This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock farmers. Studies examining the relationship between food prices and biofuel demand conclude …
The city-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has been selected to be a part of a three-member consortia to conduct research in advanced biofuels and solar energy. The purpose: to reduce our heavy reliance on fossil fuels. This Indo-US Joint Clean Energy Research Centre is a result of the …
The Ministry of Science and Technology has selected three consortia that will receive a grant of Rs 125 crore from the Centre. The funding will be over five years, under the Indo-US Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre. The consortia are led in India by the Indian Institute of …
NEW DELHI: Rapping the rural development ministry's land resources department for the "inordinate delay" in finalising a bio-fuels programme, a parliamentary panel has sought for the matter be placed before the cabinet at the earliest for a decision on its continuance. The Standing Committee on Rural Development, in its report …
Senior European Union officials failed on Wednesday to agree on how to measure the full climate impact of biofuels, prolonging uncertainty in a debate that threatens to wipe out large parts of Europe's biodiesel industry. The talks followed warnings from scientists that using biodiesel made from European rapeseed and imported …
In flood-hit fields in the Philippines, farmers are testing a hardy new variety of rice that can survive completely submerged for more than two weeks. In Kenya's Kibera slum, poor urban families are turning around their diets and incomes just by learning to grow vegetables in sack gardens outside their …
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Iogen Corp have scrapped plans for a commercial-scale biofuel plant in Manitoba, spelling the loss of 150 jobs and raising questions about widespread and near-term use of fuel made from agricultural waste in Canada. The Iogen Energy joint venture had been studying building a plant …
This report reviews and analyses the transformation in EU biofuels markets within this broader international context by focusing especially on three aspects and the linkages between them: land use change, trade and forest protection. The dynamics of international trade in biofuels has been evolving due to a variety of technical …
Biofuels production has quickly expanded worldwide as part of strategies to make energy economies “greener”. Climate change mitigation and energy security have been frequent rationales behind biofuel policies, but developing countries have also emphasized the social dimensions of this new sector, flagging the inclusion of smallholder farmers in fuel production …
Advanced biofuels from crop wastes are a “cleaner and greener” alternative to fossil fuels and conventional biofuels, but more research is needed to specify how much waste can be sustainably used, according to WWF’s study “Smart Use of Residues”. Advanced biofuels produced from agricultural residues have a role to play …
This report provides an analysis of the tools and tactics advocacy groups use to influence policy responses to climate change at international, regional, national and sub-national levels. More than 20 climate networks and their member organisations have contributed to the report with their experiences of advocacy on climate change, including …
Three out of four U.S. voters favor regulating carbon dioxide as a greenhouse-gas pollutant, and a majority think global warming should be a priority for the president and Congress, a survey of American attitudes on climate and energy reported on Thursday. The survey was released one day after Rolling Stone …
Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops. The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 …
Tracking Clean Energy Progress is an early except of the forthcoming Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 (ETP2012). The report tracks progress in the development and deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies in the power generation, industry, buildings, and transport sectors. Progress is assessed against rates required to achieve a …
Researchers have found that climate change is likely to have far greater influence on the volatility of corn prices over the next three decades than factors that recently have been blamed for price swings — like oil prices, trade policies and government biofuel mandates. The new study, published on Sunday …
This is first new annual IFPRI publication provides a comprehensive, research-based analysis of major food policy challenges at the global, regional, national, and local levels. Highlights important developments in food policy that occurred in 2011 and takes a look forward into 2012. The 2011 Global Food Policy Report is a …
A large, global move to produce more energy from forest biomass may be possible and already is beginning in some places, but scientists say in a new analysis that such large-scale bioenergy production from forest biomass is unsustainable and will increase greenhouse gas emissions. Early suggestions that such a forest …
The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are a key, integral component of the stability, sustainability and functioning of ecosystems. In this study, we characterised the AMF biodiversity in a native vegetation soil and in a soil cultivated with Jatropha curcas or Ricinus communis, in a tropical system in Guantanamo (Cuba), in …
SYDNEY: Australia's Qantas on Friday launched the nation's first commercial flight using a mixture of refined cooking oil, saying it would not survive if it relied solely on traditional jet fuel. The Airbus A330 left Sydney for Adelaide using a 50-50 blend derived from recycled cooking oil and regular jet …
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government is working towards producing around 183 MW of electricity from bagasse acquired from 12 sugar mills in the state from February next, State Industries Minister P Thangamani said today. He was replying to a question from K Alaguvelu (AIADMK) in the state assembly. Alaguvelu had asked …
Twenty companies, including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co and Cargill Inc, have been cleared to produce the new ethanol grade called E15, a significant step toward putting the higher blend biofuel on sale, the government announced on Monday. Most fuel sold at filling stations is a 9-to-1 blend of gasoline and corn-based ethanol. …
