Renewable Energy Alternative Fuels

Europeans Keen On Biomass Projects

2011-05-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

03/05/2011 (News Straits Times) - It appears to be a case of communication breakdown.

European investors are lining up money to fund biomass projects in Malaysia but the local oil palm plantation industry doesn't seem to know this.

According to the European Union (EU)-Malaysia Biomass Sustainable Production Initiative (Biomass-SP), an EU-led industry body, there are 10 investors keen to fund biomass projects where plantation wastes like fruit bunches are used to produce electricity.

"These investors from France, Ireland, the UK, Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong have approached me. Some of these investors have at least RM40 million to RM50 million set aside (for biomass power plant projects) but the problem is, I don't have any projects to show them," Biomass-SP technical adviser Datuk Leong Kin Mun told Business Times in an interview recently.

The appeal of renewable energy plants is well documented. The plants are friendlier to the environment and a lot cheaper to run over the long term as their fuel, unlike natural gas or coal, are virtually free. Owners can get such plants certified as good for the environment and sell the papers, known as carbon credits, on a climate exchange.

Leong said most of the investors were from the EU and very keen on funding biogas projects, where gas from fermented wastes is trapped and used as fuel, and could invest about RM3 million to RM4 million per venture.

But the industry has not heard about Biomass-SP. Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer Tan Sri Yusof Basiron believed that many palm oil millers would be interested to partner these green investors but believed that many are not in the know about their existence.

"We are definitely looking for opportunities. Everyone has money. We are looking for opportunities with or without banks' support. So my advice to them is to do their homework and spread the word around," he added.

But Leong said businessmen in Malaysia, especially those who own palm oil mills, have low-risk appetite when it comes to investing in biogas projects as they are afraid that the investment will disrupt the day-to-day running of their palm oil plantation, while the rest is not interested.

"Unless the government comes up with some sort of policy, I am afraid that the biogas project would remain an unpopular venture among the palm oil millers," he said.

Renewable energy is in line with the country's overall policy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and increase the use of renewable resources in its energy-generation capacity to 2,000 megawatts (MW) in 2020.

Leong said the palm oil industry, being the country's major plantation crop with a total of 417 palm oil mills and plantations, covering 4 million hectares of land, holds the key role to meeting such objective.

Apart from generating electricity from solid wastes like empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shell, power generation can also be achieved through the capture of palm oil mill effluent (POME) biogas.

"Based on fresh fruit bunch yield in 2009, an estimated 57.42 million tonnes (1607.76 million m3) of POME are produced annually. In terms of total power generation capacity, this translates into potential power output capacity of 261.1 megawatts.

"At the current rate of 21sen/ kWh Tenaga Nasional (Bhd) is buying renewable energy, the potential of electricity sales is worth RM394.8 million. Upon implementation of the feed-in tariff system, the higher renewable energy purchase price could be an added incentive for palm oil millers to convert their POME biogas to electricity," he added.

Biogas

Turning Oil Palm Biomass Into Valuable By-products

2011-04-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Oil palm wastes

20/04/2011 (The Star) - Much of the 70 million tonnes of oil palm biomass produced annually is burnt or left to rot.

This waste pollutes rivers through seepage and harms the environment when it produces methane and carbon dioxide.

The Government has realised that oil palm biomass can be as valuable as crude palm oil and has come out with the Oil Palm Biomass Roadmap that will streamline efforts to convert this waste into wealth-generating industries.

Unik, an agency under the Prime Minister's Department to promote innovation, will undertake this project.

The agency will be collaborating with Dutch consortium BE-Basic to develop Malaysia's capabilities in using renewable resources for the production of chemicals, materials, products and fuels.

According to BE-Basic director Prof Dr Luuk van der Wielen, oil palm biomass would be able to contribute to the economy by as much as 5% if its use is widened to produce liquid biofuels and biochemicals.

“There's no technical barrier any more, it's a matter of making Malaysia attractive for companies to invest in this sector here, a matter of making connections to the plantation sector here,” he said in a recent report.

This development has also attracted foreign chemical companies which have invested by establishing demo-facilities in Malaysia.

Oil palm biomass can be converted into high-value chemicals such as ethanol and even higher value acids such as lactic acid, which is used in a wide range of food applications as well as the cosmetics industry and numerous biochemical processes.

It is also used as a monomer for producing polylactic acid, which has applications in biodegradable plastic.

Dr van der Wielen, who is also a professor at the department of biotechnology at Delft University of Technology, has been working with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia since 2009 to develop sustainable solutions for the chemical and fuel industry.

The Netherlands is the biggest consumer of palm oil in Europe.

The country is also currently the ninth largest export destination for Malaysia and third in the European Union.

Sustainable Solutions

'Eco-friendly' Biofuels May Do More Harm Than Good

2011-04-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

13/04/2011 (Daily Mail) - The drive for ‘eco-friendly’ biofuels has backfired and may be contributing to climate change, says a report.

Plant-based fuels have pushed up food prices, increased deforestation and threatened endangered animals, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics found.

The think-tank said their spread has led to ‘near slavery conditions’ on sugar plantations in the developing world and may have increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Unexpected: A recent report shows the speedy introduction of biofuels has been a disaster

Its report branded the UK’s biofuel policies ‘unethical’ and called for guidelines to ensure future ‘green’ fuels do more good than harm.

Most green biofuels come from maize, sugarcane, palm oil and rapeseed oil. By law, at least 5 per cent of petrol and diesel sold on British forecourts must be biofuel by 2013 compared with 3 per cent now.

Switching to biofuels was supposed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and prevent man-made climate change.

But the report shows their speedy introduction has been a disaster. Clearing rainforests for biofuel crops in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia has forced people off their land and threatened orangutans.

Ploughing has released carbon dioxide that would otherwise have been locked away in the soil.

In the U.S., turning farmland over to maize for fuel has cut supply of other crops and raised food prices.

'Eco-friendly' Biofuels

The History Channel : Renewable Energy , Natural Environment Homes : Going Green Living - Solar Power , Wind , Biofuel & More : 2 Pack

Food or Fuel?

2011-04-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

15/04/2011 (City Journal) - We're less than 50 years from the end of world oil supplies at current consumption rates according to a new report by HSBC bank. That coming shortage has brought new calls for increased reliance on biofuels, including from President Obama in last month's energy speech. Biofuels are made from crops like corn, sugar, palm oil and cassava root which are harvested and then shipped to plants to be converted into fuels like ethanol.

While it's likely that biofuels will play a significant role in powering more efficient vehicles in the US and China, the poor nations that rely on these crops for food are facing rising rates of hunger and poverty as a result. Research by the World Bank found that an increase in biofuels production over 2004 levels would push more than 35mn additional people into absolute poverty, or an income of less than $1.25 per day. An analysis in the spring 2011 issue of The Journal of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, meanwhile, used statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to estimate that our growing need for biofuels will result in at least 192,000 excess deaths from hunger and poverty every year. This is higher than the 141,000 deaths the WHO estimates to be caused by global warming each year.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that 2011 has the highest food prices yet recorded. Despite the price of corn rising 73% in the US late last year, in part due to 40% of the crop now being used to make biofuel, Americans will probably only see a 2-3% increase in food prices in 2011. "For Americans it may mean a few extra cents for a box of cereal," said Marie Brill, senior policy analyst at ActionAid, an international development group. "But that kind of increase puts corn out of the range for impoverished people."

Though this year's skyrocketing food prices can also be attributed to high oil prices and severe weather events destroying crops in Russia and Australia, the market for biofuels also bears some responsibility. "What is certain is that biofuels are playing a role," said Oliver Dubois, a bioenergy expert at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome.

This is especially true since many industrialised countries are aiming a transition from reliance on fossil fuels to greater use of biofuels.

Biofuels

Biofuels Transport Targets Are Unethical, Inquiry Finds

2011-04-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

14/04/2011 (The Guardian) - The legal requirement to put biofuels in petrol and diesel sold in the UK and Europe is unethical because their production violates human rights and damages the environment, a major new inquiry has concluded.

"Biofuels are one of the only renewable alternatives we have for transport fuels, but current policies and targets that encourage their uptake have backfired badly," said Prof Joyce Tait, at Edinburgh University, who chaired the 18-month inquiry by the independent Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCB). "The rapid expansion of biofuels production in the developing world has led to problems such as deforestation and the displacement of indigenous people."

The need to meet rising biofuel targets has also led to exploitation of workers, the loss of wildlife and higher food prices, the inquiry found. Under the European Union's renewable energy directive, 10% of transport fuel must come from renewable sources such as biofuel by 2020. Alena Buyx, assistant director at the NCB, said: "If you look at food prices and they go up and incomes do not, then more people will probably die from hunger, and biofuels are one contributing factor to those price rises." Biofuels also contribute to poor harvests, commodity speculation and high oil prices which raise the cost of fertilisers and transport, she added.

"But doing nothing is also immoral," said Prof Ottoline Leyserof Cambridge University, and another member of the NBC working party. There is a clear need to replace liquid fossil fuels to limit climate change and if a new biofuel technology meets ethical conditions, there is a duty to develop it, she said.

The main transport biofuels that are currently used – bioethanol, made from maize and sugar cane, and biodiesel, made from palm and rape seed oil – both come from food crops and can have substantial ethical problems, the inquiry concluded.

But future generations of biofuel, made from agricultural waste such as straw, fast-growing perennials such as willow or miscanthus grass, or even algae grown in tanks, could avoid many of the problems by not competing directly with food. "These are very exciting technologies," said Leyser. "The potential is huge."

In the UK, 5% of transport fuel must come from renewable sources by 2013. Today, 3% of the UK's petrol and diesel comes from biofuel, mostly produced in Argentina, Brazil and other European countries. But in January, it was revealed that two-thirds of the biofuel being used in the UK today failed to meet environmental standards. Government cuts to the budget of the Carbon Trust also saw a flagship algal biofuels project cancelled.

The Department of Transport is currently consulting on changes to the UK's biofuels regulations. Transport minister Norman Baker said: "It has already been agreed that no biofuel will count towards European renewable energy targets unless it meets certain sustainability requirements. But we are pushing the European commission to go further. Be in no doubt, we consider the sustainability of biofuels to be paramount."

An international certification scheme, like the Fairtrade scheme for food, must be introduced, the NCB inquiry concluded. It would guarantee that the production of biofuels met the five ethical conditions identified by the NCB: observing human rights, environmentally sustainable, reduced carbon emissions, fairly traded and equitably distributed cost and benefits.

Targets for biofuels had driven a rapid expansion, in parts of the world with lower ethical standards, the researchers said. They cited the destruction of rainforest in Malaysia to produce palm oil, forcing people off their land and endangering orangutans, and a 2008 report by Amnesty International which found conditions near slavery for workers in some sugarcane plantations.

"We should slow down [the targets] if it is not possible to meet ethical standards," said Buyx. "But we think it is possible to do that [meet such standards] if enough pressure is applied." The inquiry found positive examples too, such as small-scale biofuels initiatives that provide energy, income and livelihoods in fuel-poor areas, such as in rural Mali.

Existing certification schemes, such as that run by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels were a good start, the researchers said, but remained entirely voluntary. There was also problem of responsible biofuel producers having to conform to many different standards. At present, said Buyx: "the EU says each member country should make their own voluntary scheme - that is madness."

Tait added: "An international certification scheme will not add to red tape, it will simplify it with one overarching standard."

Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels

Sime, TNB and Mitsui to Study Biogas Potential at Eight Palm Oil Mills

2011-04-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

05/04/2011 (The Star) - Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd, a unit of Sime Darby Bhd, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia's national power producer, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), and Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui & Co Ltd to conduct a feasibility study on the potential of biogas projects at eight of its palm oil mills spread across Peninsular Malaysia.

The two-year study will involve the technical feasibility, financial viability and undertaking the necessary preliminary development works for implementation of potential biogas power-generation projects.

“It is a timely study because today the world continues to grapple with the issue of depleting sources of energy and environmental protection,” Sime Darby Plantation executive vice-president Franki Anthony Dass said in his speech.

“We are confident that the result of the study would be positive and that the three parties would come out of the feasibility study with the proper data to generate electricity at our palm oil mills and further strengthen their green credentials.”

If results of the study show commercial viability, TNB will assist in connectivity of the green power generated to the national grid as well as operations and maintenance expertise, while Mitsui will contribute towards technical design and carbon financing.

Sime Darby Plantation, on the other hand, will provide plant sites through the palm oil mills it operates. According to Dass, by then, biogas production for power generation will no longer be constrained in the eight mills involved in the feasibility study, but also in other mills belonging to the company.

Sime Darby Plantation currently has 62 palm oil mills, of which 40 are in Malaysia and the rest in Indonesia.

“The development of renewable energy projects, such as that of biogas, is timely as it contributes towards the Government's aspirations,” TNB chief operation officer Datuk Ir Azman Mohd explained.

At present, the renewable energy industry is still at its infancy stage in Malaysia, contributing less than 1% to the country's total energy mix. But the Government has recently outlined its plan to have renewable energy generating about 5.5%, or 985 megawatt (MW), of the total electricity generated in the country by 2015, and to eventually increase that to 11%, or 2,080MW, by 2020.

TNB, being a front-runner in the renewable energy in the country, has thus far signed 21 renewable energy power-purchase agreements, which account for a total capacity of 291MW, in the country.

Biogas Power-Generation

Defunct biodiesel plants get new lease of life

2011-02-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

31/01/2011 (Eco-Business.com), Singapore - Defunct first-generation (1-G) biodiesel plants - which became uneconomical when palm oil prices soared - are being revived as new owners upgrade them to make other products like chemicals used for oil and gas drilling.

The ‘rejuvenation’ of Northfield-based Stepan Company is the first of these. After acquiring Peter Cremer’s 100,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) methyl ester plant in July last year, the American chemicals company is currently upgrading it and installing another fractionation column at the Singapore plant to potentially double its capacity to 200,000 tpa.

The plant’s upgrading and expansion, scheduled for completion in February next year, will enable Stepan to produce surfactants used in oilfields. Stepan’s surfactants are used in three major oilfield market segments, including drilling, production and stimulation. Methyl esters are for instance used as solvents in drilling fluids.

Another Jurong Island 1-G biodiesel plant which looks set to go the same route is the $130 million Jurong Island plant (once touted as the world’s largest biodiesel facility) of Australian-owned Natural Fuel Pte Ltd. The plant which folded up in late-2009 is understood to have changed hands recently. But no details are available at this time.

President and CEO of Stepan, F Quinn Stepan Jr said at the time of its acquisition of Peter Cremer that: ‘Methyl esters are a core building block of Stepan’s surfactant business and the acquisition of this asset on Singapore’s Jurong Island provides a great opportunity to reach our global customer base with methyl esters (ME) and value added derivatives.’

‘Our plan is to install methyl ester fractionation capability on the site in order to supply our customers and our internal surfactant needs globally with fractionated methyl esters and derivatives made from tropical oils available in the region.’

The financial terms of the acquisition of the US$20 million plant - previously a joint venture involving Germany’s Peter Kremer and Malaysia’s Kulim Berhad - were not disclosed.

Stepan just over a week ago awarded a $14.6 million contract to Rotary Engineering to build a new four-storey 50,000 tpa (expandable to 100,000 tpa) fractionated ME plant and also upgrade the existing plant. The plant is expected to tap raw materials like palm oil and coconut from this region.

