biofuels

The aid agency Oxfam said Wednesday that the all-beloved biofuels are to be blamed for 30% of the increase in food prices worldwide, pushing 30 million people around the globe into poverty.

A new report released by Oxfam has blamed the use of biofuels for pushing 30 million people around the world into poverty, while doing very little to fight global warming.

A combination of bad weather and the rising use of ethanol as fuel, combined with higher transportation costs and other economic factors, have caused the costs of corn to skyrocket. Corn ethanol programs must be stopped now, and the competition between food and fuel must be ended.

Bob Dinneen, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Assocation, is interviewed about criticisms that biofuels, such as ethanol, are driving up world food prices. He also addresses industry efforts to shift to cellulosic ethanol and to create a wider US ethanol fueling infrastructure.

Nancy Young, Vice President, Environmental Affairs, Air Transport Association, is interviewed about airline industry adoption of alternative fuels, from both fuel economy and environmental perspectives, as the industry looks to further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

“One train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks.”

Damage from invasive species already costs the world more than $1.4 trillion annually. But now a new report says that biofuel crops could also become invasive species -- and that the risk needs to be evaluated before these crops are planted.

Learn more at http://www.nature.org/initiatives/invasivespecies/strategies/art24885.html

The Mayor of San Francisco is in talks with Project Better Place to get and influx of electric cars and recharging stations to help his city cut their carbon footprint. Hopefully this will catch on across the country!

Conservationists in Kenya are opposing a multi-million dollar biofuels project citing threats to bird life abundant in a riverine delta area. The 50,000 acre sugar cane project was meant to provide raw cane for a giant sugar milling company too but it is believed its vision was more for biofuel than food.

Not all biofuels are created equal, as the chart above illustrates (click the image to see full size). It’s one of the best depictions I’ve seen of how each biofuel feedstock has completely different impacts on overall greenhouse gas emissions, water and pesticide use, and the energy required to produce the fuel.

Senator Grassley rebuts the argument that ethanol and corn farmers are to blame for rising food prices. He says increased oil prices play a role.

General Motors announced today it would be entering into a strategic relationship with Mascoma Corp., a second-generation biofuel company with the technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-food sources via a single-step biochemical conversion. This is GM’s second investment in a cellulosic ethanol company, after announcing partnership with Coskata back in January.

Cool list generated by the EPA yesterday.

Not to long ago we thought that biofuels would be a good way to reduce global warming by cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In reality, biofuels could actually increase GHG emissions if we consider their effects over their entire life cycle. In a study by the University of Edinburgh, their impact has even been quantified: biofuels could increase GHGs by 50 to 70%.

Texas Governors sides with Big Oil and Big Food to crush competition to gasoline