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 bacteria behind food poisoning worldwide, the mighty e.coli, could be turned into a commercially available biofuel in five years, a U.S. scientist told technology industry and government leaders on Tuesday. Several companies are working on the technology, which has been proven in laboratories but is not yet yielding enough …
Heavy rains and flooding across swaths of US farmland mean farmers have planted significantly less corn than initially intended, according to Cargill, the world
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to decide the final price of ethanol for blending in petrol to ensure smooth supply of the product during the 2011-12 season. In August last year, the government had fixed an interim price of Rs 27 a litre for …
The field of biofuels has suffered from cycles of interest and neglect. Still, enterprising researchers have myriad options. http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2011/110623/pdf/nj7352-531a.pdf
Proponents of biomass-based fuels push for sustainability against a steady tide of conflicting analysis, but can advanced biofuels cut the mustard? http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/pdf/474S02a.pdf
The most controversial aspect of biofuels is the perceived competition for farmland. Will advances in biofuels and agriculture send this trade-off speeding towards the history books? http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S06a.html
A biomass-based fuel needs to be cheap and energy dense. Gasoline sets a high standard. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S09a.html
The inedible parts of plants are feeding the next generation of biofuels. But extracting the energy-containing molecules is a challenging task. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S012a.html
The green slime that covers ponds is an efficient factory for turning sunlight into fuel, but growing it on an industrial scale will take ingenuity. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S015a.html
Shifting from corn to perennial crops in making biofuels is essential to save clean water, argues Jeremy Martin. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S017a.html
Biofuels could help poor nations modernize, but scaling up aid supported projects to commercial operations is far from easy. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S018a.html
Bioenergy could help bring food security to the world's poorest continent, say Lee R. Lynd and Jeremy Woods. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S020a.html
Biofuels have been hailed as key to reducing our fossil-fuel dependence, yet their environmental and social impacts remain uncertain. A complex task lies ahead for policy makers. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S022a.html
Thirty five years of experience has taught one of the world's leading biofuels producers several essential lessons, which other countries should heed, says Marcia Moraes. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S025a.html
Letter to Andhra Pradesh CM from the Millet Network of India on the government's decision to provide an input subsidy for maize farmers to a tune of Rs.5000 per acre.
The U.S. ethanol industry is growing up. Moves in Washington to start weaning producers off government support are not expected to stunt a sector that had often been perceived as too fragile to withstand the travails of market forces. This week's largely symbolic Senate vote to eliminate $6 billion in …
PARIS: European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation" ( Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050. The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines …
Jean Claude Gandur, a Swiss commodities trader, made a fortune during the 1990s buying oil concessions in Africa that others did not want or could not hold. Now a billionaire, he is poised to swim against the tide again with a major expansion into ethanol in Sierra Leone, the West …
CHENNAI: The Centre for Waste Management (CWM) of Sathyabama University, in association with the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), have started off a bio-diesel production centre on the campus of the University. The cooking oil waste generated at the University
