Author Archive for Jim Lane
National Biodiesel Board Drives Into the New Decade With “Carbon-Neutral” cars and trucks
By Will Thurmond, Biofuels Digest Columnist and CEO of Emerging Markets Online
This evening I enjoyed a drive from Houston to Dallas and arrived at the National Biodiesel Board (NBB)’s 2010 event just in time for the auto-show. I’m a big auto enthusiast, and a fan of the new generation of ‘carbon neutral” clean diesel cars [...]
Chicken Little, Corn Little, Jatropha Little: Is the sky really falling (or is that jatropha floating in space?)
In the children’s fable Chicken Little, a farmyard is brought to a state of mass hysteria based on a bad extrapolation from insufficient data. In short, an acorn fell on Chicken Little’s head and the poor thing concluded that the sky was falling in. A wily predator named Foxy Loxy offers a series of consulting [...]
110 Mgy Bionol Clearfield corn ethanol plant opens in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, the 110 Mgy Bionol Clearfield corn ethanol plant in Clearfield has commenced operation and commenced performance testing yesterday. The plant was constructed by Fagen and is the first commercial-scale ethanol plant in the Keystone State. Getty Petroleum Marketing will market ethanol and Land O’Lakes will market the distillers grains from the plant, which [...]
Bioenergy PROFITS Principles: Bio This and Bio That….So What is Biodiesel Anyway?
By Biofuels Digest columnist Dr. Rosalie Lober
Unless you’re working daily in the field of biofuels, you will probably do research to learn the specifics of the variety of fuel options, feedstocks and technologies. How will you do this without becoming overwhelmed? Today, let’s explore some of the actions you can take when you want [...]
Biofuels industry execs say that “costs and yields” are the biggest barrier to biofuels growth
In Florida, 43 percent of biofuels industry execs identified costs and yields from current technology as the biggest barrier to the growth of biofuels over the next five years. In the Biofuels Digest poll, 25 percent indicated that financing would prove the greatest growth barrier, while 19 percent identified feedback, 6 percent said “scare tactics” [...]
Today in Biofuels Opinion: “No wonder that the EPA has long taken the correct position that increased use of biomass fuels is (at a minimum) “carbon neutral.”
C. Boyden Gray: “According to the government’s own Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks in 2007, carbon stocks in U.S. forests continue to grow at a rate of over 800 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents per year — about 10 percent of total annual greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. No wonder [...]
Biofuels investment fueling Brazilian move into Africa
In Brazil, the Financial Times has run an excellent overview of rising Brazilian investments in Africa, noting that Odebrecht has become the largest private employer in Angola, and Vale’s interest in Mozambique development – the article also notes the six trips that Brazilian president Lula hags led on economic development issues. Imports from Africa to [...]
Fitch says ethanol will prevent crash in Indian sugar market
In India, ratings agency Fitch said that the increased ethanol market will protect India from a crash in sugar prices expected next year when global sugar production and inventories are expected to improve. Fitch said that “better visibility of cane output and a declining supply deficit” will be offset by “the Indian government’s renewed focus [...]
USB finds that US soybean data nine years out of date; study provides updates with material changes in lifecycle analysis
In Missouri, the United Soybean Board (released a new peer-reviewed life cycle profile conducted by Omni Tech International. Currently, data included in the Department of Energy’s U.S. Life Cycle Inventory is based on three years, 1998 to 2001. The project aimed to incorporate date from 2001-2007.
Key findings: The average soybean yield for 2004-2007 was 42.3 [...]
Chu says that DOE has released only $2.1 billion out of $37 billion in Recovery Act funds
In Washington, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, in Senate testimony regarding the FY 2011 budget, that only $2.1 billion of the $37 billion in Recovery Act funding given to Energy to disperse had been spent. Chu said that the complex review process required for projects had slowed the disbursement, and blamed state and local governments [...]
