With Wall Street still not recovered from the economic downturn and banks keeping a tight hold of the credit purses’ drawstrings, the next generation of biofuels producers could have a rough time getting going and staying going. Recently, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)… a group that represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations …
Ethanol Report on Global Biofuels Policy
The need for renewable fuels to replace fossil fuels is becoming more and more of a global necessity. This edition of the “Ethanol Report” features information about the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) and the organization’s goals for providing scientific information about life cycle assessment and greenhouse gas reduction, as well as the importance of expanding biofuels production for developing …
Valero Invests in Biofuels Company Terrabon
BP has been marketing itself as “Beyond Petroleum” for several years now but it appears that Valero is vying for the top spot in “green energy”. Valero has now invested in Terrabon, a company that is developing technology to produce “green” gasoline through the conversion of trash from landfills to energy. Terrabon’s main technology for biofuels is MixAlco, an advanced …
DF Cast: Farm Foundation’s Global Conversation
The latest edition of Domestic Fuel Cast listens in on some of the conversation at this week’s Farm Foundation “Transition to a Bioeconomy: Global Trade and Policy Issues” conference. This is the fourth in a series of conferences looking at the transition to a bioeconomy the Farm Foundation has sponsored. This week’s event brought people from around the world to …
INEOS Bio Developing Cellulosic
Commercializing Gasification/Fermentation Technology was the topic of comments made by Mark Dietzen, INEOS Bio, at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He says that they have a practical technology that they’re in the process of implementing to be online by 2011 to produce cellulosic ethanol. He thinks that it will help bridge the gap between what’s possible …
Biofuels From Biotech Developing
I spoke with Paul Willems, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, one of our speakers at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. I had met him previously at an earlier conference in the series. Paul says the BP Energy Biosciences Institute was created as a place to apply modern biology to energy problems. He told us that from their …
Wind Farming For Electricity
Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel weren’t the only energy alternatives on the program at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. We also had a presentation on wind energy from Mark Willers, Minwind Energy. Mark says Minwind Energy was formed by a group of local farmers and businessmen in southwest Minnesota. He’d like people to understand that the …
Biodiesel According To Feraci
The legislative guru for the National Biodiesel Board is Manning Feraci. He was on the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference program. He gave us an update on the current state of the biodiesel industry and the need for stable policies coming out of DC. He says that he sees some real opportunities now as some of the …
Report Finds Ethanol is Reducing GHG
A new report has found that ethanol use is contributing to a growing reduction in greenhouse gases on a global scale. Using a model for lifecycle assessment of transportation fuels called GHGenius, report author Don O’Connor examined greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from grain ethanol since 1995 and projected GHG reductions from ethanol out to 2015. The important conclusion was that …
Ethanol Half The Price Of Gas In Brazil
I think Joel Velasco, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, had the quote of the day here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He said that carbon is the new agricultural commodity and that our incentive is to produce less of it and get paid for it. So, grow a crop, sell it and maybe earn some carbon …