The early 1-G plants here like Natural Fuel and Peter Cremer, and a third plant belonging to Continental BioEnergy, essentially fell victim to soaring palm oil prices. Palm oil prices had tripled to US$1,400- plus a tonne by March 2008 from US$450 a tonne around 2005/06 when the Jurong Island plants first started.

Given also stiff competition from the many rival biodiesel plants in neighbouring palm oil producing countries, Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore has been promoting more advanced 2-G plants, or second generation plants, with biofuels developed from non-edible or discarded plant parts.

Finland’s Neste Oil which expects to ramp up its just-started $1.2 billion biodiesel plant at Tuas to full production by mid-year, exemplifies such 2-G technology.

Its 800,000 tpa Singapore plant - the largest in the world, with an identical new twin plant in Rotterdam starting up also around mid-year - produces biodiesel from 100 per cent renewable materials like palm oil and animal fat. Its advanced 2-G refineries allow Neste Oil to produce biodiesel from straight processing of the raw materials.

The Economic Development Board, in a background note to a recent tender for a consultant, said: ‘EDB believes bio-based feedstocks could add a new dimension of chemical feedstock option on Jurong Island. The fast-growing bio-based chemicals industry would also create new economic opportunities for Singapore.’

SIngapore Biodiesel Plants

Fueling Change - A Biodiesel Documentary

2010-12-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

Fueling Change - A Biodiesel Documentary - Part 1 of 2

Fueling Change - A Biodiesel Documentary - Part 2 of 2

Making Biodiesel Documentary

KNM secures RM2bil biomass contract in UK

2010-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Project represents firm’s drive into renewable, clean energy sector

PETALING JAYA: Oil and gas process equipment maker KNM Group Bhd's wholly-owned subsidiary KNM Process Systems Sdn Bhd (KNMPS) has secured a 450mil (RM2.196bil) engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract for a biomass and waste recycling centre project in England.

KNM told Bursa Malaysia that KNMPS yesterday entered the agreement for the EPCC of works towards the development of an 80MWe gross capacity energy from biomass and waste recycling centre project called EnergyPark Peterborough in Peterborough.

The contract with Peterborough Renewable Energy Ltd spans four years.

“This project represents KNM's drive into the renewable and clean energy sector,” KNM said.

The company said it was not expected to have any material impact to KNM Group's financial performance for this year ending Dec 31.

However, the project was expected to contribute positively to its earnings for the next four financial years.

“The project is subject to certain risks mainly in the power and renewable energy industries and legislation on clean energy in the United Kingdom.

“These include changes in general economic conditions such as, but not limited to, inflation, taxation, foreign exchanges, interest rates, labour and material supply, changes in business and operating conditions such as, but not limited to, government and statutory regulations and deterioration in prevailing market conditions,” KNM said.

KNMPS is mainly involved in the design, engineering, procurement and manufacturing of process equipment, including without limitation pressure vessels, reactors, columns and towers, drums, heat exchangers, air finned coolers, process gas waste heat boilers and specialised shell and tube heat exchangers.

It also provides technical and project management services in relation to process equipment, plant facilities and general facilities for the oil, gas, petrochemicals, minerals processing and renewable energy industries.

Last month, KNMPS won a RM680mil bid to supply technical documentation, equipment and services for the development of gas condensate fields in Uzbekistan.

Biomass

Palm oil-into-biodiesel is heart of Hawaii's green energy future

2010-12-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

14/12/2010 (Star Advertiser) - Hawaiian Electric Co. has announced plans to build a facility to convert palm oil into biodiesel. The biodiesel will contribute badly needed and affordable fuel for the utility to provide electricity to Hawaii's people. The biodiesel will help offset Hawaii's dependence on other imported energy sources. Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission has approved the plan, including specific sustainability commitments.

And yet, radical environmental groups have spearheaded a campaign to prevent the development. They worry about the impact of palm oil production on rainforests in the developing world. The critics are wrong; the project will benefit Hawaii residents and men and women in developing countries, as well as the global environment.

Palm oil comes from regions of the world now facing extreme poverty. The people need to raise their living standards. In these regions, much of the population lives on just a few dollars a day. These nations desperately need to develop industries that can trade in global markets and provide living wages to their people.

The economic development process is historically jump-started by agriculture projects. Palm oil production can lift the world's most destitute out of abject poverty. Residents will have the resources to pursue productive activities and rewarding life-style enhancements. This includes things many of us in the U.S. take for granted, such as clean homes and access to education. Consumers of palm oil play a key role in helping this process unfold.

But what of allegations that palm oil harms the environment? The palm oil will come to Hawaii primarily from Malaysia, already a global leader in environmental health. Malaysia has committed to conserving 50 percent of its forests, far exceeding the 10 percent average that must be met according to United Nations agreements.

Contrary to claims from the German environmental group leading the campaign against the HECO plan, palm oil is the most sustainable biofuel on the planet. More fuel can be produced on a smaller footprint from the oil palm than alternative biofuels such as corn-based ethanol or German rapeseed oil.

Palm oil is a perennial crop that can be converted to biodiesel, while other vegetable crops like soya that can create biodiesel are annual. Palm oil requires less tillage, resulting in much fewer greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. It also requires considerably fewer energy inputs to grow and maintain.

In a recent statement, HECO correctly stated "biofuels are a part of Hawaii's clean energy future. Biofuels allow us to switch from 'black' to 'green' fuel in our existing generators, reducing dependence on and vulnerability to imported oil."

Of all possible biofuels, palm oil is king for its affordability, efficiency and eco-friendliness. Denying the HECO agreement would hamper wider adoption of sustainable practices worldwide.

The critics of palm oil want Hawaii to adopt domestic sources, such as jatropha. But jatropha is a limited-use commodity. Economies of scale that can drive down costs are impossible to achieve.

Further, Hawaii simply does not have adequate renewable resources in the form of wind, solar and geothermal to power its economy in a cost-effective manner. HECO provides electricity to 95 percent of residents and needs reliable and inexpensive energy sources such as palm oil to satisfy customer needs.

Hawaii's economy is built on trade and openness to the wider world. It has a golden opportunity to help some of the world's poorest citizens rise up from inhuman poverty while reducing its own dependence on fossil energy and sending a clear signal that sustainability is good economics and citizenship. What is wrong with that?

Environmental Health

A State of Siege in Northern Honduras: Land, Palm Oil and Media

2010-12-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

30/11/2010 (Upside Down World) - Palm oil is a convenient source of biodiesel, and oil palms grow very well in the valley of the Bajo (Lower) Aguan River of northeastern Honduras. This valley is the home of some of the poorest people in one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Their poverty is due, in large part, to the fact that most of the land in the region has been appropriated by powerful corporations controlled by members of the Honduran oligarchy, led by one of the richest and most ruthless of them all, Miguel Facusse.

Facusse owns massive tracts of land throughout the country, much of which he has obtained by fraudulent deals made possible by the corruption of government officials. In the early 1990's, 5000 acres in the Bajo Aguan was awarded to peasants after the closure of a military base on which personnel were trained by the USA in the use of torture and other methods of repression. Facusse bribed "community leaders" to make deals to sign this and other land over to him for bargain prices. He also employs hundreds of heavily armed "security" personnel who are used to intimidate and murder those who stand in his way, so any peasants who objected to this process were "neutralized." (resistenciahonduras.hn November 16)

One of the reasons that President Manuel Zelaya was deposed on June 28, 2009 was the fact that he was actively carrying out a program of land reform, implementing laws that were on the books but never enforced, actively investigating and rectifying cases of fraud and corruption that had deprived campesinos of their land. Miguel Facusse was a prominent supporter of the coup, along with other members of the oligarchy who opposed Zelaya's land reform, his raising of the minimum wage, and various other things he was doing to benefit and empower the popular classes. Zelaya's ouster put an end to these efforts.

With or without the help of president Zelaya, the peasants of the Lower Aguan were living in such extreme poverty that they had no choice but to continue with their struggle for land. Around the beginning of 2010 they began invading the land in question and planting subsistence crops. Facusse's thugs moved in and began killing and beating peasants and destroying their property. But the current president, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, who came to power in an election tainted by repression, censorship, and massive abstention, was faced with the task of obtaining diplomatic recognition for his post-coup de facto government, and this did not look good to international observers. So Lobo began negotiating with Facusse and the campesinos to use public funds to buy him off. Meanwhile, he moved thousands of Honduran troops into the region to set off fears of a massacre that might be carried out under the cover of clearing out "illegal squatters." The clear intention was to motivate the campesinos to accept the terms of whatever deal he struck--or else. Of course the troops were said to be there in the interest of public safety, to prevent acts of "terror" by those lawless, land invading peasants. In April 2010 Lobo announced a deal according to which the campesinos would get a lot less land than they were demanding, with the added requirement that half of that land would have to be used to grow palm oil, and that the palm fruits would have to be sold to Facusse for processing.

But Facusse was not satisfied after all, and things went back to where they were, with steady pressure on the campesinos in the form of property damage, physical attacks, and occasional murders (3 on August 17, another one September 10.) Then on the morning of November 15, after peasants occupied a tract of land that Facusse illegally occupies in the "El Tumbador" section, approximately 300 of Facusse's guards tried to evict them. An exchange of gunshots followed, lasting four hours, resulting in the deaths of five peasants and the serious wounding of four others.

President Lobo decided to take action--he sent in thousands of army personnel. But he did not disarm Facusse's private army, since they are licensed to carry weapons. Instead he had the army set up checkpoints throughout the region to confiscate any unauthorized weapons that people might be carrying. This is in response to a huge propaganda campaign that the corporate press has been carrying on all along, but which has now reached a fever pitch: they have claimed that all of the problems in the Bajo Aguan are caused by outside agitators, from Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela--wherever. Now they are saying that "insurgents" have been trained in Nicaragua, and that thousands of assault rifles and heavier weapons have been shipped to the peasants. They have presented no evidence of any of this, but they constantly repeat the same claims. The one relatively balanced and honest large daily newspaper, El Tiempo of San Pedro Sula, reported on November 25 that after the massive crackdown the net result was 27 miscellaneous undocumented firearms carried by random citizens, mainly revolvers and automatics, with one 12 gauge shotgun. Apart from confident assertions from members of the oligarchy (including Facusse), there has been no concrete confirmation of either arms or foreign "advisors."

One very worrisome aspect of this claim that the area has been "militarized" by "outside forces" has been the the fact that it is the pretext for the occupation of the offices of the National Agrarian Institute in the town of Tocoa. Word came from the president's office that there are boxes of assault rifles stored there, "up to a thousand." The police raided the office, supposedly to search for these weapons, and the campesinos who are involved in the legal dispute with Facusse are very concerned. Records that are pertinent to their cases are stored in that office. The employees of the Institute have not been allowed to enter to see what the police are doing, and there is serious concern that the records will be destroyed, stolen, or altered. Karen Spring of Rights Action reports that there is also concern that there will be "an attempt to frame the state institute for providing arms and supporting the campesino struggles in the region." (http://quotha.net/node/1399)

It happens that the building of the National Agrarian Institute has been serving as an emergency shelter for 60 families who are victims of the disastrous hurricane Matthew last September. The more than 300 troops and police who invaded the building destroyed all of their belongings and their meager furniture, stole their money, and threw them out. They are appealing to international agencies for assistance and justice (ellibertador.hn Nov. 26, 2010.)

The role of the Honduran corporate press is interesting. Their reporting has constantly referred to the peasants as the instigators of violence. Whenever leaders of the Resistance (which includes far more than the peasant organizations) are murdered, they pass it off as some kind of personal affair, sometimes even suggesting darkly that unspecified criminal activity might have been involved. When Nahum Palacios, the only journalist who actually reported the peasants' side of the story, was murdered they denied that it had anything to do with his work--it must have been a mysterious personal matter. Similarly, they suggest that the killings of campesinos could be due to internal dissension. The press simply accepts the fact that there is rarely even a superficial investigation, and the killers are never found. Recently there was a report by journalists from La Prensa of San Pedro Sula who were traveling with police and encountered some campesinos with automatic rifles. Their take on this was that the campesinos were attacking their "freedom of expression," since they felt threatened by them. (laprensa.hn Nov. 26, 2010)

It should be mentioned that not all of the media in Honduras are so one-sided. The newspaper El Libertador appears monthly in print, but maintains an active and informative website at elibertador.hn. (It's personnel have been threatened and tortured.) Radio Globo and TV Channel 36 reported honestly on the coup, and as a result had their equipment destroyed and were off the air for a time. El Tiempo of San Pedro Sula (tiempo.hn) often reports points of view that differ from the standard propaganda. But these are a relatively small part of the media.

The power of the corporate media was demonstrated at the time of the coup that deposed Zelaya, when the corporate newspapers constantly ran stories about how he wanted to change the constitution so as to be president for life. While this could conceivably have been in his mind, what he was actually calling for was a poll to ask whether the country needed a new constitution. The possibility of his being re-elected was no more than a hypothetical proposition, and it would only have been possible after a new president and a new constitution would have been in place. But by constantly repeating the claim that he wanted to be re-elected for life, they introduced enough confusion so that people who didn't like his policies had a superficially plausible reason to accept a blatantly illegal military coup.

One of the secret diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks was an analysis of the legal basis of the coup sent to Washington by the US ambassador, Hugo Llorens, in July 2009. He described it as illegal and unconstitutional, saying that "...the actions of June 28 can only be considered a coup d'etat by the legislative branch, with the support of the judicial branch and the military, against the executive branch." The revelation of the ambassador's honest (though secret) assessment of the coup has caused quite a stir in Honduras.

The media campaign to blame Nicaragua for the problems in the Bajo Aguan is following a pattern similar to the campaign to get rid of Zelaya. The ugly facts of Facusse's terroristic attack on his impoverished victims is being smothered in a froth of indignant condemnation of foreigners for being at the bottom of it all, implying that the campesinos of Baja Aguan would be perfectly content if it were not for those evil agitators.

There actually is a lot of foreign interference in the affairs of Honduras, but it is coming from the United States, and it is likely to be even more intense now that Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be the chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Ros-Lehtinen is famous for her extreme views, including advocating the assassination of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, and support of terroristic attacks on the people of countries she looks upon as enemies of the US. She has traveled to Honduras to offer her support for the coup, and she is likely to join in the condemnation of Nicaragua and other "enemies" for their supposed interference in Honduras. But even before the midterm election the Obama administration went out of its way to try to get other countries to recognize the de facto government, and enabled the World Bank to loan Facusse $30 million to finance biofuel production.

Another foreign presence was reported in the Bogota, Colombia newspaper El Tiempo on September 14, 2009. It seems that dozens of paramilitaries who had been working for Colombian drug lords were being recruited by Honduran landowners to work as security guards on their plantations. These men are experienced in assassination and violent intimidation, and the monthly salary of $750 plus living expenses was attractive by Latin American standards.

The situation in Bajo Aguan has been described as a "state of siege" (El Libertador, September 22) The roadblocks and arrests continue, and campesinos are being driven out of the plantations they have accupied. President Lobo announced on November 29 that he would soon visit the region himself to "move this process of dialogue ahead and to bring closure to this problematic situation."

Meanwhile, Karen Spring reports that, "In an outcry against the killings and in an act of solidarity, campesinos from six departments of Honduras (Atlantida, Colon, Olancho, Santa Barbara, Cortez and Choluteca) began land occupations shortly after the November 15th murders. To pressure the government and demonstrate their force, campesinos will be arriving in Tegucigalpa on Thursday [December 2] for a gathering outside of the National Congress."

