Reuters reports on a first for Brazil’s biofuels industry: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva showcased Brazil’s prowess in the alternative fuels industry on Tuesday when he inaugurated Barralcool, the first integrated biofuels plant that will produce cane-based ethanol and biodiesel from oilseeds. Brazil, with its huge agricultural potential, has for decades had the world’s most advanced biofuels market. After …
Study Finds Biotech Will Meet Food and Fuel Demands
A National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy study suggests that biotechnology plays a vital role in meeting the increased demand for corn production for food, feed and fuel. According to the study, U.S. farmers gained an additional 8.3 billion pounds of yield last year due to biotech crops, including an extra 7.6 billion pounds of corn production, a 29 …
25 x ’25 Could Help Rural Economy
The alliance known as 25X’25 has just completed a study that outlines the positive impact producing 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable sources by 2025 could have on rural America. According to J. Read Smith, co-chair of the 25x’25 Project Steering Committee, “Not only would reaching the goal drastically reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, it …
Biodiesel Boost For Economy
The National Biodiesel Board this week released a new economic study that shows “how biodiesel plants are a boon to the U.S. economy as they sprout up across the nation.” According to the study: America’s biodiesel industry will add $24 billion to the U.S. economy between 2005 and 2015, assuming biodiesel growth reaches 650 million gallons of annual production by …
Talking Biofuels in Kansas City
Cindy and I are attending the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention in Kansas City this week. It follows the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Agribusiness Forum. I’m sure we’ll have several posts for you over the next few days that will include interviews with some people we hope you’ll find interesting. For example, at yesterday’s Forum session one of the presenters …
Domestic Fuels Go Hollywood
Ethanol and biodiesel took center stage in Hollywood over the weekend with the World Premiere of the award-winning “Freedom Fuels,” directed and produced by Martin O’Brien. The picture debuted on November 11 at the “Third Annual Artivist Film Festival and Awards” in Hollywood. “Freedom Fuels” received an award for best short in the Environmental Preservation category. According to the filmaker’s …
Biofuels Could Complicate WTO
The International Food and Agricultural Policy Trade Council has conducted the first comprehensive assessment of how World Trade Organization disciplines may apply to the rapidly expanding biofuels sector. The study sets out key WTO issues that need to be clarified, such as the classification of biofuels and their feedstocks and whether they are to be considered industrial, agricultural or environmental …
Domestic Fuel on I-65
From the Birmingham (AL) News – The installation of the first ethanol-and-biodiesel-blended-fuel pumps along Interstate 65 in Alabama should begin in early 2007, state officials said Thursday. State officials are talking with interested gasoline-selling convenience store operators and working quickly to make alternative-fuel purchase an option for drivers, said Kathy Hornsby of the Alabama Department of Economic and Development Affairs. …
Domestic Fuels Power Transportation Expansion
Increased demand for E85, biodiesel products brings need for more trains, trucks and storage. Story by David Pitt of the Associated Press. With new ethanol and biodiesel plants going online, transportation companies are scurrying to provide the needed trains, trucks and storage tanks to keep up. The fuel-additive industry is growing from regional to national distribution, driven by a federal …