Alternative Energy / Biofuels

Sep 01, 2011 at 08:24 | Dave Summers

It would seem, despite the inability of the cellulosic ethanol industry to produce an economically viable product to date, that it remains this Administration’s answer to coming liquid fuel shortages.…

Aug 26, 2011 at 07:36 | John Daly

China’s omnivorous global appetite for energy resources is well known. While biofuel production is one of the rising energy stars of the 21st century, it is unlikely to become a…

Aug 26, 2011 at 07:25 | Brian Westenhaus

Observers, journalists and investors don’t always know the finer details of the qualities of biomass destined for making fuel.  The question of how much useable starch and sugar there is…

Aug 25, 2011 at 08:29 | John Daly

On 16 August President Obama announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million by 2014 in partnership with the private sector to…

Aug 09, 2011 at 07:48 | Brian Westenhaus

According to Promode Kant from the Institute of Green Economy in India and Shuirong Wu of the Chinese Academy of Forestry some 12.8 million ha (49,421 square miles) are expected…

Aug 01, 2011 at 07:12 | Energy Digital

Grab the lime and salt!  Tequila may soon offer more than just delicious frozen margaritas.  Researchers find that the agave plant, used to distill the famous Mexican spirit, may also…

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…