Biodiesel from Palm Oil

A tool of pressure against OPEC

2010-12-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The U.S. government supports domestic ethanol development to reduce America‘s oil dependence. Additionally, ethanol weakens OPEC’s control over world oil prices, reduces tailpipe pollutants and supplies extra octane that improves engine operation.

America‘s pro-ethanol policies include tax credits for businesses, support for research and development, tariffs on imported ethanol, rules requiring refiners to blend small amounts of ethanol with gasoline, and rules requiring automakers to produce cars that can run on gasoline or a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline (E85).

Due to large swings in oil prices, which are partly manipulated by OPEC, a domestic ethanol industry wouldn’t survive without government support. Countries with strong ethanol industries such as Brazil have pro-ethanol policies.

Now is a particularly dangerous time to eliminate federal support. OPEC‘s power will rise as the global economy recovers and as a strong appetite for oil in China and India continues to be satisfied.

If pro-ethanol policies were terminated immediately, U.S. taxpayers might benefit in the near term, but, in the long run, the real beneficiaries would be the oil barons in the Middle East, Venezuela and Russia.

Critics argue that more oil is used growing corn and making ethanol than is saved by replacing gasoline. In fact, the energy sources for producing ethanol are primarily natural gas and coal. Each 10 gallons of ethanol displaces at least five gallons of gasoline -- accounting for the fact that ethanol has somewhat less energy content than gasoline.

It’s valid to argue that hybrid and diesel engines reduce gasoline use at a lower cost than ethanol. But even more oil can be saved with hybrid engines running on E85 and trucks using biodiesel mixtures.

Critics claim that the sharp rise in corn prices was due to the increased use of corn-based ethanol. In reality, the big culprit was the growing demand for food worldwide.

While U.S. ethanol policies contributed to the rise temporarily, the effect could have been reduced if blending requirements had been phased in more gradually, allowing more time for corn supplies to respond.

Some fear that land clearing creates more carbon dioxide which exacerbates global warming. Modernized ethanol refineries supported by federal subsidies are now minimizing the land-use effect through more efficient farming and refining practices.

As new federal subsidies facilitate use of cellulosic ethanol made by producing ethanol from wastes such as the stalk of the corn and the cob, there will be less demand for land.

In addition, ethanol is particularly effective in reducing tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter. Ethanol pollutants such as formaldehyde are not harmful at the small concentrations projected for America‘s cities.

Although it’s unwise to pull the plug on ethanol, America‘s policies should be modernized. Refueling stations need stronger incentives to provide at least one E85 pump. Tax credits should be aimed at consumers who use E85 instead of businesses that already have a mandated market for their products. Tariffs on imported ethanol should be gradually reduced so the domestic industry has time to prepare for intensified competition.

Research and development support should be expanded to encourage innovation in the production of ethanol from agricultural waste, while rules requiring automakers to offer cars that can run on E85 should be tightened.

In order to minimize the environmental footprint of greater land use, subsidies for producers and farmers should encourage modern practices that maximize corn yield per acre and ethanol yield per bushel.

Commercial-scale demonstrations on how to make ethanol from the cob and stalk would ease concerns about food prices and land use.

Although America’s pro-ethanol policies are far from ideal, they should not be eliminated. Instead, they should be modernized to keep the competitive pressure on OPEC while improving urban air quality and reducing the environmental footprint of ethanol production.

By John D. Graham

John D. Graham is dean of Indiana University‘s School of Public and Environmental Affairs and author of “Bush on the Home Front.” He served as administrator of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush, and prior to that spent 16 years at Harvard’s School of Public Health. -- Ed.

(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services)

Ethanol

Biodiesel Competition 2011

2010-12-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

Global demand to approach 90 million metric tons in 2011

Demand for biofuels will expand almost 20 percent per year through 2011 to 92 million metric tons, despite recent concerns about the impact of biofuels on the environment and world food supplies. Market expansion will be led by a more than doubling of the global market for bioethanol, with the biodiesel market achieving even more rapid growth. Other biofuels will also achieve double digit gains, though from a much smaller base.

Economic, environmental issues spur biofuel demand

The world market for biofuels has expanded rapidly in recent years as a combination of domestic politics, rising oil prices, increasing concerns about global warming, and potential economic opportunity have spurred a broad range of countries to pass laws that support biofuel industries. World bioethanol demand has benefitted from a powerful farm lobby in the United States that has succeeded in passing a renewable fuel mandate, as well as rising oil prices that have boosted bioethanol demand in Brazil. Growing concerns about global warming have helped stimulate both bioethanol and biodiesel demand in the European Union, while several countries in the Asia/Pacific region have institutedbiofuel programs as a means of boosting their local economies. Though protective sentiments will remain high, global trade in biofuels will continue to develop, as many countries in Western Europe, NorthAmerica and Asia/Pacific find that they cannot fully satisfy demand with domestic production. Despite, or perhaps even because of, the success of biofuels in recent years, questions have begun to arise about the wisdom of using biofuels as an alternative energy source going forward. While the impact of biofuels on world food supplies is expected to be a short term issue, the potential negative impact of biofuels on the environment could have longer term consequences. In spite of these concerns, though, countries’ overarching need for energy security and domestic economic development will continue to drive rapid increases in consumption, most notably in the large North American market.

Economic, environmental issues spur biofuel demand

World biofuel production will track increases in demand as most countries seek to foster domestic biofuel industries, both to reduce reliance upon imported oil, and to foster domestic economic development. This will continue to favor the development of cereal-based (maize and wheat) bioethanol capacity in North America and Western Europe, as well as sugarcane- ased bioethanol production in Latin America. Likewise, biodiesel production will center on soy oil in the Americas, rapeseed oil in Europe, and palm (and increasingly jatropha) in the Asia/Pacific. Next-generation cellulosic bioethanol and algal biodiesel technologies will become commercially signifi- cant in the longer term.

Biodiesel Forecast

Controversy swirls over use of Malaysian palm oil biodiesel in Hawaii

2010-12-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

24/11/2010 (Biofuels Digest) - In Hawaii, controversy is brewing over the Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) and subsidiary Maui Electric Co.’s plans to import Malaysian palm oil to produce biodiesel for the state. Since the project was first announced in 2007, it has been met with opposition from environmental groups concerned about the lack of sustainability of the palm oil.

HECO has now formed Hawaii Biofuel Foundation to present the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels’ standards to the state, a move which has also angered local environmental activists.

Controversy Swirls Over Use Of Malaysian Palm Oil Biodiesel In Hawaii

In early 2007, Hawaiian Electric Co. and subsidiary Maui Electric Co. announced plans by BlueEarth Biofuels to construct a mega-sized palm oil refinery on Maui, which would have been the largest in the world. Since that time, several respected Hawaii environmental and cultural groups have raised a red flag against the idea of importing Malaysian palm oil to Hawaii.

Sierra Club-Maui, Maui Tomorrow Foundation and several Oahu organizations stated that merely replacing one imported fuel with another does nothing for our energy security, local economy or sustainability. In fact, the cultivation of palm oil results in wide-ranging impacts of devastation to rain forest habitats through slash-and-burn clearing, which releases more carbon into the atmosphere than any reductions in HECO's or MECO's smokestack emissions.

Undaunted by criticism that palm oil imported from Southeast Asia can never be sustainable, HECO forged an alliance with the Natural Resources Defense Council and concocted sustainability standards for imported biofuels. The idea was soundly criticized during a round of community meetings held on three islands and at Public Utility Commission hearings.

Despite turning down a biodiesel importation docket in 2008-09, the PUC last June approved HECO's request to import 2.5 million gallons of palm oil from Southeast Asia for testing on Oahu and at MECO's Maalaea power plant.

Tests are not needed. MECO already knows that biodiesel is cleaner burning, since it has contracted with Pacific Biodiesel for years to provide locally recycled vegetable oil biodiesel for generator startups to meet Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Health emissions standards.

HECO claims that palm oil represents a bridge to the future, hoping that agricultural entrepreneurs might begin producing oil crops locally for conversion to biodiesel. But, that same reasoning was used in 2006 when Hawaii mandated 10 percent ethanol in our gasoline. To date, no one has produced ethanol commercially in Hawaii. We import all our ethanol from the Mainland – where it is federally subsidized – and from Brazil.

The bridge to the future referred to by HECO's spokesman would be a grim future indeed for diminishing rain forests, endangered orangutans and hundreds of other mammals, plants, insects, as cited in a November 2008 National Geographic cover story.

It may take years for any oil crops planted in Hawaii today to mature and produce. Furthermore, the 2006 “Biodiesel Crop Implementation In Hawaii” report indicates that even if all the available agricultural acreage in Hawaii were planted to fuel crops, it wouldn't come close to fulfilling our energy needs. It makes far more sense to utilize any locally produced biodiesel for transportation fuel and to move away from burning imported fuels for electricity. Wind, solar and wave energy are viable alternatives.

Yet, we now have learned that HECO has formed a nonprofit advocacy group, Hawaii Biofuel Foundation, which will conduct statewide meetings in December to present the Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels Standard for Hawaii. It has the appearance of another exercise to allow HECO and MECO to continue foot-dragging and obstruction of efforts to integrate more local renewables and to promote proved energy conservation and efficiency efforts.

Hawaii environmental groups are partnering with the international organization Rainforest-Rescue.org to spread the news of HECO's ill-conceived palm oil importation plan across the globe. More than 17,000 people have added their names to protest the action. Their concerns will be conveyed to HECO, MECO, Hawaii's elected leaders, the PUC and NRDC.

Will you add your voice to speak for a better Hawaii energy future to reduce our foreign dependency, to keep our energy dollars here at home and to provide well-paying energy jobs in Hawaii?

Rob Parsons is the conservation chairman for Sierra Club-Maui, vice president of Maui Tomorrow Foundation and has served on the Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Emissions Working Group of the Maui County Energy Alliance. Lance Holter is chairman of Sierra Club-Maui and a Maui Tomorrow board member.

Renewable Energy Act in effect by H1 2011

2010-11-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

The bill on the Renewable Energy Act is expected to be tabled in Parliament before year-end, with the Act coming into force by June next year.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry's Undersecretary of the Sustainable Energy Division, Badriyah Abdul Malek, said the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) mechanism is therefore expected to be implemented at the same time.

FiT is a mechanism that allows electricity produced from indigenous renewable energy resources to be sold to power utilities at a fixed premium price and for specific duration.

"The bill is now completed and submitted to the Attorney-General. So we expect the bill to be tabled for first reading between the October and December session," she told reporters after the Investment Opportunities in Renewable Energy Seminar and Dialogue with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in Kota Kinabalu today.

"At the same time, we will also table the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Bill, which is to institute the establishment of SEDA Malaysia, the authority to spearhead renewable energy development in Malaysia," Badriyah said.

"We expect the second and third reading in March, and the Act enforced probably in May or June next year, so the FiT will also come on board in May or June 2011," she said.

In response to a question, Badriyah said that for Sabah, it had been estimated that more than 100 megawatts of electricity could be obtained from variable sources such as biomass, biogas and also solar energy.

Concerning the dialogue, Dompok said majority of the 70 participants present from the palm oil industry were waiting for implementation of the Act to see the tariff revised, as the present tariff of 21 sen per unit was considered low.

"That's the general view. The government, of course, will be prepared to look at the increase. But in this area, I am not going to say much more than that because the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry will make the necessary announcement," he said.

Dompok said the outcome of today's dialogue also recognised that the oil palm industry could not replace the electricity production from Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd but it was important to look into renewable energy opportunities to meet the challenges of electricity supply in the state. -- Bernama

renewable energy resources

Much more chances for China-US co-op than conflicts in clean energy

2010-11-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

China Clean Energy Inc

There is much more potential for cooperation than conflict between China and the United States on clean energy.

Yao Jian, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China, made those remarks on Tuesday in Beijing as a response to the U.S. trade investigation on China's clean energy policy.

"The U.S. has also made its policy on supporting its new energy industry to improve its competitiveness after the global financial crisis," said Yao.

He highlighted that China's clean energy policy is based on the country's strategy of shifting to a more eco-friendly economic growth model, which means a foundation for international cooperation, rather than confrontation.

He criticized those U.S. companies for ignoring their responsibility to protect the environment prompting the investigation for the purpose competition.

He also stressed that China's clean energy policy is in line with the WTO rules and international standards and the government would support Chinese enterprises and guilds to deal with those cases.

Before Yao's comments, Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Bureau of China, has also refused the U.S. criticism against China’s clean energy policy, pointing out that the United States has many more subsidies for its own clean energy industry.

The U.S. Trade Representative Office announced on Oct. 15 (local time) that upon the application from the United Steelworkers, it has initiated investigations under the 1301-1310 sections of the "1988 Omnibus Trade and Competition Law" into whether China's policies on clean energy constitute unfair subsidies for Chinese enterprises and at the same time discriminations against their foreign competitors.

An expo for green technology will be held in Beijing at the end of the month, the first of its kind in China. About 60 percent of the 212 enterprises to attend the expo are from foreign countries. As leaders of the sectors they are from, they will take this opportunity to show their products and technologies for energy efficiency, clean energy, environmental treatment and low carbon economy.

Yao hopes that the expo would be a platform where cooperation possibilities on clean energy technology can be exploited by Chinese and American enterprises.

By Li Jia, People's Daily Online

China Future Energy

TG3CRZ2J3D2W

Brazil Ethanol Industry

2010-11-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive fuel. As a result of this, together with the exploitation of domestic deep water oil sources, Brazil, which years ago had to import a large share of the petroleum needed for domestic consumption, recently reached complete self-sufficiency in oil.

Brazil is promoting its brand of biofuels because the sugar-to-ethanol process releases a fraction of harmful greenhouse gases and requires only 1/5 of the gas and diesel it makes to produce ethanol from corn. Brazilian ethanol is also produced without official price props or government handouts offered in Europe and the US.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Brazil is now producing ethanol for about $1.00/gallon compared with the international price of gasoline of about $1.50/gallon. In Brazil, ethanol is mostly derived from sugar cane, and is now available in 29,000 gas stations throughout the country, and represents about 20 percent of Brazil’s transport fuel market. Brazil’s use of traditional gasoline has actually declined since the late 1970’s.

One of the stimuli behind this move was the termination by the Brazilian government of support for the sugar industry, which forced sugar manufacturers to become more efficient and find other uses for the crop. According to the WSJ, 7 out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil can use “flex-fuel”, meaning gasoline, ethanol, or a mixture of the two.

Brazil has become so efficient in ethanol production that it expects to double current exports of about $600 million/year to about $1.3 billion by 2010 (most sales are to Sweden and Japan). Ethanol releases less carbon dioxide than gasoline.

The Brazil ethanol model is being looked at by China, India, and the U.S. In the U.S., the most recent energy bill signed into law last August stipulates that the use of ethanol must double by 2012. But U.S. ethanol is made from corn which is about 30 percent more expensive than Brazil’s ethanol. According to WSJ, Henry Ford’s first car was made to run on ethanol.

