Leading industries in the race to commercialize next generation biofuels told a House agriculture subcommittee hearing on Thursday that more funding and stable government policy are needed to do the job. “The current financial crisis has prevented venture capitalists and bankers from investing in many worthwhile investments,” BP Biofuels North America president Susan Ellerbusch testified. “The industry and investors must …
Cereplast to Develop Bioplastics from Algae
Do you feel guilty when you buy drinking water bottled in plastic? If you don’t, you should and if you do then Cereplast may have a way to ease your mind. The company’s mission is to producing bio-based sustainable plastics and today announced that it has developed a breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics. Cereplast intends to launch a …
Next Gen Biofuels Hearing Today
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research will hold a hearing today to review the future of next generation biofuels. Subcommittee chairman Tim Holden (D-PA) will preside over the hearing, which will include testimony from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, as well as representatives from several companies involved in exploring new technologies and new feedstocks for biofuel …
Biofuels Journal Conference at POET Headquarters
The Biofuels Journal 2nd Annual Commercial Ethanol Technology and Research Workshop is taking place today at POET headquarters in Sioux Falls, SD. POET’s own Nathan Schock is providing online coverage via his Rhapsody in Green and of course with Twitter. You can find tweets here @nathanschock and here @ethanolbyPOET. If you want to see who all tweets about it then …
Biofuels on the Lesson Plan for Some Students
Students across the country recently had a chance to have a blast with biofuels. The 4-H National Youth Science Day taught kids some of the basics of the green fuels. This story from KSFX-TV in Springfield, Missouri says a University of Missouri chemistry lab played host to one such group of students looking to the future of renewable energy: With …
Novozymes Responds to Science, Indirect Land Use Debate
The Science magazine article that was published last week and co-authored by Tim Searchinger, a lawyer, has added another level of controversy to the indirect land use change (ILUC) debate. The article suggested the land use effects of fuel produced from various forms of biomass were miscalculated, in part, because they cause deforestation around the world as land is cleared …
Energy Reform? Then Don’t Follow California.
Many states look to California to set the stage for environmental and energy reform. They passed the first greenhouse gas emissions legislation. They passed the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. But not so fast. They are bankrupt. They still have some of the worst air pollution in the country. They still have “brownouts” when it rains. Let me give you an …
Future is Today for Five Producing Algae Biofuels
While I know we’ve talked about the promise of algae-based biofuels, especially biodiesel, many of you have pointed in derision to the seemingly always present caveat: in about five years… the amount of time the ideas seem to take until they’re ready for the street. But there are some companies that are not still five years away from making algae …
IEA: Global Biofuel Production to Rise Big by 2012
Biodiesel production worldwide has risen by 10 times over the last eight years and could double again in just two more years, while global ethanol production has more than tripled over the same time period and could jump by another 50 percent by the year 2012. Farmers Weekly Interactive reports a new report from the International Energy Agency says biodiesel …
Algae to be Focus of BIO’s Pacific Rim Summit
Leading researchers and companies looking to turn algae into biofuels will meet in Hawaii next month to talk about progress and challenges with the green-slime-into-green-fuel process. The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy will be held Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Honolulu: Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section, said, …