Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva apparently put their heads together and worked out a compromise on ethanol at this week’s first-ever South American Energy Summit. Bloomberg reports that South America’s 11 nations have agreed to promote biofuels production to supplement oil output in the region. According to the story, leaders at the Summit, “agreed to …
Emerald Isle Going Greener
Ireland has broken ground on its first large-scale biodiesel refinery, expected to be making the alternative fuel by 2008. According to a story in Biofuel Review, the plant will use a variety of sources… many from local farmers: Green Biofuels Ireland intends to commence production of biodiesel from oil seed rape, recovered vegetable oil and animal fats in 2008. The …
Chavez Criticizes Ethanol
The president of oil-rich Venezuela is campaigning against President Bush’s plan to increase ethanol use in the United States, with the help of his close friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro. According to NewsMax, Hugo Chavez pledged to undermine a U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement in a speech made on Tuesday. “We are working on an alternative proposal,” he said without elaborating. “Just …
Interamerican Biofuels Seminar
The Interamerican Ethanol Commission (IEC) held a seminar on biofuels last week in Washington DC. At the event, IEC co-chairmen – former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Inter American Development Bank chief Luis Alberto Moreno and Roberto Rodrigues, Brazil’s former agriculture minister – introduced a comprehensive study of biofuels markets through 2020. According to the IEC, some key findings of the …
Canadian Study to Boost Biodiesel
A newly-completed study in Ontario shows that biodiesel could be an effective alternative fuel for farm operations in Canada. According to a Canadian government press release, the project was conducted on six farms in the province: “This project was designed to accelerate the adoption of biodiesel use on Ontario farms through a series of on-farm evaluations,” said Deanna Deaville, Special …
Two Presidents Talk Ethanol Again
Ethanol and trade were the two main topics discussed by the presidents of Brazil and the United States meeting over the weekend at Camp David. “We talked about biofuels,” said President Bush in a joint press conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday. “And I told the President that not only are we committed domestically to …
More US-Brazil Ethanol Talks
Ethanol will be on the table when Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with President Bush in Washington this weekend. The meeting will be a follow-up to Bush’s visit to Brazil earlier this month and, according to an Associated Press report, Silva “hopes to advance a biofuels alliance and help break a deadlock in world trade talks.” Silva …
Montreal Latest City to Fuel Buses with Biodiesel
Montreal, Canada will run its entire bus fleet on biodiesel by 2008 and will buy eight hybrid buses to test in the city’s cold climate. According to this story posted on the CBC’s web site, it should be an affordable proposition for the city: All Société de transport de Montréal (STM) buses will run on biodiesel fuel by 2008, and …
Rome Going Green
The City of Rome, Italy could convert all of its 2800 buses to biodiesel by the end of 2008. According to this article on Checkbiotech.org, a test of 200 buses will start the program: Importantly, the accord covers not just the purchasing of the biodesel end-product but other stages of the supply chain including the growing of oilseed crops from …
“Hood Up, Head Down and Alone with Thoughts”
Those are the words of Will Steger, famed Arctic explorer, now on a four-month-long, 1200-mile expedition across the Canadian Arctic’s Baffin Island. So what is Steger trying to prove as today he and his sleddog team approach Iqaluit, Canada through -50 degree wind chills? Ironically enough, global warming. Listen here to his audio dispatch from Day 5 that might be …