Brazil’s improvement in ethanol efficiency has come in part due to biotechnology. Brazilian scientists at the Centro de Technologia Canaviera (funded by sugar growers), about 2 hours outside of Sao Paulo and in the heart of the sugar industry, have worked on decoding the DNA of sugar cane. The Center has helped Brazilian growers to select varieties of sugar cane that are more resistant to drought and pests, while at the same time yielding higher sugar content. The Center has developed some 140 new varieties of sugar cane over the last 20 years, which has helped lower the cost of growing sugar cane by about 1 percent/year. Brazilians used to get 2,000 liters (520 gallons) of ethanol out of a hectare (2.5 acres) of sugar cane. That yield has triple to about 6,000 liters/hectare.

Additionally satellite imagery of Brazilian sugar cane fields has helped Brazilian researchers to identify which variety of sugar cane will grow best in different parts of the country, the best time to harvest, and where to situate new fields.

Brazil Ethanol Companies

See: Brazillian Sugarcane Industry Association Website

Ethanol Process

B5 fuel in use next year

2010-10-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

12/10/2010 (Daily Express), Kota Kinabalu: Diesel-powered vehicles in the country may start using B5, a blend of five per cent palm methyl ester and 95 per cent regular diesel, beginning middle of next year.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, said the implementation would start first in the central region areas of the peninsula namely Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca in June, 2011, and then nationwide.

"Oil companies have been asked to make or set up their respective blending facilities to enable the new fuel to be made available at all kiosks in the central region," said Dompok.

He was asked about the status of the B5 after launching the Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Mini Seminar on Transfer of Technology at Hyatt Regency Kinabalu, Monday.

The use of B5, a mandate requiring the use of the blended fuel and support the palm oil industry, will take up 500,000 tonnes of the country's total annual crude palm oil production.

It was reported that Indonesia and Thailand have started using B5.

In Malaysia the implementation was supposed to kick-start in 2007 but was postponed because the Government was reluctant to subsidise biofuel blends to match diesel prices at the pump.

Early this year Dompok was reported to have said that the Government would bear the cost of developing six petroleum depots with blending facilities at a cost of RM43.1million.

In turn, oil companies like Petronas, Shell, ExxonMobil and Caltex, would have to subsidise palm-based biofuel blends at the pump.

It was also reported that 56 licences for biofuel production have been approved in the country for a total capacity eof 6.8million tonnes.

Last year, the country produced 227,457 tonnes of palm-based biofuels that garnered export earnings of about RM606 million.

Dompok said there is actually no competition between Malaysia and Indonesia but both are working together in terms of oil palm.

In fact, he said nearly one million hectares of oil palm in Indonesia are operated by companies majority-owned by Malaysians.

"There is no competition. Because the global market for palm oil is huge.

Other countries like in Africa and Latin America also now starting to produce palm oil," he said.

At the end of this month he and the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture will be going to Europe together to promote both country's palm oil industries.

"We will use the opportunity to explain on everything which have been raised by the foreign media on our palm oil industry," he said.

Damage from biodiesel

2010-10-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

BIOFUELS such as biodiesel from soybeans can create up to four times more climate-warming emissions than standard diesel or petrol, according to an EU document released under freedom of information laws.

The European Union has set itself a goal of obtaining 10% of its road fuels from renewable sources, mostly biofuels, by the end of this decade, but it is now worrying about the unintended environmental impacts.

Chief among those fears is that biofuel production soaks up grain from global commodity markets, forcing up food prices and encouraging farmers to clear tropical forests in the quest for new land. Burning forests releases vast quantities of carbon dioxide and often cancels out many of the climate benefits sought from biofuels.

Biodiesel from North American soybeans has an indirect carbon footprint of 339.9kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per gigajoule – four times higher than standard diesel – said the EU document, an annex that was controversially stripped from a report published in December. But it has now been made public after Reuters used freedom of information laws to gain a copy. The EU’s executive European Commission said it had not doctored the report to hide the evidence, but only to allow deeper analysis before publishing.

“Given the divergence of views and the level of complexity of the issue ... it was considered better to leave the contentious analysis out of the report,” the Commission said in a statement. “The analysis prepared under this study applied a methodology which by many is not considered appropriate.”

The annex adds some weight to a growing dossier suggesting biofuels are not as green as once thought – even the more advanced, second generation biofuels made from wood chips.

Biodiesel from European rapeseed has an indirect carbon footprint of 150.3kg of CO2 per gigajoule, while bioethanol from European sugar beet is calculated at 100.3kg – both much higher than conventional diesel or gasoline at around 85kg. By contrast, imports of bioethanol from Latin American sugar cane and palm oil from Southeast Asia get a relatively clean bill of health from the study at 82.3kg and 73.6kg respectively.

But one of the scientists involved with the study cautioned that much work remained to be done before the issue was properly understood, and that no firm conclusions could be drawn about the relative merits of different biofuel sources. – Reuters

Start-up fund for biodiesel programme

2010-10-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (right) and Datuk Lee Yeow Chor at the briefing.

By HANIM ADNAN
nem@thestar.com.my

Petronas, Shell, BHP, ExxonMobil and Chevron gets RM1mil each

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Shell, BHP, ExxonMobil and Chevron have been allocated with a start-up fund worth RM1mil each by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to set up infrastructure for B5 biodiesel blending facilities.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the initial incentive given to the five petroleum companies reflected the Government’s intention to fully implement the mandatory B5 biodiesel programme by the middle of next year.

B5 is the blending of 5% biodiesel with 95% fossil fuel diesel. The much delayed B5 programme was initially slotted for launch in January this year.

“We are on target for the B5 biodiesel implementation by June 2011,” Dompok told a briefing after opening the 3rd International Palm Oil Trade and Seminar (POTS) organised by MPOB yesterday.

He said the five petroleum companies would need to install pipes, tanks and automation system to blend B5 biodiesel at the designated depots, starting with central region – Port Klang and Putrajaya (Selangor) – as well as Dengkil (Negri Sembilan) and Tangga Batu (Malacca).

On the B5 pricing, Dompok said: “Between now till the implementation (mid-2011), we will have a lot of time to figure out the various solutions to issues that will distort the B5 programme in the local market.”

Given the high raw material (palm methyl ester) cost, the B5 biodiesel is said to be more pricey than the currently heavily subsidised diesel fuel.

The B5 biodiesel programme will see some 500,000 tonnes of local palm oil stock being taken up. The current palm oil stock was about 1.7 million tonnes, said Dompok.

Earlier, when asked whether Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) production would be able to meet its target of 17.8 million tonnes this year, Dompok said: “Right now, we are not far off from this target.

“Despite talk of an El Nino early this year, it didn’t really came. I think the next three months will be crucial as all our harvests will start to come in.”

On whether CPO price will likely hit RM3,000 per tonne this year, Malaysian Palm Oil Council chairman Datuk Lee Yeow Chor said the council’s focus was more on global market expansion and no so much price-centric.

“We are more concern with the healthy growth in the global consumption for palm oil and want to diversify our export markets,” he added.

Lee said there should not be any misinformation on the sustainability of palm oil that could distort its market expansion efforts.

Dompok, meanwhile, said the Government was aware of the pressures of diminishing suitable land for oil palm cultivation in Malaysia.

“We are actively looking at ways to improve productivity,” he said, adding that between 2009 and 2010, some RM100mil was allocated to assist smallholders in replanting activities.

Replanting is widely seen as a way to enhance productivity and also to achieve Malaysia’s long-term target to achieve national average of 35 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches and oil extraction rate of 25% by 2020.

Recycle oil palm waste, millers told

2010-09-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

KOTA KINABALU: Oil palm millers should recycle oil palm waste into re-useable materials, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said.

They should also incorporate efficient milling and produce biofertilisers, which was in line with the zero waste concept, he said.

Speaking at the opening of the 2010 National Seminar on Palm Oil Milling, Refining, Environment and Quality here yesterday, he said the milling sector should not be content with just processing and selling crude palm oil and palm kernel.

The abundant oil palm bio-mass generated during the milling process could be a good source to produce wood substitute products, animal feed, pulp and paper, and bio-energy.

Dompok later launched the Wakuba oil palm ramet brand of TSH Biotech Resources Sdn Bhd, the TKJ Organic Fertiliser and the Malaysian Palm Oil Sustainability Manual.

Palm biofuel to replace diesel

2010-09-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

Records from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry showed that last year, industry demand for diesel was 2.8 billion litres while diesel sold at subsidised prices for other uses totalled 5.56 billion litres.

Having a 5% mix would mean cutting down the reliance on diesel for industrial use by 140,000 litres and for other uses by 278,000 litres annually.

The use of biofuel will also help cut down carbon monoxide emissions from vehicles and machines, as the combustion of biofuel produces carbon dioxide.

Former Malaysian Palm Oil Association chief executive M.R. Chandran said it was important the Government ensure that petroleum companies complied with the National Biofuel Policy and Biofuel Act.

“We need strong political will to compel petrol kiosks to make biofuel available,” he said.
He said it was important for biofuel producers and petroleum companies to work together to make biofuel available to the public at petrol stations.

Chandran said Malaysia could convert 500,000 tonnes of its total production of 15 million tonnes of crude palm oil into biofuel.

“The 5% mix of processed palm oil with diesel will not affect the performance of vehicles,” he added.

On concerns that the push to use biofuel meant clearing more land for planting oil palm, Chandran said any expansion in the future would be done in a sustainable manner.

“The country is the top producer of palm oil in the world with almost four million hectares in plantations.

“Our maximum capacity is to plant another 600,000ha and produce a maximum of 20 million tonnes of palm oil annually,” he said.

Neste Oil Begins Trials of Neste Green 100% Renewable Diesel

2010-06-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

Neste Oil has begun trials of their Neste Green 100 diesel replacement made from palm oil. The field trials will include vehicles of Neste employees as well as private citizens in the Helsinki, Finland area.

Neste Green 100 is not biodiesel, as it is a diesel replacement (hydrocarbon) rather than a fatty methyl ester. Lab tests have shown a 40-80% lifecycle reduction in GHG emissions versus petroleum diesel with lower tailpipe emissions and particulates as well.

The Neste fuel contains NExBTL, made from palm seed oil, and is 100% renewable. This trial batch is specifically designed for the Finnish climate and conditions.

NExBTL is made thorugh the high-pressure hydrogenation of fatty acids and creates byproducts including propane and gasoline. Neste has two 800,000 tonne capacity plants under construction, one in Singapore and the other in Rotterdam. They will go online this year and next respectively.

Source: Future Car

Recommended reading..

Envoy: Biofuel exports to EU will grow

2010-06-16T02:30:00.000-07:00

EU Ambassador Vincent Piket

14/06/2010 (Business Times, Malaysia) - MALAYSIAN biofuel exports to the European Union (EU) will grow in the coming years, due to the renewable fuel policy which gives incentives to operators that produce sustainably, said the EU ambassador Vincent Piket.

"Naturally, such a trend needs to go hand in hand with safeguards for natural resources and biodiversity, including virgin tropical forest. That's why the EU has adopted these guidelines," he said.

His remarks follow the European Commission's (EC) adoption of guidelines on Thursday to implement the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED), which requires EU member states to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in energy use.

To reach these targets, biofuels must deliver substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emission and should not come from forests, wetlands, peatlands and nature protected areas.

The guidelines lay down the requirements for certification schemes that want to be recognised by the EC. Other issues covered include information on default values, practical implementation of the EU biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme and guidelines for the calculation of land carbon stocks.

In a recent meeting with several European MPs, Malaysian stakeholders in the palm oil industry urged the EC not to discriminate against palm oil.

According to the RED which will come into force in December this year, biofuels must have greenhouse gas savings of at least 35 per cent and according to EU's calculation, the use of palm oil-based biodiesel failed the requirement as it achieved only 19 per cent. This meant that the palm oil-based biodiesel will not qualify for the incentives.

The guidelines will also help individual initiatives in Malaysia, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, to ensure eligibility for the EU sustainability scheme.

Piket said the guidelines will increase opportunities for third world countries like Malaysia to export into the EU, by giving incentives to operators that produce sustainably.

"This will encourage good practices, such as methane capture in oil palm mills, and discourage bad ones," he said.

Piket said Malaysian biofuels can meet the criteria if produced under the right conditions.

Biodiesel from palm oil is treated in the same way as other biofuels and there is no distinction between domestically, EU-produced biofuels and imported ones.

"The adopted package gives clear guidance to the Malaysian palm oil producers what they need to do to meet the EU's sustainability criteria for biofuels, including palm-based biodiesel. This will help investment decisions and marketing," he said.

The guidelines also create a level playing field for biofuels produced in the EU and those imported from outside, providing equal access to the EU market.

"The Malaysian exports of biodiesel to the EU are still relatively small, but they are likely to grow during this decade as a result of the EU's renewable energy policy," Piket said.

He added that the sustainability criteria do not apply to exports of Malaysian palm oil for consumer products such as food or cosmetics, which currently represent about 95 per cent of Malaysia's palm oil experts to the EU.

VIASPACE Increases Giant King Grass Production Capacity

2010-06-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Biofuel Market Alert

IRVINE, Calif., June 9 -- VIASPACE Inc. -- a clean energy company growing Giant King? Grass as a low-carbon, renewable energy crop, today announced it has increased Giant King Grass production capacity by leasing an additional 34 acres in Guangdong Province, China. The new land leased for 25 years is contiguous to VIASPACE's current land and includes the ability for irrigation.

With the new acreage, just planted with Giant King Grass, VIASPACE now has 279 acres under cultivation to support its expanding needs, including commercial production of Green Log? fireplace and campfire logs, supplying seedlings for planting additional acres to support large biomass projects, and manufacturing biomass pellets for replacing coal in electricity generating power plants.

Green Logs, manufactured from Giant King Grass, are the Company's first commercial renewable energy/biomass product and are now available for sale through a U.S. distributor. Manufactured fire logs represent a $400 million annual market in North America. With more than 100 million logs?made primarily of wood chips and sawdust?burned each year, VIASPACE sees a substantial opportunity. Green Logs are the most environmentally friendly manufactured log available, and Green Logs generate greater heat output than conventional logs. Its non-chemical, natural campfire aroma makes it even more appealing.

The VIASPACE acreage also acts as a nursery, which can provide sufficient seedlings to plant more than 10,000 acres of new crops per year to support partners' annual needs for biomass for their power-generating projects. VIASPACE is in discussions with potential business partners operating in China, Europe, India, Indonesia and other regions, where their biomass power plants have been built or are under construction.

Additionally, the Company's acreage can be harvested for manufacturing biomass-energy pellets for co-firing with coal in existing coal-burning power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Co-firing can be achieved with only a modest modification of the existing power plant and, by using 20% Giant King Grass, will reduce the net carbon emissions of the power plant by 20%. Co-firing with Giant King Grass is the quickest and lowest-cost alternative for coal power plants to meet the industry's carbon reduction goals by 2020.

VIASPACE Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen remarked: "With this new land under cultivation, we will continue to accelerate the production of renewable Giant King Grass crops to support large, low-carbon biomass energy projects. Potential projects include direct combustion of Giant King Grass as biomass and Giant King Grass in pellet form to be co-fired with coal. Co-firing is prevalent in Europe, and new markets for biomass are also developing in Japan and Korea. And if limitations on carbon emissions are also adopted domestically, the U.S. will also become a large market, for which we are positioning our operations for this eventuality."

EU proposes sustainable biofuels guidelines; "Protectionism!" cries World Growth

2010-06-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

11/06/2010 (Biofuels Digest) In Brussels, the EU Energy Commissioner presented the EU’s proposed guidelines on sustainable biofuels. The package includes three primary principles:

1. Sustainable Biofuel Certificates: The Commission encourages industry, governments and NGOs to set up “voluntary schemes” to certify biofuel sustainability – and explains the standards these must meet to gain EU recognition.

