In Washington, the US Energy Information Administration released its Annual Energy Outlook for 2012. Among changes in this year’s Outlook, an updated Reference case was included as part of this complete report, to incorporate modeling changes and reflect new legislation or regulation that was not available when the Early Release Overview version of the Reference […]
In Thailand, ASEAN is urging the nation to team up with Malaysia and Indonesia on biofuels to reduce its oil import bill. “We should get more serious about joint development of biofuels, as in the future the oil price will definitely increase,” Khunying Thongtip Ratnarat, former executive director of the Petroleum Institute of Thailand and […]
In India, the Sugarcane Breeding Institute based in Coimbatore has begun research intro transgenic sugarcane though it expects it will take several years before it is able to release a BT sugarcane variety for commercial use. SBI has been working on energy canes with two varieties already released. More on the story.
In the UK, researchers at the University of London, Queen Mary, are investigating the biological electrical “switches” in cyanobacteria whose manipulation could lead to better biofuels production from solar power. More on the story.
In India, the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) at Chennai, a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has successfully developed a biorefinery to produce biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomethane from tannery solid waste. Tanneries across the country have been a major cause of environmental pollution and ground water contamination. Ground water […]
In Indiana, an article regarding the Midwest’s capability for producing grain sorghum was published in the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts, & Biorefining by researchers from Purdue, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Illinois. The article argued that sorghum is more attractive to midwestern farmers for a number of reasons: the infrastructure and grain elevators […]
In Washington, writing in The Scientist, Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Wolf Frommer and Tom Brutnell of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center said that a 10-year, $100 billion investment in food and energy science is required, in order to address the planet’s long term fuel and food needs. The authors note a 2012 FAO estimate […]
In New York, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory show that ramping up the microbes’ overall metabolism by feeding them more carbon increases oil production as the organisms continue to grow. More on the story.
In Washington, a new study by the RAND Corporation says that the US military’s petroleum demand of 340,000 barrels per day, compared to global demand of 87 million barrels per day, isn’t large enough of a scale to impact the production cost of biofuels so should therefore stop spending money on more expensive alternative fuels. […]
In India and Israel, Rasi Seeds and Evogene announced a collaboration, focused on increasing yield and drought tolerance in rice. Pursuant to the collaboration agreement, candidate genes discovered by Evogene for these key traits will be introduced into Rasi Seeds pipeline for the development of improved hybrid rice. Financial terms of the agreement were not […]
