biofuels

Oxfam at the World Social Forum 2009: Solutions for the crisis should come from the bottom up

Oxfam International is participating at the 9th World Social Forum (WSF) in Belém, Brazil to share experiences and to strategize with other organizations and networks on waysread more

Airline Flies a 747 on Fuel From a Plant

(Article and image reprinted from the New York Times)Air New Zealand tested a jet fuel made from the jatropha plant on Tuesday as the airline searches for an affordable and environmentally friendly alternative to crude oil. Learn more...

Fish Waste Biodiesel Project Launched in Vietnam

What to do when your corner of the world consumes 5 million liters of diesel fuel a day and you have a fish processing industry which can produce 120,000 kilograms of processed fish waste daily from just one factory? Turn that waste into biodiesel, obviously.

Tropical Forests Better Left Intact As Carbon Sinks Than Converted to Biofuel Plantations

photo: Steven Wong

That may be an obvious statement for regular followers of renewable energy news, and of the green movement in general, but a new study published in Conservation Biology illustrates just how important intact tropical forests are in slowing climate change. And just how counter productive converting them to biofuel plantations really is.

Oxfam response to EU decision on €1bn for world’s poorest farmers

Oxfam welcomes the EU’s €1bn for the world’s poorest farmers, finally agreed to after long negotiations.read more

40 Corn Ethanol Plants Could File For Bankruptcy by Early 2009

photo: Stefanie Seskin

Two weeks ago, the world’s largest ethanol producer, Verasun, filed for bankruptcy.

Oxfam welcomes the world’s first shipment of sustainable palm oil, but warns much still to do

11 Nov: The world’s first shipments of certified sustainable palm oil have left Malaysia for the Netherlands where it will be used by European consumer goods manufacturers andread more

15% of Iowa’s Carbon Emissions Come From Ethanol Plants, More Than Belching Cattle

photo: Steven Roemerman

OK, before anyone accuses me of a misleading headline: Coal-fired power plants in Iowa produce much more carbon emissions than do ethanol plants. Said. Done.

Poo Power To Provide 25% of US Forest Service’s Electricity

While we’ve covered both consumer green energy programs and the animal waste-to-electricity projects a number of times, this is the first combination of them that I’ve seen. And I can thank action by the US Forest Service for bringing it to my attention.

The Forest Service has announced that it will be offsetting 25% of its electricity usage through payments made to the Vermont-based CVPS Cow Power.

$92 Million Algae Biofuels Deal Signed Between GreenFuel Technologies & Aurantia

Of all the biofuel feedstock options currently on the table, the only one with a real shot of displacing significant quantities of fossil fuels is algae. To date there have been a number of participants in the race to produ...

Carbon Neutral Olive Oil: Italian Farm Will Cut Its Carbon Emissions 100% in One Year

photo: Maury Landsman

While I’m not sure that the claims by the owners of Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio olive oil farm that they will be the first farm anywhere to reduce their net carbon emissions to zero, without using offsite carbon offsetting projects, are be entirely true—I’d be surprised that some small farm hasn’t tried to do the same thing, just not publicized it as well—the efforts by the owners of this Umbrian farm are pretty interesting: ...

Minnesota Piloting "Productive Conservation on Working Lands" Program: Making BioFuels Compatible With Wildlilfe Conservation

Wise people in the US State of Minnesota are working on an program for rural landowners and/or farmers who would like a way to maintain bio-diversity without fully "idling" present, or prospective, cropland. It's called the Productive Conservation on Working Lands or "PCWL" program.

5 Promising Biofuel Feedstocks Roundup

It seems like only yesterday that the only game in town when it came to biofuels was corn ethanol. When it was first introduced to the U.S. market, it was widely touted as the future of renewable fuels -- an alternative to gasoline that would help us move closer to energy independence. Despite its obvious disadvantages, corn ethanol was quickly embraced by the federal government, businesses and even some environmentalists.

EU member states should follow the Parliament’s lead and reduce role for biofuels

EU member states must follow the Parliament’s lead and oppose the European Commission’s proposal to boost the use of biofuels in transport fuels to 10% by 2020, as part oread more

European Parliament recognizes the need to support developing countries in their fight against climate change

Oxfam welcomed today’s vote by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee on the ETS Directive to use 50% of the auctioning revenues generated from the emission permread more

Oxfam’s reaction to EU biofuels vote: Important first step but must go much further

Oxfam welcomed today’s vote by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE committee) to reduce the EU’s ambitious targets for biofuels in transport fuel but wouread more

Biofuels – Frequently asked questions

What are biofuels? Biofuels are liquid fuels made from organic matter, usually crops. They can be blended with fossil fuels to run in conventional cars.read more

Biofuels

They’ve been championed as a solution to climate change and as a way to reduce our insatiable desire for oil.read more