2. Protecting untouched nature: The Communication explains that biofuels should not be made from raw materials from tropical forests or recently deforested areas, drained peatland, wetland or highly biodiverse areas – and how this should be assessed. It makes it clear that the conversion of a forest to a palm oil plantation would fall foul of the sustainability requirements.

3. Promote only biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings: The Communication reiterates that Member States have to meet binding, national targets for renewable energy and that only those biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings count for the national targets, explaining also how this is calculated. Biofuels must deliver greenhouse gas savings of at least 35% compared to fossil fuels, rising to 50% in 2017 and to 60%, for biofuels from new plants, in 2018.

Visionary policy, or ‘green protectionism’?

In Washington, the pro-development NGO World Growth underscored a growing body of research which shows palm oil is the most efficient vegetable oil for biofuel and rejected the mischaracterization that conversion of forests for palm oil leads to widespread increases in emissions.

Chairman Alan Oxley, former Ambassador to the GATT, issued the following statement: “No matter how the Commission tries to dress up its policy on biofuels, Brussels is denying to European consumers effective, low cost, and — in the case of palm-based biofuel — environmentally sustainable products. The root cause is reversion by the European Union to its timeworn practice of using protectionist measures to block agricultural imports and hinder production in developing countries.”

Neste Oil's growing palm oil use for biofuels

2010-06-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Reuters) - Neste Oil could buy 2.4 million to 2.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils for four biofuel plants, putting the Finnish refiner on par with consumer goods giant Unilever as a top vegetable oil buyer.

The bulk of Neste Oil's vegetable oil purchases will come from palm oil, currently the cheapest in the world.

Here are some facts about Neste Oil and its growing palm oil use.

Neste Oil has developed biofuel technology that allows flexible use of any vegetable oil or animal fat for producing its NExBTL fuel. The fuel does not need to be blended with fossil diesel and can be used as it is for the transport sector.

Palm oil will make up the bulk of the refiner's feedstock. Analysts say this may narrow palm oil's discount to soyoil below $100 a tonne.

In Finland, Neste Oil has two plants producing NExBTL, which has been marketed as the world's cleanest fuel. The combined capacity of the factories stand at 350,000 tonnes.

Neste Oil has invested a combined 1.22 billion euros to build one biofuel plant in Singapore and another in Rotterdam that each have a capacity of 800,000 tonnes. The Singapore plant will be completed in 2010 and the Rotterdam factory in 2011.

The firm is part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) -- a grouping of planters and consumers who have developed a certification system that includes commitments to preserve wildlife and forests when expanding estates.

Neste Oil, which has committed to use only certified palm oil by end-2015, will still make its own greenhouse gas assessments on crude palm oil sourced through the RSPO.

The Finnish refiner now applies the segregation method to its supply chain system that allows for the mixing of certified green palm oil with those produced by non-RSPO plantations.

It may go over to mass-balancing its supply chain, which means Neste Oil will administer the mixing of these two type of palm oil available so that they know the conditions and the farming methods of their suppliers.

Neste Oil dropped to an underlying operating loss in the fourth quarter due to weak margins and said it expected 2010 to be challenging.

Palm Oil As A Cheaper Source for Biodiesel Feedstock

2010-05-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

Refined palm oil or crude palm oil are the right solutions in today market to stay competitive as the cost of rapeseed oil, soyabean oil or palm oil feedstock accounts for around 80–95% of the operating cost of the biodiesel process and in the same rank for co-firing unit. A substantial increase in the production capacity and number of biodiesel manufacturers would create greater competition for the supply of vegetable oil feedstock, leading to upward pressure on prices.

In terms of production volume, palm oil is the world's second most produced vegetable oil after soybean oil. Palm oil exports come predominantly from Malaysia and Indonesia and these two countries can be expected to maintain their dominant position in exports of oils and fats, accounting for 45% of total trade.

Even without biodiesel, demand for palm oil would still be driven by the food segment. In Europe , there is less rapeseed for food purposes as more rapeseed are being used as feedstock for biofuel. Palm oil can come in to fill in the gap left by rapeseed in the food segment.

Crude and refined palm oil have not only economics advantage for fuel for CHP / co-firing industry but also have the better power properties than rapeseed and soya

Palm oil itself can be used in plants as an ignition fuel, replacing fossil-derived heavy fuel oil. In this way, the CO2 emissions that would have been created by the fuel oil (approximately 3 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of heavy fuel oil) are avoided.

Sharing the burden of producing sustainable biofuels

2010-01-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

13/01/2010 (The Jakarta Post) - Palm oil is one of the world's most traded and versatile agricultural commodities. It can be used as edible vegetable oil, industrial lubricant, raw material in cosmetic and skincare products and feedstock for biofuel production.

Growing global demand for palm oil and the ensuing cropland expansion has been blamed for a wide range of environmental ills, including tropical deforestation, peatland degradation, biodiversity loss and CO2 emissions.

In response to these concerns, a group of stakeholders - including activists, investors, producers and retailers - formed the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO; www.rspo.org) to develop a certification scheme for palm oil produced through environmentally- and socially-responsible ways.

It is widely anticipated that the creation of a premium market for RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) would encourage palm oil producers to improve their management practices.

However, the RSPO faces several challenges, including the high cost of undergoing certification that currently is entirely borne by producers, and a lackluster demand for CSPO.

Following the first shipment of CSPO to Europe in November 2008, less than 3 percent of the total volume of CSPO produced (*1.05 million tons) had been sold.

Even after a year, in October 2009, only *200,000 tons of CSPO (*19 percent) had been purchased by manufacturers of palm oil products.

The reason for the slow demand for CSPO is unclear, but is likely due to the global financial downturn causing buyers and manufacturers to be less willing to switch to premium palm oil.

The economic crisis may have also affected efforts to promote sustainable consumerism in countries, such as China and India, which are the world's largest importers of palm oil. A further factor could be a lack of consumer confidence in RSPO's credibility; stoked by activists' accusations that certification is the industry's attempt at greenwashing to mislead consumers.

On the other hand, other environmental groups warn that if the RSPO should fail in its endeavor, the palm oil industry will likely revert to business-as-usual practices that will continue to harm the environment.

Here, we argue that the financial burden and risk of producing sustainable palm oil should not fall solely on producers; instead these costs should be shared among key actors along the palm oil supply chain that includes both traders and buyers.

We further argue that at the national level some countries may be more financially capable than others in creating a stronger demand for premium palm oil.

As a thought exercise, we developed an "ability-to-pay" index that identifies the richest and largest palm oil importing countries as those that are most morally obligated to contribute to developing a successful CSPO market to raise the environmental performance of the palm oil industry.

In its simplest formulation, this ability-to-pay index could be a multiplier function of two metrics - a country's per capita import volume of palm oil and its per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Import is a more appropriate metric to consider than consumption because countries that benefit from importing and re-exporting palm oil (i.e., traders) are also obligated to reduce the environmental impacts of their profiteering activities.

Based on 2007 values of these two metrics), we calculated the ability-to-pay index for 156 countries (see table). The top 10 countries on this list are: the Netherlands, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Belgium, China, France and Spain.

The Netherlands justifiably tops the list, being both the second largest importer (1.24 million tons) and the largest exporter (1.25 million tons) of palm oil; and ranks among the richest industrialized nations in the world (per capita GDP: US$46,750). Indeed, six of the "Group of Eight" or G8 nations are represented in this list (i.e., Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and France).

In contrast, although China is the world's largest importer of palm oil (5.4 million tons), by virtue of it being significantly less affluent (per capita GDP: $2,575) than other major palm oil importers, it is ranked eighth on our list. China also happens to be the only developing country in this group.

What are the financial implications of switching from uncertified to certified palm oil for the country and individual consumer? We based our estimates of the cost of large-scale adoption of CSPO on a palm oil price of $781/ton (2006-2008 average) and an estimated 15 percent price differential between uncertified and certified palm oil.

We found that Indonesia - the world's largest palm oil producer - which consumes 4.9 million tons of palm oil annually (2008 values), would incur an additional cost of $571 million by switching from consuming uncertified to certified palm oil; whereas for the United States, which consumes 960,000 tons of palm oil annually (and is experiencing rising palm oil demand), the added cost would be $112 million.

For the individual consumer in Indonesia, he or she would need to spend an additional $2.50, which represents 0.13 percent of his or her annual income (per capita GDP); whereas an American consumer would only need to spend an extra $0.40, equivalent to 0.0008 percent of his or her yearly income.

Thus, an individual in a developing country such as Indonesia not only has to shoulder the cost of producing sustainable palm oil, but he or she would also be much heavily burdened by switching to using sustainable palm oil, compared to a consumer in a richer nation such as the United States.

Given the anticipated growth in global demand for edible vegetable oils and biofuels, a certification scheme could prove to be an attractive financial incentive - a key "pressure point" of the industry - for farmers to improve their environmental performance.

However, for any certification scheme to be credible and feasible, its financial burden would have to be appropriately shared among different stakeholders. In particular, as suggested by our analysis, the richer buyers and traders of palm oil have a moral obligation to ensure the success of certification.

Four Things You Must Know to Land a Professional Job in the Green Economy

2009-12-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

By Carol McClelland

Overwhelmed with your quest for a green job? Not sure where to start?

You are not alone. Based on the questions I hear on a daily basis, I know it's hard to figure out where to put your energy and attention when you are searching for a green career.

Use these four points to guide your actions as you continue your journey to your green career.

1) Nail down Your Green Niche

The green economy is evolving and shifting at the moment. With emerging technologies and growing industries, opportunities continue to open up.

With all of this change, it's nearly impossible for one person to keep track of the developments taking place in all of the green industries and sectors. In fact, scanning the entire universe of green careers on an ongoing basis is a good recipe for overwhelm and frustration.

Instead, the key to success is to identify your green niche, the career that combines your skills, interests, experience and education. With a specific goal, you gain a clear understanding of your target career, focus your exploration, build momentum with your job search, and land a position that matches your strategy.

2) Immerse Yourself in Your Target Green Industry

Before choosing a specific job title, focus on understanding the components of your target industry. Having a big picture of your target industry will help you answer these questions to refine your sense of the industry.

• What problems is the industry facing?
• What opportunities does the industry have?
• What is missing in the industry that's keeping it from solving these problems and capitalizing on these opportunities?
• What unique terminology is used within the industry?
• Who are the key players in the industry?

Begin with online research to grasp the basic structure of your target industry. Then expand your efforts by talking with your contacts to fill in the gaps in your understanding of the industry.

As you gain a sense of the industry, explore how your skills will benefit companies within the industry.

3) Engage in Your Local Green Community

To locate job openings, your most promising strategy is to connect with others in your community who share your interests, values, and causes.

Leverage the following strategies to strengthen your green connections in your area.

• Remember to keep your passion in mind as you look for opportunities to get involved.
• Volunteer with a local non-profit or team that's helping your community go green.
• Take a class in sustainability to strengthen your knowledge while connecting with others in your area.
• Meet in person by participating in green networking groups such as Green Drinks and EcoTuesday
• Connect with people virtually on Facebook, LinkedIn groups, NetImpact, and JustMeans.

As you meet people who are well connected and/or know something about your target industries, connect with them on LinkedIn, get together for a conversation, and keep in touch by sharing resources that match their needs.

4) State Your Job Search Goals with Clarity, Confidence, and Conviction

The key to impressing potential employers and networking contacts is being able to talk about your career goals as powerfully as possible. Review your recent networking and interviewing experiences and then ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I able to state my employment goals clearly and concisely in one or two sentences?
• Do I state my employment goals with confidence and enthusiasm?
• Does my sense of conviction and passion come through as I talk about my employment goals?

When you answer these questions with a series of emphatic "yes" responses, your readiness to be hired shines out to the world.

If you aren't able to answer yes to these questions, focus your efforts on clarifying your goal, finding ways to feel enthusiastic about your goal, and expressing your passion as you talk about your employment goal. Being connected to your goal in this way ignites your energy. Your contacts, colleagues, and potential employers will feel your excitement and be drawn to find out more about you.

Pulling It All Together

Taking these four points in order will help you build a strong, sustainable foundation for your future green career. The green economy is going to evolve in ways we can't predict at this moment. Think of it as a journey that will have its ups and downs as you strive to reach your goal destination.

If you need a job now, I recommend you focus on an interim position that taps the skills you've used in previous jobs. If possible, choose an interim job that helps you move one step closer to your green career goal. Then when your target green industry opens up, you'll be ready to act on the opportunity.

About the Author:

Green Career Expert, Carol McClelland, PhD, the SelfGrowth.com Official Guide to Green Jobs/Green Careers, is the author of Green Careers For Dummies and founder and executive director of Green Career Central, an online resources center with easy-to-use resources, coaching programs, and training events to help professionals, students, and career counselors make sense of the green economy. Download your free report: Six Strategies to Find Your Green Career at http://www.greencareercentral.com/

Anti-palm oil lobby baseless

2009-11-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

NGO: Palm oil industry highly sustainable in developing economies

01/10/2009 (The Star Online), Petaling Jaya - Palm oil, which accounts for 60% of the global vegetable oil trade, has come under fire from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are pressuring processors and consumers to boycott the oil and European Union (EU) governments to block its import based on the contention that palm oil damages the environment.

But, according to a report by World Growth entitled Palm Oil – The Sustainable Oil, palm oil uses less land than crop-based oilseeds.

“Only 0.26ha is required to produce a tonne of palm oil while soybean, sunflower and rapeseed need 2.2ha, 2ha and 1.5ha respectively to produce the same amount of oil,” said the report.

The proposed restriction may also hurt the export trade of developing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia that collectively produce 87% of the world’s palm oil.

The report said the palm oil industry was a highly sustainable development tool in the economies of many developing countries.

World Growth chairman Alan Oxley said the campaign by environmental groups to prevent conversion of forest land to other more productive purposes would deny developing countries the opportunity to use palm oil as a development tool.

“The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have rated palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia respectively as a very high quality development tool for reducing poverty,” he told StarBiz via email.

In Malaysia, the world’s second largest palm oil producer, the industry currently employed 570,000 people with export earnings of more than RM68bil last year, said the report.

World Growth said the EU import demand for palm oil had also grown as some countries there had resorted to using it as a feedstock for bio-diesel production.

“But the proposed EU Renewable Energy Directive includes a condition that will restrict the availability of palm oil,” it said.

On the industry’s impact on the environment, the report said it had not destroyed forests’ biodiversity in developing countries.

“For example, palm oil is restricted to only 20% of the total land in Malaysia allocated for agricultural purposes.

“And in Indonesia, palm oil is only cultivated in areas set aside for commercial production,” it said.

Oxley added that biodiversity in forests was protected by establishing forest conservation areas which contained representative strands of natural forests, not by imposing a blanket ban on conversion of forest land for other purposes.

“And well-managed oil palm plantations are more effective in absorbing greenhouse gases than natural forests,” he said.

Moreover, said the report, the technical understanding of carbon footprint of oil palm, other plantations and forest industries was still weak.

World Growth is a non-profit NGO established to bring balance to the debate over trade, globalisation and sustainable development.

Japan – Test flight completed

2009-11-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

Japan Airlines Corp on Friday test flew a Boeing 747-300 jet powered with environmentally-friendly bio-fuel from Tokyo, in the first test of its kind among Asian airlines, Dow Jones reports.

