Alternative Energy / Biofuels

Jul 29, 2011 at 07:24 | Al Fin

As the price of petroleum edges up in fits and starts, booms and busts, substitution products are coming on board to replace petroleum in many uses -- including fuels, plastics,…

Jul 28, 2011 at 08:06 | EcoSeed

The latest report of the United States’ Department of Agriculture showed that the largest volume of corn produced this year is going to be used for ethanol production. According to…

Jul 27, 2011 at 07:41 | John Daly

Slowly but surely, an extraordinarily important new industry is slowly taking shape, with the potential to transform the global economy. After years of existing largely as an environmentalist's fantasy,…

Jul 20, 2011 at 07:19 | Stuart Burns

One can describe the corn market as distorted since subsidies began under the Carter administration back in the 1980’s. Arguably, however this decade has seen the most severe distortion with…

Jul 13, 2011 at 07:51 | Brian Westenhaus

Today biodiesel is made by the batch, a naturally less efficient way for processes to run.  A continuous process would be less expensive to run, easier to manage and need…

Jul 07, 2011 at 07:52 | Al Fin

Marine ecosystems are an untapped resource that account for over 50% of global biomass and seaweeds themselves are capable of producing more biomass per square metre than fast growing terrestrial…

Jun 30, 2011 at 08:18 | Al Fin

800 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and a third of them don’t have enough food. By 2050, an estimated 1.95 billion people will be trying to live off the…

Jun 20, 2011 at 07:41 | John Daly

An extraordinary convergence of recent events seems poised shortly to make aviation biofuels the belle of the investor’s ball. The first is that on 8 June the follows the international…

Jun 09, 2011 at 08:17 | Graham Cooper

Shell has combined forces with Brazilian ethanol company Cosan and launched a $12 billion joint venture, named Raizen, in one of the biggest biofuel deals to date. Plans for the…

Jun 08, 2011 at 07:43 | EcoSeed

Brazil's government unveiled new financing and other incentives for sugarcane ethanol production on Monday, vowing to work closely with the private sector to boost production in an industry that has…

Jun 01, 2011 at 20:13 | John Daly

Investors looking for the next big thing after a hydrocarbon economy have a panoply of options, from solar to wind, as well as biofuels. In terms of quickly ramping…

Jun 01, 2011 at 08:19 | Professor Chris Rhodes

Not all biofuels are "green" according to where the crops from which they are derived are grown. The worst offenders are palm oils which may have ten times the carbon…

May 27, 2011 at 07:54 | Robert Rapier

Just over a year ago, I wrote an article called Is Camelina the Next Jatropha? If you recall, a few years ago jatropha was all the rage. It could…

May 27, 2011 at 07:38 | Biofuels Digest

In Washington, President Barack Obama has issued a Presidential Memorandum that all federal car fleets must buy only 100% alternative fuel vehicles by the end of 2015. The memo included…

May 20, 2011 at 07:47 | Al Fin

Transforming agricultural waste into biofuel in India could meet up to 59% of the country’s demand for transport gasoline while creating up to one million jobs, according to a new…

May 19, 2011 at 07:33 | Ed Dolan

As recently as last December, the coalition backing U.S. ethanol subsidies appeared to be alive and well, despite the fact that everyone knew they were bad for the environment, bad…

May 17, 2011 at 09:07 | Green Futures

Keen-to-be-greener airlines really do want biofuel to fly. Lufthansa was set to start using it from April, for a six month trial period, in a 50/50 mix with kerosene on…

Apr 28, 2011 at 07:48 | Charlotte Dudley

Global biofuel use could increase more than 13-fold by 2050 and meet more than a quarter of demand for transportation fuel, without jeopardising food and environmental security, the International Energy…

Apr 22, 2011 at 08:13 | Brian Westenhaus

High oil prices, environmental and economic security concerns motivate a powerful interest in using algae-derived oils as an alternative to fossil fuels. Keep in mind that growing algae can require…

Mar 30, 2011 at 04:03 | David Caploe PhD

The race is on to find alternate sources of fuel and energy and quit dependence on oil, especially with ever increasing and volatile oil prices. But are alternate energy sources…