 20,000 gallons of its biodiesel to the Navy from its 2009 contract: The company hailed the achievement as …
Researchers: Develop Biofuels and Advanced Engines
The next generation of biofuels must be developed in conjunction with advanced combustion engines, if there is to be long-term success of those biofuels. That word comes from researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories. The recommendations were made following a Sandia-hosted workshop held in November, Next Generation Biofuels and Advanced Engines for Tomorrow’s Transportation Needs. Participants included researchers at the …
Book Review – Food Wars
This week I read a book about the ongoing discussions regarding the causes of the food crisis. It should come as no surprise that several of the main reasons the globe is in the midst of a food crisis, according to a The Food Wars author Walden Bello, are commodity speculation, biofuels, increased demand for food in Asia brought on …
EPA To Host Free Biofuels & Sustainability Webinar
The EPA is hosting a free biofuels and sustainability webinar on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 from 9:30 am – 11:00 am PST that will provide a national and regional perspective on sustainability indicators and best practices throughout the biofuel supply chain. Specifically, the webinar will discuss the guiding principles of sustainability developed by the National Biodiesel Board, and examine policy …
The Pros & Cons of Miscanthus
Miscanthus has been much talked about in the past year as a strong contender as a feedstock for advanced ethanol. Yet scientists from the University of Illinois are cautioning that not enough is known about the feesdstock’s pros and cons to call it a viable option for ethanol. The potential of miscanthus and switchgrass has been studied extensively by researchers …
Federal Ag & Energy Depts. Team Up for Bioenergy
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy have teamed up to hand out some research awards to designed to improve and accelerate genetics in plants for bioenergy production. This USDA release says the announcement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will make $8.9 million available: “Cost-effective, sustainable biofuels are crucial to building a clean energy economy,” …
Canada Mandates Biofuels
By the end of the year, Canadians will be using more ethanol in their fuel. According to The Epoch Times, regulations were finaized by the government yesterday requiring that all gasoline must contain 5% biofuels starting December 15. “Regulating renewable fuel content in gasoline is just one of several steps the Government is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in …