One of the jumbo jet's four Pratt & Whitney engines was powered by a blend of conventional kerosene-based jet fuel and a Boeing Co developed bio-fuel, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions in flights.

The bio-fuel is derived mainly from the flowering plant camelina, which is inedible, making it less likely that its jet fuel application would affect the world food market. Flight Global adds that JAL said its blend was 50% bio-fuel and 50% jet kerosene and of the bio-fuel component, camelina made up 84%, jatropha 16% and algae less than 1%.

JAL’s group president and CEO said that when bio-fuels are produced in sufficient amounts to make them commercially viable, ‘we hope to be one of the first airlines in the world to power aircraft using bio-fuels.’ (30 January 2009)

Biofuel From Sago

2009-07-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sarawak will turn sago waste into bioethanol for fuel.

A pilot plant, with a daily production capacity of one tonne, is under construction at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in Samarahan, near here.

The plant, which is expected to begin commercial production in six months, is the first in South-East Asia, said Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Fadillah Yusof at the project’s earth-breaking ceremony yesterday.

Unimas and AGS Sdn Bhd were given RM11.6mil under the ministry’s Techno-Fund grant to carry out research and development on sago starch and its effluents and solid waste for production of bioethanol.

“The plant is built based on the success of the research,” said Fadillah.

Unimas’ principal researcher Prof Dr Kopli Bujang said the pilot plant would produce bioethanol as an additive for fuel, which did not need for car engines to be modified.

He said such projects had been implemented in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan, although different substrates were being used.

Dr Kopli said bioethanol fetched between US$400 (RM1,400) and US$700 (RM2,450) a tonne in the market, adding that several Japanese firms had enquired about Unimas’ production.

“Apart from bioethanol, the pilot plant can be used to produce lactic acid from sago starch, which is an expensive commodity for pharmaceutical industries,” he said.

Dr Kopli said future plans would include using sago effluents for the culture of petro-algae for the production of biodiesel.

The plant will have facilities for hydrolysis of starch and cellulose into sugar, fermentation process and downstream processing for distillation and dehydration of the ethanol produced.

Water generated from the distillation stage can be recycled for use in starch hydrolysis.

February bio-diesel output fell 12%

2009-07-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Brazilian bio-diesel output fell 12% month-on-month to 79.65 million litres (21 million US gallons) in February 2009, Latin America News Digest reports.

The production was 6 million litres below the country's bio-diesel demand. The supply director of oil and gas giant Petroleo Brasileiro said the company will be able to raise the bio-diesel blend with fossil fuel to 4% from 3% now, Latin America News Digest reports.

The increase would result in a 5% reduction in oil imports, he said. Last week, Petrobras launched its third bio-diesel plant, in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais state. The unit is operated by Petrobras Biocombustivel, a subsidiary set up in July 2008 to manage the company's bio-fuel production projects. The new plant has the same production capacity as the other two company units in Bahia's Candeias and Ceara's Quixada, of 57 million liters of bio-diesel per year.

Together, the three plants generate jobs and income for thousands of family farmers and are capable of producing 170 million liters of bio-diesel per year. Petrobras and Embrapa have signed three partnership agreements with a total value of $8 million that cover the consolidation and development of technologies that will be used by Petrobras Biofuel in the production of biodiesel and ethanol, Valor Economico reports. One of these will cover the sustainable management of cane straw.

AE Brazil reports that the International Energy Agency forecasts that global production of bio-fuels will slow sharply this year after several years of rapid growth, but it says that the result would be worse were it not for growth in Brazil. IEA said reasons for slowing bio-fuel growth include lower prices of oil, the restriction of credit, increasingly divergent government support and falling forecasts for transport fuel demand. (14 April 2009)

US – Domestic fuel increase through 2030

2009-06-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

The US DOE’s Energy Information Administration predicts that American consumption of liquid fuel will increase by a mere one million barrels each day through to 2030 and that bio-fuels will provide enough supply to meet the demand, Ethanolproducer.com reports.

Increased use of domestically-produced bio-fuels will also contribute to an almost 10% decline in liquid fuels imports by 2030. According to the EIA’s 2009 Annual Energy Outlook, petroleum prices will continue to drive the rate at which renewable fuels are consumed. Overall oil consumption shows no growth between 2007 and 2030 as a result of increasing corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards and increased requirements for renewable fuels.

However one EIA model shows that if oil-producing countries rapidly expand their petroleum output to keep oil per barrel prices low, bio-fuel consumption might only reach 27 billion gallons by 2030. On the other end of the scale, the EIA’s high oil price model predicts that if oil producers maintain tight control over their supply and prices increase to near $200 per barrel in 2030, total bio-fuel consumption could reach 40 billion gallons.

In Oregon, Chemeketa Community College, Pacific Biodiesel Technologies and Wildwood have proposed a $10 million pilot-scale bio-fuels plant and training facility at Mill Creek Junction, near Salem, Biofuels Digest reports. The proposed project is co-located with the state’s largest commercial bio-diesel plant, Sequential-Pacific Biodiesel.

The facility would produce up to 432,000 gallons of bio-fuels and 660 kilowatts of power, and include training and R&D facilities, and would create up to 450 jobs within the state. The facility would work with agri-waste, algae and woody waste as feedstocks.

Snohomish County is going ahead with plans to get into the bio-diesel business, King 5 News reports. The county has plans to produce enough bio-diesel to eventually fuel its entire fleet of vehicles.

Just this weekend Seattle bio-diesel producers and consumers met to discuss the steady decline of the industry. International markets are forcing up the costs of materials to make bio-diesel at a time when oil and gas prices are going down.

Supporters of Snohomish County's plan say they can avoid those problems by keeping it local. A County Councilman told King 5 their plan would use canola grown by local farmers, heated in the County's own seed driers which would be fuelled by methane gas captured from an old landfill near Everett.

Investment experts and bio-fuel industry representatives are criticizing a $176-million, two-year California plan to reduce transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by subsidizing a range of alternative fuels and vehicles, claiming the initiative allocates a large chunk of money for unproven hydrogen and electric drive-train technologies, Carbon Control News reports.

These critics charge the plan undervalues many technologies that could significantly reduce transportation GHG emissions in the near-term, such as increasing the use of renewable and biomass-based fuels. California's plan to advance alternative fuels and vehicles -- including prioritizing which technologies to fund at $800 million over the next six years -- may serve as a model for other states and the federal government, as officials look to cut transportation GHGs, increase energy efficiency and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Iowa energy officials have approved more than $2 million for an effort to grow algae at a southwest Iowa ethanol plant and use the material to make fuel, Fox News reports.

The 18-member Iowa Power Fund Board approved the grant this week to assist in the commercialization of algae production technology. (14 April 2009)

Malaysia's B5 scheme may use up 3pc of palm oil output

2009-06-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

23/03/2009 (Business Times, Malaysia) - MALAYSIA is expected to consume 500,000 tonnes of palm oil, or 3 per cent, of national crude palm oil (CPO) production, when it fully implements blended biodiesel programme by early 2010, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said.

Also called the B5 programme, use of blended biodiesel has started with government agencies and will be extended to the industrial and mass transport sectors later.

In a recent interview with the World Refining Association, ahead of the Asian Biofuels Roundtable which will take place in Kuala Lumpur from today to Wednesday, Chin said the government is also working with Petronas to enable some retail stations to supply B5 to the agencies.

Malaysia started the B5 programme on February 1 2009 with Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur and the Armed Forces, in the central region.

"Discussions with the biodiesel producers and petroleum companies are ongoing on areas critical to the implementation, namely logistics and financing mechanism," Chin said.

He said challenges facing the biofuel industry this year include exports of subsidised US biodiesel to EU which distort prices and trade, the EU energy directive, and the global economic slowdown.

Last year, Malaysia exported 182,108 tonnes of palm methyl ester (PME), or palm diesel, valued at RM610.7 million. In January this year, it exported 12,731 tonnes of PME valued at RM30.19 million.

On the impact of the global economic crisis, Chin said the sharp drop in CPO prices, coupled with the global financial crisis, could slow the development of the biofuel industry in terms of stalling new investments.

"The Malaysian biodiesel industry has both the production capacity to a tune of 1.67 million tonnes and feedstock available to meet market demand both in the domestic and world market."

To reduce the current oversupply of palm oil and help support palm oil prices, Malaysia has also launched the RM200 million Oil Palm Replanting Incentive Scheme to reduce the nation's high palm oil stock to ensure the stability of palm oil prices.

The scheme is aimed at felling 200,000ha of oil palm trees aged 25 years and above, which will reduce palm oil supply by 700,000 tonnes annually in the short term. It has to date approved 63,000ha under the scheme, which closes at the end of June.

Chin said the quantum of CPO duty free exports has been increased to three million tonnes this year to cater to markets which prefer CPO while encouraging offtakes would also reduce stocks in the short term.

Philippines - April coconut oil exports fall 72.6 pct

2009-05-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

According to industry sources, Philippine coconut oil exports slid 72.6 percent in April from a year earlier, marking its 10th consecutive month of decline, Reuters reports.

Shipments from the Southeast Asian producer, the world's biggest exporter of the commodity, slumped to 31,638 tonnes last month from 115,632 tonnes in April 2008, the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines Inc (UCAP) said in a report.

That brought exports for the first four months of the year to 134,438 tonnes, down 62.9 percent from the same period in 2008.

The Philippines expects exports of coconut oil, to dip to 835,000 tonnes this year from 847,626 tonnes in 2008, on soft global demand as well as its increasing use as feedstock by local bio-diesel producers.

The bio-fuels arm of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has signed deals with three groups to start jatropha plantations in Biliran, Aklan and Iligan, BusinessWorld reports.

PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp., will fund 200 hectares owned by the San Juan Capenyahan Producers Cooperative in Biliran, 450 hectares of the Malagsum Highlands Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Iligan, and 1,000 hectares of RSL Agro-Trade Company, Inc. (27 May 2009)

Brazil - Glencore to manage financially-troubled Agrenco

2009-05-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

Creditors of Brazilian agribusiness group Agrenco Limited gathered in a general assembly approved importing and exporting company Glencore to manage the company's assets in Brazil, on a three-year mandate, Agência Estado reports. Agrenco has been under a judicial recovery plan since March.

Further, Agrenco said creditors approved the sale of its bio-diesel plant in the state of Paraná to bio-diesel producer Bsbios. US second-generation biofuel developer Amyris Biotechnologies has bought out Crystalsev's stake in a joint venture owned by both companies to produce diesel from cane in Brazil and aims to establish its own mill to guarantee its own cane supply, Reuters reports.

Amyris will look for partnerships with other Brazilian groups, and is now in talks with several to install industrial-scale plants next to existing mills. It plans to produce ethanol at its mill initially, converting the mill to cane diesel later in order to start producing diesel from 2011-2012. (27 May 2009)

Philippines – $475 mln renewable energy projects

2009-05-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

Two South Korean firms, Eco Solutions and Enviro Plasma, are planning to invest up to USD475 million in renewable energy projects in the Philippines, Dow Jones reports. Eco Solutions is interested in building a jatropha-based bio-diesel plant while Enviro Plasma is keen on an ethanol refinery using sugarcane as a feedstock.

Enviro Plasma is interested in a 500,000-liter refinery, which could cost up to $300 million, in Tarlac province in northern Philippines, said the president of the Philippine Agriculture and Development Corp.

Enviro Plasma will provide 70% of the project cost while its local partner Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp will contribute the remaining 30%. Eco Solutions is considering a bio-diesel processing plant with a daily capacity of 100,000 litres. The project, to be located in General Santos City in southern Philippines, will require an investment of $175 million. (26 May 2009)

Brazil- Interest from Turkey in biofuels

2009-05-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

During the visit of the Brazilian President to Turkey last week, his Turkish counterpart expressed interest in cooperating on new energy technologies and the production of ethanol and biodiesel, Efe reports.

The Brazilian leader proposed that Turkey and Brazil invest in biodiesel and ethanol production in African countries. AFP reprots that the G8, the EU, Brazil, China and Mexico signed an agreement to exchange information and experience on energy efficiency over the weekend. This may include technologies for low carbon dioxide emission and investment in construction and transport.

Dow Jones reports that the recovery of the international agricultural commodities markets and renewed interest in Brazilian farmland from foreign buyers has supported land prices in the country between March and April, an analyst at AgraFNP said. The average price for a hectare stood at R$4,393 between March and April, when foreign buyers started purchasing land, compared with R$4,373 per ha between January and February. AgraFNP said that the
average price for a hectare has risen 2.5% over the past 12 months to R$4,287.

Launched to coincide with next week’s Ethanol Summit, the Economist has started an online debate over whether the cars of the future will run on bio-fuels or electricity, Udop reports. (At present the voting is favouring the latter). You can join in on: http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/145. (26 May 2009)

US – Bio-diesel plant back at work

2009-05-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

SeQuential Pacific Biodiesel is rehiring workers after closing down a month ago, World Link reports. Oregon’s largest bio-diesel plant in Salem was built to produce 5.8 Mmgy. But owners could not run the plant at capacity because of a lack of buyers, and had to store 250,000 gallons in early spring until it could find markets.

The manager said that the plant has begun to run at half capacity. “We need the market to grow before we can get at full production,” he said. Portland’s Water Bureau fleet, for example, moved from a 20% bio-diesel blend to a 99% bio-diesel blend on April 15.

A Minnesota Soybean Processors bio-diesel plant was rocked by a fire and explosions, Bloomberg reports. While the fire was contained, residents nearby were evacuated, and people within a one-mile radius were told to leave their homes, according to the report. The plant in Brewster, Minnesota, processes 50,000 bushels of soybeans a day and makes about 30 Mmgy of fuel.

OriginOil, found its technology the centre of discussion before the Senate Subcommittee on Environment and Public Works in Washington this week, TheBioenergySite News reports. During the session, the President of Sapphire Energy, commented on the many benefits of using algae as the foundation for a new generation of renewable and low carbon transportation fuels.

"Growing algae, and converting it into plastics, fuels, and or secondary feedstock, could significantly help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy price shocks, reclaim wastewater, conserve fresh water (in some scenarios), lower food prices, reduce the transfer of US wealth to other nations, and spur regional economic development." Her testimony also named OriginOil as one of the prominent algae-based fuel companies to develop "fascinating algae-based biological carbon capture and beneficial reuse applications". (26 May 2009)

World – Clean energy investment to create jobs

2009-05-29T03:50:00.000-07:00

Hoping to create a global carbon market, the organizers of the World Business Summit on Climate Change said that 2 million new jobs would be created in the US alone if it increased its reliance on cleaner sources of energy, Green Momentum reports.

The Copenhagen Climate Council study said the United States would gain that many jobs if its electricity use grew by just half of 1% a year and a quarter of its electricity came from wind energy and other renewable sources.

The EU Commission President told the CEOs of major international corporations that similar investments could produce a million new jobs in European Union countries. The International Energy Agency's (IEA) chief economist said that oil prices may return to "significantly higher" levels because companies have cut investment in the new production needed to match demand from fast-growing China and India. The IEA chief economist said that oil companies have cancelled at least $170 billion of planned investments - including $100 billion this year - as they seek to save money amid the financial and economic crisis. That's equivalent to 2 million barrels of oil per day, and a further 4.2 million barrels per day of future oil-supply has been delayed by at least 18 months, he said. Oil companies are likely to announce even more cutbacks in oil and gas production investments in coming months, he said. (26 May 2009)

EU – Largest renewable diesel plant in Rotterdam

2009-05-29T03:47:00.000-07:00

Neste Oil laid the foundation stone for its renewable diesel plant in the Port of Rotterdam, Market Wire reports. Upon completion, the plant will be the largest renewable diesel plant in Europe with an annual production capacity of 800,000 mt.

