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 …
South Africa plans to invest 2 billion rand ($258.5 million) to build an ethanol plant and help a nascent biofuels sector that could reduce the country's reliance on imported fuel, an industry player said on Monday. Africa's biggest economy imports about 60 percent of its crude oil needs and became …
Observed changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, particularly in the North-Eastern region, are the major projections on which Indian agriculture scientists are pegging their “mitigation and adaptation” plans in the farm sector in the absence of definitive long-term and area-specific data on climate change. Acknowledging that in India the …
Burning cowdung cakes can be 10 times more harmful than burning wood in poorly ventilated kitchens, something that can damage the lungs, a study comparing the two widely used kitchen fuels has found. Women who spend many hours cooking food in poorly ventilated homes can develop chronic obstructive lung disease …
At the tip of the 30-mile-long peninsula that hosts one of the busiest ports in the world, Finland's Neste Oil has just finished converting a plot of land reclaimed from the sea into the biggest biodiesel refinery in Europe. The €670 million ($850 million) investment by the state-controlled company in …
Ethanol production has boosted the prices of grains that Canadian farmers buy to raise cattle and pigs, and Ottawa should curb or eliminate its support for the industry, an agriculture research organization said on Tuesday. But a leading biofuels group said the report wildly overstated ethanol's impact on grain prices. …
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) needs to set clear policies and priorities for future work and investments in biofuel related projects while providing guidance to countries that are keen to engage themselves in this sector. UN agencies in collaboration with scientific institutions worldwide address issues such as life-cycle energy and …
Prospecting macroalgae (seaweeds) as feedstocks for bioconversion into biofuels and commodity chemical compounds is limited primarily by the availability of tractable microorganisms that can metabolize alginate polysaccharides. Here, we present the discovery of a 36–kilo–base pair DNA fragment from Vibrio splendidus encoding enzymes for alginate transport and metabolism. The genomic …
Life technology comes up with a bio-fuel research using genetic engineering which holds the key to resolve the issue of food security. Engineering microorganisms to convert complex feed stocks into Bio-fuel which holds a tremendous promise. Algae have recently received a lot of attention for being a new biomass source …
This analysis of the Government of India’s National Policy on Biofuels argues that while the policy of ethanol blending in petrol is in the right direction, it is fraught with several problems which are rendering the approach ineffective. The most critical ones are the lack of sugar cane for producing …
The Tamil Nadu Government has announced a State Advised Price of Rs 2,000 a tonne of sugarcane plus a transport cost of Rs 100 for the 2011-12 sugar season, according to an official press release. The Government will also take steps to enable the production of ethanol by distilleries attached …
A judge blocked one of California's signature attempts to lower greenhouse gas emissions, a victory for out-of-state ethanol producers and refiners that has California's air quality board vowing to appeal. U.S. District Judge Lawrence O'Neill in Fresno on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction against a regulation adopted by the California …
A federal tax credit for ethanol expired on Saturday, ending an era in which the federal government provided more than $20 billion in subsidies for use of the product. The tax break, created more than 30 years ago, had long seemed untouchable. But in the last year, during which Congress …
Marianne Fay, chief economist for the World Bank Sustainable Development Network, led a study on green growth, defined as growth that is efficient, clean, and resilient: ecient in its use of natural resources, clean in minimizing pollution and environmental impacts, and resilient in fully accounting for natural hazards. Here, Environment …
This new study of large land acquisitions in developing countries by International Land Coalition says that while large land deals can create opportunities, they are more likely to cause problems for the poor, who often lose access to land essential to their livelihoods. This report synthesises the findings of the …
Policy interest in biofuels in India has grown dramatically during the last few years, with substantial government planting targets for Jatropha curcas in particular. This working paper discusses the sustainable livelihoods aspects of alternative Jatropha cultivation systems identified during fieldwork in three Indian states in 2009, based on site visits …
There is a growing consensus that universalisation of modern energy services is central to reducing major elements of poverty and hunger, increasing literacy and education, and improving health care, employment opportunities, and lives of women and children. In India, more than 700 million people lack access to modern energy services …
European banks, pension funds and insurance companies are increasing global hunger and poverty by speculating on food prices and financing land grabs in poorer countries, according to Farming Money, a new report released. Farming Money: How European banks and private finance profit from food speculation and land grabs analyses the …
This working paper shows that large-scale renewable energy electricity and biofuels for transport industries involve a large variety of jobs, which differ in skill levels required, and may also differ according to the supply chain of technologies. Although data information is incomplete, 2010 estimates placed gross employment at over 3.5 …
The BP Energy Outlook 2030 sees overall energy demand growing some 40% over next two decades, with virtually all growth coming from developing countries & more than half will come from China and India. The BP Energy Outlook 2030 contains projections of long-term energy trends. This outlook contributes to the …
London: If discarded wrapping paper and Christmas cards in the UK were collected and fermented, they could make enough biofuel to run a double-decker bus to run more than 20 trips to moon. This has been stated by a study at Imperial College London demonstrates that industrial quantities of waste …
