Some say producing more of the greener fuel makes world less green overall
Wall Street Journal Nov 11, 08 12:16 PM CST
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Biofuels, once hailed as a planet-saving alternative to gasoline, are now savaged as much the opposite, the Wall Street Journal reports, with critics charging the “ripple effect” on land use globally actually adds climate-harming carbon. The EPA has signaled plans to modify biofuel emissions measurements to reflect that, but interested lobbyists are already lining up to refute those findings.
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Nations should rethink subsidies: report
Financial Times (UK) Oct 7, 08 4:33 PM CDT
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While use of biofuels is supposed to combat climate change, the effects of its production on food prices is not worth the emissions they offset, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said today. The FAO called for countries to review production quotas and subsidies that encourage biofuel use in light of the “continued upward pressure” on the price of agricultural goods, the Financial Times reports.
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ANALYSIS
Country aims to feed boom with hardier crops, though it's a tough sell
Economist Sep 22, 08 12:36 PM CDT
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Just months after India’s finance minister called converting food crops to biofuels “a crime against humanity,” the government has launched a program that aims to get 20% of India’s diesel from plants by 2017, relying heavily on hardy plants that won’t keep rob needed land. But the biofuel crops take years longer to yield much of value, making it a tough sell, the Economist reports.
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ANALYSIS
Western companies shower nations with promises met with some suspicion
Der Spiegel Sep 5, 08 5:20 PM CDT
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Africa is being seeded for a coming boom in biofuels, as Western companies buy thousands of acres to cultivate vegetable-oil-rich plants like the Jatropha curcas, Der Spiegel reports. In countries like Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia, firms are often securing century-long farming rights for nothing but a promise to invest in local roads and schools.
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Associated Press Aug 24, 08 5:03 PM CDT
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Sewage and sunlight are offering unexpected aid to the poor of Kenyan slums, the AP reports. Public toilets are recycling waste into gas, while sunlight disinfects water and reduces cases of waterborne illness. Adapted from a plan in Tanzania, the project was funded by international donors to help people struggling with high coal and food prices.
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Mexican scientists push agave-to-ethanol project; resilient plant could far outstrip corn
Renewable Energy World Aug 7, 08 8:14 PM CDT
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A small group of Mexican scientists is working to create a massive agave-to-ethanol project that one says could supply the entire US need of 36 billion gallons by 2022, Renewable Energy World reports. The agave, used to make tequila and mescal, is high in sugar, resilient, and needs little cultivation, making it a prime candidate for ethanol production.
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Agency denies request by Texas governor
New York Times Aug 7, 08 2:50 PM CDT
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The EPA refused to cut a minimum ethanol quota today, despite critics’ charges that the biofuel mandate is driving high food prices, the New York Times reports. The agency approved Congress’ quota that requires the US use 9 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline blends this year, denying Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s request to shrink it.
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Interview
The insanity of farm subsidies just one facet of wide-ranging Q&A with Daniel Sumner
New York Times Jul 25, 08 1:45 PM CDT
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Is there any way to justify US farm subsidies? Agricultural economist Daniel Sumner has a blunt answer: “No.” In an in-depth interview with the New York Times , Sumner takes on a broad range of agricultural topics, explaining the trouble with organic food (it’s too expensive), the problems with local food (it’s often inefficient) and, of course, the insanity of subsidies.
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From sawdust to agricultural waste, scientists drive toward new fuels
New York Times Jul 24, 08 9:18 AM CDT
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After decades of dreaming, schemes to turn waste into fuel are finally getting traction in the US, with some 28 plants in the works and a handful even up and running, the New York Times reports. They consume everything from wood chips to garbage, as once-prohibitively expensive processes become competitive with $4-a-gallon gasoline. “American innovation is going to come up with the solution,” one researcher tells the Times.
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Ethanol future in balance as governor pleads for livestock corn
New York Times Jul 23, 08 2:32 AM CDT
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The EPA is considering a proposal from the governor of Texas to slash the amount of ethanol that oil companies are required to blend into gasoline to meet quotas, the New York Times reports. Gov. Rick Perry is calling for the EPA to cut the ethanol mandate in half, from 9 billion to 4.5 billion gallons, arguing that billions of bushels of corn should be used to feed livestock instead.
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Loggers, plantations bring great ape
close to extinction
Daily Telegraph (UK) Jul 5, 08 5:46 PM CDT
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Illegal loggers and palm oil plantations may make the orangutan the first great ape to become extinct, scientists warn. In Indonesia, a mere 6,600 of the apes remain, while on Malaysia’s Borneo Island, the population has fallen 10% to 49,600, the Telegraph reports.
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Findings covered up to avoid US embarrassment
Guardian (UK) Jul 4, 08 3:45 PM CDT
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Biofuel production has been the driving force behind the growing food crisis, pushing prices up 75%, according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian . The most detailed research ever conducted on the issue emphatically contradicts the US position that biofuels are responsible for a mere 3% price bump. It hasn’t been published, sources say, for fear of embarrassing President Bush.
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OPINION
Firm says it can produce algae oil at $60 a barrel; US dare not miss its chance, writer says
Portfolio Jul 2, 08 2:47 PM CDT
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The steam engine wasn’t invented in the eighteenth century—it was invented in AD 60. But Romans instead stuck to their old standby technology: slaves. Now, we’re in danger of repeating that mistake with biofuels, writes David Ewing Duncan for Portfolio . While Congress is pumping subsidies into corn-based ethanol, better solutions—such as algae—are begging for attention.
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Ruined Midwest crops spark worries about fuel supplies
New York Times Jul 1, 08 4:09 AM CDT
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The floods that swamped the corn belt last month have raised fresh fears about the future of biofuels, the New York Times reports. The ruined corn crop