The investment cost of the plant is estimated to be EUR 670 million, and it will create over 100 jobs. "With this plant in the Netherlands, Neste Oil will become the leading renewable diesel producer supplying Europe from the Netherlands. Our investment also signals Neste Oil's commitment to driving forward latest innovation with our NExBTL technology in Europe", said the President and CEO of Neste Oil.

Oil company Preem is planning to increase its production of bio-fuels significantly, Esmerk reports. The Head of Development expects the production of alternative fuels to total about 400,000-500,000 cu m within four-five years, up from current small volumes Swedish venture capital company Acap Invest is planning to sell bio-fuel technology company TPS, a former subsidiary of Talloil acquired by Acap Invest two years ago following Talloil's bankruptcy, Esmerk reports. Acap Invest has not managed to increase turnover of TPS fourfold to SEK 1billion as intended. TPS rebuilds oil- and gas-fuelled heating plants into bio-fuel based plants. (26 May 2009)

China – Algae bio-fuels commercialization

2009-05-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

PetroSun, Inc announced the recent meetings held in Shanghai between PetroSun and Shanghai Jun Ya Yan Technology Development Co, Ltd resulted in the completion of an agreement to move the parties into the initial stage of the commercialization of the algae-to-bio-fuel industry in China, Market Wire reports.

Viaspace Inc, a company that commercialises space and defence technologies from NASA and the US Department of Defense, announced it has planted 1.2 million seedlings of its proprietary fast-growing China Giant King Grass near the IPA factory in Guangdong province, Market News Publishing reports. Giant King Grass is a natural hybrid perennial grass which is propagated from seedlings rather than seeds and was developed as an animal feed and as a feedstock for production of cellulosic ethanol, methanol, bio-crude and green gasoline. In tropical and subtropical areas such as Southern China, it can yield four crops per year and up to 156 mt of grass per acre per year. (11 December 2008)

Philippines – Bio-fuel investments

2009-05-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

A senior government official said the Philippines expects to generate around PHP80 billion ($1.66 billion) in bio-fuel investments over the next two years, Dow Jones reports. The head of the Sugar Regulatory Administration and vice-chair of the National Biofuels Board said next year, about PHP4 billion worth of investments are expected to be realized as three to four bio-fuel refineries are likely to come on stream.

Indigenous women leaders from Mindanao said the expansion of jatropha plantations in Sarangani and in other provinces in Mindanao has displaced traditional food crops, which forced members of the B'laan tribe to go hungry, Philippine Daily Inquirer reports. (11 December 2008)

World – Airlines need more time to go green

2009-05-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

The Cathay Pacific's general manager for environmental affairs said the airline industry will not be able to make itself sustainable for up to 20 years, Media reports. He said airlines needed to look at more than just the most efficient and effective bio-fuel, but also aircraft upgrades and technology, navigation and improved infrastructure.

Scientists around the globe have been researching viable alternative energy sources for some time now, NoticiasFinancieras reports. Brazil, which stood out in 1975 with its National Fuel Alcohol Programme and in 2005 for its pioneering National Bio-diesel Programme, is wielding new strategies in its global offensive for fuels based on distilled agricultural products.

Scientific progress is opening space for agro-fuels to become a new commodity to conquer the global market. To achieve this, Brazil is investing in research that could be the answer to concerns about the negative effects of crop-based fuel production on food supplies and prices, and on the conservation of its Amazon forests. (27 November 2008)

In Search of the Perfect Biofuel -- and Financing to Bring It to Market - Reuters

2009-05-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

22/05/2009 (Reuters) - Funny thing about the biofuels business. Roughly 200 companies are pursuing the perfect biofuel -- as cheap as fossil fuels, adaptable to today’s infrastructure, low-carbon, sustainable and no threat to the food supply or to tropical forests. But even cutting-edge startups that say they have the puzzle just about solved can’t raise the money they need to get into commercial production.

“Everyone wants to be the first to finance the second plant,” says Arnold Klann, the CEO of biofuels firm Blue Fire Ethanol. “No one one wants to be first to finance the first one.”

“Banks are not willing to lend,” Klann said. “They’re risk averse.” The industry needs the support of banks or the public markets because a commercial scale will cost upwards of $100 million, more than the venture capitalists now financing the industry want to put at risk. Publicly-traded Blue Fire makes ethanol from wood wastes, urban trash, rice and wheat straws, and it was awarded a $40 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, but it has been slow to get to commercial production and investors are skeptical. The firm’s market capitalization is only about $25 million.

Biofuels are on my mind because I spent the day at BIO International, a sprawling (14,000 attendees) biotech industry convention in Atlanta. I’ve written very little about biofuels, mostly because the science of turning plants into fuel is quite complicated, and so it’s hard to separate companies with a shot at making it big from those with no hope. That’s not just a challenge for me -- the corn ethanol industry has destroyed many millions of dollars of capital from investors who rushed in too quickly.

Still, there are strong forces driving biofuels, most of them emanating from Washington where Congress has adopted biofuels mandates. The historic Waxman-Markey climate change bill just passed by the House energy committee will, if it becomes law, provide another boost to biofuels by raising the price of gasoline and diesel fuels.

At BIO, Laurence Alexander, the managing director of investment bank Jefferies & Co., moderated an excellent panel that taught me a bunch of things. Some highlights:

It takes a lot of feedstock to make biofuels. For ethanol to account for 5 percent of U.S. gasoline use, it would require turning 33 percent of the U.S. corn crop into ethanol. Globally, it would take 100 percent of the soy, rapeseed and palm oil production to produce 10 percent of the global supply of diesel. That’s at current yields, of course, which is why it’s so vital to drive up yields.

Biofuels have an image problem. “Glib critics,” Alexander said, “could shift the policy debate.” The industry needs to prepare to answer tough questions, even if they are only loosely based on reality: How many children did you starve to drive to work today? Can we run out of arable land? Will biofuels drain the acquifers?

Not all feedstocks are created equal. I knew that, of course, but the variations in productivity are dramatic. In terms of gallons of fuel that can be produced per acre, according to Aristides Patrinos, the president of a company called Synthetic Genomics, sugar cane (800) and switchgrass (500) outperform corn (375) and jatropha (202). Still, his company, which was started by Craig Venter, is excited about jatropha because it yields a high quality oil, grows in poor soils and can live in semi-arid regions. “That’s in our view an ideal fuel because it doesn’t really compete for the same land where you can grow food,” Patrinos said. It’s ripe for significant genetic modification to improve yields. “We’ve just recently announced the sequencing of the jatropha genome,” he said. Who knew?

Two well-funded startups delivered impressive presentations. One was Amyris Biotechnologies, which I knew about. A fascinating company, backed by Kleiner Perkins, that first produced a low-cost anti-malaria drug for the Gates Foundation and is now making diesel fuel at a pilot plant in Northern California. (Jack Newman, a co-founder, has twice been a popular speaker at FORTUNE’s Brainstorm Green.) The other was Solazyme, another Bay Area firm that uses algae to convert cellulosic feedstocks into fuel. Harrison Dillon, the president and chief technology officer, who also happens to be a patent lawyer, said the firm is able to make oil-based fuels at a commercial scale but that its cost are still higher than fossil fuels.

Because of capital constraints, it may be that well-established players will have to enter the market to take biofuels to scaleor . DuPont and Genencor, a division of a Danish firm called Danisco, formed a joint venture last year to develop a cellulosic ethanol business using corn stover or switchgrass in Tennessee, which has provided grants to the plant and pays farmers to plant switchgrass. (It takes three years to develop the first group) DuPont -- whose Pioneer division hired me to moderate a panel at BIO -- and Genencor have committed to a three-year investment of $140 million. They obviously have the capacity to invest more if needed.

They’ve also got a track record. DuPont and Genencor got together nearly 15 years ago to research the process that now produces a renewable material known as bio-PDO, which is made from corn starch, that goes into carpets, textiles and shampoos. It’s one of the big successes of the bio-materials biz.

Malaysia: No Plan To Reduce B5 Mandate - Bernama

2009-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

25/05/2009 (Bernama), Kuala Lumpur - There is no plan to reduce the current biodiesel mandate of five percent despite the high feedstock cost, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Hamzah Zainudin said today.

He said the government encouraged the use of biodiesel in the country, although it was not as yet mandatory.

"We would like to encourage its use because we are a party to the Kyoto Protocol. If the policy is to move in the direction of biodiesel usage, we need to follow.

"It is not mandatory yet because the price of raw materials is very high at present," he added.

He was speaking at a media conference at the Palm International Nutra-Cosmeceutical Conference (PINC) 2009 here today.

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), an international environmental treaty.

It is a treaty intended to achieve the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

Last October, Malaysia implemented the mandate of a five percent palm-fuel blend with fossil diesel, gradually starting with government vehicles this year before extending it to the industrial and transportation sectors in 2010.

Asked as to the projection of crude palm oil prices this year, Hamzah said:"We hope that this year, the average price could be about RM2,500-RM2,800 per tonne."

Meanwhile in his speech, Hamzah said the palm oil industry is now an important pillar of the country's economy.

He said the sector had contributed significantly towards providing a continuous flow of foreign earnings through the export of palm oil and value-added products to the global market.

"In 2008, palm oil contributed RM65.2 billion or US$18.1 billion in export earnings, which marks another significant year of contribution from the palm oil industry," he said.

He said besides contributing to the nation's economic development, the contribution of Malaysian palm oil to the world's oils and fats market was also very significant.

He noted that the palm oil production of 17.73 million tonnes by Malaysia in 2008, accounted for a 11.1 share of the global production of 160 million tonnes of oils and fats.

According to Hamzah, Malaysian palm oil commanded a 26 percent share of the export trade in oils and fats as well as a 46 percent share of global palm oil trade while being consumed in more than 150 countries worldwide.

"All these were carried out utilising only 4.5 million hectares of land or less than 1.9 percent of the global area under oilseeds covering 233 million hectares," he said.

He added Malaysia is now focusing on increasing productivity through among others, in the upstream sector, which includes increasing oil yields from the current average of four tonnes per hectare annually to eight tonnes per hectare by using genome sequencing.

"By this approach, we hope to continue to be a major supplier of global palm oil needs, without having to open new areas," he said.

No brainer of the day: Making biodiesel at home is dangerous

2009-05-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

While fuel prices are nothing like they were last summer (but they are climbing), there are still plenty of reasons to want to make your own biodiesel. Homebrew biodieselers are, on the whole, a careful bunch and there are plenty of classes available to make sure your mixing of vegetable fat, lye and methanol goes smoothly. Not everyone does it right every time, though, and the Associated Press has found a few incidents of biodiesel makers setting garages and backyards on fire in at least five states (Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Oregon). These fires have not caused any deaths, yet, but at least one home was destroyed - and rebuilding must cost way more, environmentally and financially, than was saved by going bio.

There are few rules against making biodiesel at home, but more might be coming. In Phoenix, Arizona, for example, you need to be on a property that is at least one acre so you're not endangering a lot of neighbors. Just a reminder to be careful out there.

[Source: Associated Press]

But if you want to try making your own biodiesel, I suggest you get this course for at least you know the safety precaution and risk involved before you actually start the process. Read here for more information.

Palm Oil Based Biofuel Dilemma

2009-05-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Original text: De-linking NGOs Concerns over Deforestation and Palm Oil
Source: http://ceopalmoil.blogspot.com/2008/10/understanding-ngos-concerns-over.html
Author: Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron, CEO, Malaysian Palm Oil promotion Council (MPOPC)

1. A few years ago when oils and fats were cheaper than petroleum, the EU and USA rushed to promote the use of biofuels for various reasons. One not-so-frankly-revealed reason was that oilseed farmers will benefit from the new market outlets and the increase in prices. The governments also benefited from this strategy because agricultural subsidies would be reduced if prices of soybean and rapeseed were high and price support subsidies would not be needed. In addition, it makes good political statements to say that biodiesel will help reduce global warming through reduced green house gas emissions, and also enable the countries to be less dependent on imported petroleum fuels.

2. Diverting a major portion of rapeseed and soy oil supply and stocks for biodiesel did result in increasing prices which benefited the EU and US farmers tremendously between 2004 and the middle of 2008. During this time, it became obvious that palm oil was a potentially good raw material to participate in the biodiesel industries in both the EU and USA as it is generally cheaper than soyabean or rapeseed oil. This resulted in increasing concern amongst the EU biodiesel lobbies who are integrated with the rapeseed industry over the potential competion from palm oil and they tried to prevent it from being imported for biodiesel production and use in the EU. This was also to ensure that biodiesel subsidies are not shared with competing imported oils.

3. Various trade barriers were set up by the goverments. For example, biodiesel standards were developed in the EU to disqualify palm oil biodiesel from being accepted. The cold flow plug point(CFPP) standard was introduced to ensure palm oil did not meet the required test and the anti palm oil lobby was relieved at the new arrangement. However, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) announced that palm oil biodiesel methyl esters can be processed with a new technology that would overcome the CFPP problem. Furthermore, if the blending of biodiesel is only at 5%, the CFPP value of palm oil biodiesel methyl esters becomes irrelevant as the 5 parts of palm biodiesel is totally dissolved by the 95 parts of petroleum diesel giving an acceptable blend. However, unknown to many, tallow produced in the EU and used for biodiesel would also fail the CFPP test and this would not go well with the local tallow lobbies.

4. EU farmers continue to question the reason for an imported commodity such as palm oil biodiesel to be accorded biofuel subsidy which is meant for local oilseed farmers. The outcries became louder as some power plants began to use palm oil as biofuel and enjoyed the subsidies and the cheaper prices. The rapeseed lobbies were worried that by allowing cheaper palm oil for use as biofuel in vehicles and power plants, it will eventually affect the demand for local oils, and create a substantial outflow of subsidies.(This narrow view ignores the fact that Malaysia imports large amount of EU and US goods and needs market access for its exports in order to remain a valued trading partner.)

5. A new import barrier for palm oil was subsequently introduced arising from the view of the former Dutch Environmental Minister who argued that if palm oil is encouraged for use as biofuel it would stimulate an increase in production leading to the opening of forest land. This apparently will affect the environment, animal habitats and biodiversity. He was able to introduce the fear factor of what could happen in the future if palm oil demand undergoes a rapid increase.

6. The environmental NGOs were quick to sieze on the opportunity to harp on the fear of potential deforestation, and started to report on orang utan habitat loss and global warming effects of oil palm cultivation on peat. The change in focus from deforestation due to logging to now oil palm plantation became a refreshing rallying point for NGOs perpetual campaigns. Afterall palm oil has more money to offer than the logging industry which has over the years witnessed a decline.

7. Once the issues of deforestation and palm oil fell into the hands of NGOs like FOE and Green Peace who use unscrupulus methods to attack their target victims, the whole issue of biodiesel development and protection of subsidies was totally forgotten. The farmers in the EU and USA who are worried by palm oil invasion for the new found application of their oils and fats as biodiesel are totally served by the NGOs who gladly run the anti-palm oil campaign while pocketing huge amount of funds. The collusion to get the NGOs to campaign against palm oil was cleverly disguised. It was reported for example, that the Dutch Lottery money of a staggering US$2 million was instrumental in financing Green Peace to carry out a blockade of a ship carrying palm oil from leaving an Indonesian port to sail to Europe in 2007.

