Today in Biofuels: FAO says biofuels good for climate, warns on land, water use; GAO says global biofuel standards a must; Euro policy group to develop R&D agenda
Submitted by Biofuels Digest Blog
Top Story:
Regan Suzuki of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization said that while biofuels are better for the environment and promote energy security, the effect of competition for land, and the potential for water shortages were areas for concern. She said that “Biofuels have become a flash point through which a wide range of social and environmental issues are currently being played out in the media,” and said that countries such as India have rolled out biofuels plans without considering the potential effect on deforestation and other negative environmental effects.
Producer News:
In California, Gevo announced it has acquired an exclusive license for use of UCLA’s method for modifying E.coli bacteria that will improve its ability to mass produce next-gen biofuels such as butanol. Gevo said that the technology will allow it potentially to retrofit existing ethanol plants to produce butaol, at a low capiotal ost, and will speed up the commercialization of butanol by several years. At the same time, Gevo announced that UCLA Professor James C. Liao has agreed to join its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Liao focuses on developing advancements that speed up the commercialization of next-generation biofuels through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. Recently Liao’s team developed the method for modifying E.coli that Gevo licensed.
In California, LS9 executives attended the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where the company received a Technology Pioneer award for the company’s development of hydrocarbon fuels made from cellulosic feedstock. LS9’s fuels are designed to closely resemble petroleum fuels, but are specially engineered to be clean, renewable, domestically produced and cost competitive with crude oil. The company says that its trademarked DesignerBiofuels product line are compatible with existing infrastructure, including pumps, pipelines and vehicles. LS9 is now in the process of moving its products from lab to commeercialization.
In Connecticut, CT Biodiesel responded to resident criticisms of its biodiesel project by bringing 20 architects and engineers to a public hearing, where they presented for three hours on the merits of the project. Resident opposition groups said that their supporters “became worn down and left. They came here to speak, and they’re disappointed.” Resident groups have said that the plant does not meet zoning specifications that ban chemical manufacturing, while CT Biodiesel says that it manufactures fuels, not chemicals, and that chemicals used in its production process were finished or semi-finished and not raw chemicals.
International News:
In Brazil, the Brazilian Sugar Cane Industry Association (UNICA) said in a statement said that it welcomed the new EU criteria for sustainability and looked forward to supplying more fuels to the EU market under new EU rules proposed this week.
In Japan, Japan Biofuels Supply, a biofuel cooperative owned by Japanese oil companies, will import 2 Mgy of ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) from Brazil, made by mixing ethanol and isobutylene. Wholesalers have been mixing 7 per cent of ETBE into gasoline, and Japan is prepared to expand blending of ETBE to 222 Mgy by 2010.
Swaziland and other Southern African nations are turning to the emergency development of power from biofuels to avoid being plunged into darkness, after South African energy supplier Eskom withdrew supply from Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, and reduced supply to Swaziland because of shortages in South Africa. Eskom has exported 5 percent of its energy regionally. Swaziland Electricity Company has asked consumers to switch off all unused appliances from 6 a.m to 10 p.m daily. The Swaziland National Energy Policy Project (SNEPP) initiated in August 1999, has failed to address the development of sufficient alternative resources.
In Indonesia, biodiesel production is down 85 percent and blamed failed government policies for their troubles. They pointed out that the state oil company Pertamina reduced its biofuels purchasing by half when government subsidies were dropped. Biofuel Producers Association chairman Purnardi Djojosudirdjo said that 17 biofuel companies has postponed projects, while the five companies producing were doing so at 15 percent of capacity. “We invested in the business after the presidential instruction on biofuel promotion was introduced back in 2006, promising a lot of incentives for the alternative energy industry,” Djojosudirdjo told the Jakarta Post. “But apparently, no regulatory support followed the instruction.”
Research News:
The European Commission has backed a European Biofuels Technology Platform initiative to bring industry and academics together to develop a long-term R&D agenda for biofuels. Members include the Imperial College London, Defra’s Central Science Laboratory and the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership. The group intends to launch their research agenda on January 31st, following policy directives from the EU that will be issued this week.
Policy and Policymakers:
In Washington, the Government Accountability Office said that biofuels trade would decline and energy prices would climb unless global standards for biofuels are developed. The GAO said that “the array of incompatible gasoline and diesel blending stocks, and final blended products that cannot be interchanged at the retail level” are reducing opportunities for trade. The GAO recommended that the Departments of Transportation and Energy “encourage uniform biofuel and petroleum product blending practices.”
Consumer and Fleet News:
BMW may introduce a new “green” brand, after concluding that the BMW brand is too closely identified with its “Ultimate Driving Machine” image to encompass an eco-friendly brand message. The company is concerned that it will not excite consumers with its Efficient Dynamics program, unless it has a new brand, because fundamental changes to the primary BMW brand are not under discussion. BMW makes the Hydrogen 7, which runs on hydrogen and gasoline, but the vehicle is only available on loan and has been reserved for celebrity use.
Financial News:
The Biofuels Digest Index™, a basket of public biofuels stocks, rose 1.56 percent yesterday to 115.97, after declining for five consecutive sessions. Among diversified agribusiness, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was up 1.64 percent to $40.85, while among mid caps Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) rose 6.20 percent to $5.31 as the ethanol sector rallied broadly with fears of a recession fading slightly on positive comments from the Congressional Budget Office. Among small caps, Xethanol (XNL) fell 16.18 percent to $0.57 while GreenShift (GSHF.OB) jumped 9.09 percent to close at $0.012. For the day, advances led declines 3 to 1.
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