8. It is clear that the fear factor used is based on the assumption that if demand for biofuel is increased, more oil palm cultivation will occur thus causing deforestation. Fortunately, Malaysia has consistently proven the assumption as baseless and wrong.

9. Let me debunk the various fallacies that are often cited to paint a bleak picture of the ever popular oil palm.

Fallacy 1 Oil palm plantations are claimed to be the cause of deforestation. Palm oil producing countries such as Malaysia have permanent forest reserves which take up to 55% of the country's total land area. Laws are in place to disallow these permanent forest areas to be converted to other uses including for agriculture or growing of oil palm. The remaining forest areas are meant for conversion into other uses, including agriculture. Some of these conversion forest areas are already alienated to individuals or organisations although the land may still not yet be converted and remain under forest cover. NGOs like Green Peace argue that these unconverted areas should be declared as forest through a moratorium on deforestation which essentially means a stop to a developing country like Malaysia from using its potential agricultural land to improve the life of its farmers. It is equivalent to asking the EU farmers to reforest back some 50 % of their agricultural land to help prevent global warming and preserve biodiversity. In all fairness, Greenpeace should agressively campaign for reforesting 50 % of agricultural land of the UK and EU and if successful, Malaysia should have no problem following the standard set by the EU in terms of land use ratio for agriculture.

There are also calls by NGOs for the Prince Chales Conservation fund to compensate developing countries for conserving more forests. Logically, these funds would be better used to reforest the over extended and over deforested agricultural areas in the UK. Most agricultural land can be easily reforested if so desired. The slogan "Plant Thy Own Forest" and "Stop Envying Thy Poor Neighbours Green Backyard" can be adopted. Otherwise Green Peace is cunningly introducing double standards where the EU can deforest and develop these areas into agricultural land, while the developing countries farmers are comdemmed to perpetual poverty by preventing them from exercising their sovereign rights to develop their agricultural land.

Fallacy 2 -It is often claimed that the expansion of oil palm cultivation will affect the habitats of the orang utans in Sabah and Sarawak. A recent study revealed that orang utan population is Sabah has not declined because the permanent forest area ( the favourite habitat of the orang utans that was surveyed five years ago) has not changed over the last five years. The study further revealed that the orang utan population in the non-permanent forest areas is increasing based on the survey of nesting sites. More surprisingly, orang utans living near oil palm plantations were observed to regularly visit the plantations to feed on loose oil palm fruitlets and benefit from an all year round availability of a healthy food source which is naturally rich in vitamin A and E, giving the orang utans a healthy shining coat. This suggests that development of the oil palm as a crop and conservation can successfully operate side by side.

Fallacy 3 The third fallacy is linking oil palm to deforestation and attributing this to global warming. The oil palm planted area of 4.3 million hectares in Malaysia represents a mere 0.09% of the world agriculture land. Assuming these areas were originally forests, Malaysia's share of deforestation for world food production is 0.09 %. I wait to see the NGO global warming scientists' prediction on the rise in global temperature caused by oil palm cultivation in Malaysia that resulted in 0.09 % of total deforestion via agricultural development. Even doubling the oil palm area may not add substantially to the world deforestation total. However, expanding oil palm may save deforestation by curtailing the rapid expansion of other inefficient land-use oil seed crops which need to be grown otherwise to overcome world shortages.

Cultivated Area of Oil Seeds in the World | Click here to view the full resolution

Fallacy 4Potraying palm oil as inferior to soyabean or rapeseed oil in global warming debate. Oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia is an agricultural crop which is grown mainly for the export market. We are the only two major net exporter countries (Argentina is a distant third) for vegetable oils and fats. The rest of the world are mostly net importers. It implies that if palm oil supply is reduced in the future, ten times more forest areas will need to be converted to agriculture to meet the shortages by growing soyabean or other annual oilseed crops compared to the area needed to grow oil palm to produce the targeted quantity of oil.

Mileage per hectare per year - Based on a new VW Polo | Click here to view the full resolution

Recently, it was revealed that new varieties of oil palm are capable of increasing the yield by 3 times more and if further research to stabilise this yield potential is undertaken through international collaboration, palm oil can be a sound candidate to help solve not only future food shortages but also the biofuel need of the world. In simple terms, it has been calculated that a hectare of oil palm will potentially produce oil sufficient to fuel a VW Polo car 400,000 km of travel per year including the use of the methane fuel generated by the oil palm mill effluent, while a hectare of soya bean can fuel only 8,000 km of travel by the same car as a comparison. The irony is that the EU and USA are gladly promoting the most inefficient bio fuel derived from soyabean and rapeseed sources ,which can only mean massive deforestation possibly in Agentina, Brazil or where ever soyabean and rapeseed can be grown. The opportunity for oil palm to serve as an efficient fuel source and to save more forests from being converted into soyabean and rapeseed farms is sadly overlooked and we can only blame this on the manupulative science which is used by NGOs to raise emotions and blur the truth from reaching the attention of decision and policy makers in the EU and USA.

Japan- Mitsubishi boosts renewable business

2009-05-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

Nikkei Report writes that Mitsubishi Corporation will ramp up its renewable energy business worldwide and expects each of the new energy business to grow significantly over the medium- and long-term.

Its new energy division is largely classified into electricity generation using solar and wind energies; bio-fuel and other alternative energy sources; and environmental treatment of water and sewage.

On April 1st, Mitsubishi reorganized the new-energy and environment-related division as a ‘corporate development section,’ under the direct executive control of the firm’s president. (May 21, 2009)

Brazil-Help for family farmers

2009-05-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

Petrobras has confirmed that despite a lack of castor oil, it still plans to expand Biodiesel Quixada in Ceara state by 40%, the Dairio de Nordeste reports. The plant is currently using soy and cotton oil.

This week, the president of Petrobras Biofuels signed contracts with six cooperatives in Ceara and Piaui states to offer technical guidance on castor growing to 31,450 small farmers in the region.

Petrobras expects Brazil’s bio-diesel output to rise from 1.2 billion litres to 1.6 billion before the B4 mandate comes into effect. Gazeta Mercantil adds that the company will also help the farmers with storage and transportation, and will ensure the purchase for a five-year period of their crops for prices previously set with the cooperatives. (May 21, 2009)

Canada- Funding for clean energy

2009-05-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association has welcomed the Canadian government’s announcement of a new $1 Billion Clean Energy Fund and the $200 million set aside for demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies, Market Wire reports.

CRFA said that the $200 million set aside for smaller-scale demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies would help Canada take part in developing even better and more advanced renewable fuels. (May 21, 2009)

Europe- Worries over sustainability issues

2009-05-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

The EU bio-diesel industry is currently in ‘political no man's land’ while it waits for a European biofuel sustainability and greenhouse gas certification scheme expected from the Commission later this year, according to the head of the European Biodiesel Board, Platts reports.

Meanwhile the head of the ILUC team at the European Commission for transport and energy said that the team is trying to understand the underlying drivers of land use change, using different models, but has no answers yet.

An official at the Commission’s environment directorate said the EU is in a dialogue with California about its sustainability standards and is considering the ILUC models used there.

Separately, France has mandated a B7 biodiesel blend with 7% FAME (fatty-acid methyl ester), but the mix has already caused serious problems with some motorists by clogging up fuel filters during the winter months, according to French car maker Renault. Renault’s fuels affairs manager said that a lack of EU conformity and sufficient specifications to control cold flow properties and oxidization of the new bio-fuel blends have led to the recent problems.

According to oil refiner Total, different national bio-fuel mandates across the EU are complicating the production, blending, distribution and marketing of bio-fuels across borders.

Calling investment and operations planning ‘a real nightmare,’ Total's marketing head of strategy and regulations said there has been an ‘incredible impact’ of bio-fuels on blending in the logistic system, including higher volumes in pipes, increased difficulty of processing, the need for better cleaning of rail cars and separate storage for exports.

Swiss bio-diesel maker Biopetrol Industries posted sales of 296.0 million euros in 2008, up 35.7% from 218.1 million the previous year despite sales of bio-diesel grinding to a halt in Germany and the economic recession, Ad-hoc News reports. Of its sales, 51.1% were made to Germany and 48.9% mainly to other European countries. Biopetrol said it was able to exploit the logistical advantages of its seaport locations at Rostock and Rotterdam to strengthen its international trade in biodiesel and biodiesel components. However it reported a negative Ebitda of 11.8 million euros, compared with a positive 8.3 million euro the year before.

The company is building a plant in Rottterdam with an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes of biodiesel and 60,000 tonnes of bioglycerine. This will more than double its capacity to a total of 750,000 tonnes. World Energy adds that Biopetrol may idle its 400,000 mt/year biodiesel plant in Rotterdam for up to 18 months as it waits for conditions to improve. The company will also sublease its Rotterdam tanks while rates are high.

Dutch producers of biodiesel say they are unable to compete with imports of US product, Radio Netherlands reports. They say the US has managed to circumvent the extra EU duty by exporting to Europe through Canada. (May 21, 2009)

US- Bid to ban ILUC defeated in committee

2009-05-22T05:19:00.000-07:00

A bill that would have banned the EPA from taking into account the impact of indirect land use changes in bio-fuel emissions was defeated by 36-20 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Dow Jones reports.

A Republican Representative for Nebraska had tried adding the measure to a climate change bill that appears likely to be passed by the Committee. “There's no way you can reasonably say that bio-fuels production and the effect on a forest in South America or Indonesia or anywhere else is related,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said adding an ILUC ban to the climate change bill is unlikely to work as it would probably be taken out before the final legislation is passed, Congress Daily reports. He expects the climate change bill to be sent to his panel in June but reiterated that he has a long list of issues that must be addressed before he would consider backing climate change legislation, and top of his list is passage of a renewable fuel standard measure he introduced last week to repeal the provision on ILUC impact on bio-fuel emissions.

Inside EPA Weekly Report adds that the industry is pushing amendments to the House climate bill to boost the use of bio-fuels and wants to add the ILUC ban. The industry also intends to push the bill (HR 2409) sponsored by the House Agriculture Committee Chairman (mentioned above).

There is a suggestion that bio-fuel producers could use a cap and trade system, enabling them to qualify for allowances or offsets if they use biotechnology that reduces their carbon emissions.

Ambassadors from the EU, Canada, Brazil and Chile called on US Congress to close immediately a US tax loophole used by paper makers that distorts world pulp markets and violates trade rules, Reuters reports. A tax credit designed to boost bio-fuel use has been an unintended windfall for US paper manufacturers, who stand to receive up to US$8 billion in 2009, the ambassadors said. “From a legal perspective, it is clear that this tax credit amounts to an actionable subsidy and that any adverse effects ... could be subject to remedies in the (World Trade Organization) or through domestic countervailing duty investigations,” they warned. At issue is a by-product called "black liquor," produced when wood is processed into pulp to make paper: last year, paper makers started to add small amounts of diesel to it and to claim the bio-diesel tax credit.

A new study has found that Styrofoam can be used to increase bio-diesel power output, New Zealand Transport Intelligence Briefing reports. Iowa State University researchers found that by dissolving polystyrene packing peanuts in bio-diesel, scientists were able to increase the power output of the fuel, while finding a solution to disposing of the material at the same time. They dissolved Styrofoam into bio-diesel at a concentration of 2 to 20%, and discovered that while plastic does not break down easily in petroleum-based diesel, it breaks down almost instantly in bio-diesel. When they tested the polystyrene-bio-diesel blend in a tractor engine, they found power output increased as polystyrene concentrations increased up to 5% but tailed off after that.

New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc has signed a bio-fuel sales contract with the Tri Gas and Oil Co Inc of Federalsburg, Maryland, to market and distribute NGB bio-fuel, PR Newswire reports. Under terms of the contract, Tri Gas and Oil will endeavour to sell up to 1 million gallons in the first year of a three-year contract.(May 21, 2009)

Brazil – Petrobras aims to be global bio-fuels player

2009-05-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

Petrobras aims to be a global player in bio-fuels, in which it plans to invest $3.3 billion between 2009 and 2013, said the Petrobras Biocombustíveis director, AE Brazil- Financial and Corporate News reports. Of that total, 80% will be invested in ethanol.

According to him, Petrobras is getting ready for "a world without oil" and the company aims to be among the top-five global bio-fuel leaders by the end of 2020.

He also said Petrobras has been in talks for a bio-diesel production project in Africa and noted the company has ethanol projects under development in some Latin American countries. "Petrobras' strategy is to be a global player, with a relevant role in the world markets for bio-diesel and ethanol," said the executive. (19 May 2009)

Australia- “1st integrated soybean processing and bio-diesel plant”

2009-05-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

The go ahead has been given for a $243 million soybean processing and bio-diesel production facility at Port Kembla, ABC News reports.

New South Wales’ Minister for Lands, said: "This is the first integrated soybean processing and bio-diesel production facility in Australia and is a major boost to the Illawarra. The project is expected to generate $977 million in revenue and in addition to the 235 new permanent full-time jobs, will provide approximately 725 jobs in related industries and a further 500 jobs during construction of the facility. The plant will produce 288 million litres of bio-diesel a year; along with 850,000 tonnes of soy bean meal for poultry and livestock feed”."

In July 2007 the NSW Government implemented legislation to mandate the blending of all diesel fuel blended with 2% bio-diesel, the mandate will increase from two per cent to five per cent in 2011," he added. (19 May 2009)

EU – Duties on US bio-diesel likely to be extended

2009-05-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

A European official said that the European Commission is proposing to place multi-year duties on bio-diesel shipped from the US to offset a subsidy the US government gives to bio-diesel producers, Dow Jones reports. The proposal will extend temporary duties the European Union imposed in March on US bio-diesel. Final duties imposed by the EU typically last for five years.

The Commission is proposing changes to the bio-diesel duties: US agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will face a duty of EUR359 per mt of bio-diesel, up from the temporary duty announced in March of EUR261/mt, the European official said.

ADM's rival Cargill will have to pay EUR213.80/mt, down from the duty announced in March of EUR275/mt. Imperium Renewables will have to pay EUR293/mt. Green Earth Fuels will pay EUR284/mt, and World Energy Alternatives EUR294/mt, according to the proposal. Fifty-three companies that cooperated with the EU's investigation will have to pay EUR335/mt, including Louis Dreyfus Agricultural Industries, Vitol Inc, and US Biofuels Inc. Peter Cremer North America LP and all other companies will have to pay EUR409/mt, down slightly from the temporary duty of EUR419/mt. The duties must be approved by EU governments at the European Council.

Biofuels Journal highlights the EU’s Biocoup programme which aims to develop a chain of process steps that would effectively allow biomass feedstock to be co-fed to a conventional oil refinery with energy and oxygenated chemicals as co-products and is currently working on a laboratory scale.

Supported by the European Commission through the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Development with a grant up to 7.6 million euros, Biocoup began in 2006 and will run until 2011. The EU says Biocoup and other projects are necessary because the EU and member states have agreed on the need to increase the amount of bio-fuels for transportation to both reduce CO2 emissions, and to develop a European bio-fuel industry to reduce dependency on imported fuels. (20 May 2009)