biofuels

Biochar

Biofuels Digest rounds up the evidence of increasing interest in biochar — a potentially carbon-negative source of power.

Review of Fields of Fuel

Back in July, I reviewed a documentary film called Fields of Fuel directed by Josh Tickell. That film recently returned to Seattle after being reedited and renamed, Fuel. I actually think this new iteration is worth seeing with the caveat that you take the conspiracy theories and convoluted defenses of food-based biodiesel with a grain […]

The food price blame game

Tactic No. 1: Create a straw man. Nobody in their right mind can claim that corn ethanol has no impact on corn prices, or that corn prices have no impact on food prices. You can only debate the extent of the corn’s impact. Here’s a conclusion from a study released this year [PDF] that supports […]

Impoverished Africans can’t eat their own crops

From an interesting article by Dave Harcourt in Ecoworldly: The castor [oil], equivalent to 12,000 tons of oil, would actually be grown by 25,000 families [small African farmers] contracted by GEE and would have a value of around US$ 10 million [$400 per year or $1.10 per day per family]. … Ashenafi Chote was one […]

NYT spoofs better than the Onion

These spoofs have started to show up in real news searches. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to read Friedman’s opinion piece.

‘Second generation’ or not, biofuels contribute to Peak Soil

The Seattle Times has another story peddling the fantasy that there are "second generation biofuels" that magically appear without use of energy, land, or water (not to mention subsidies). The most revealing comment in the piece pushes that idea that biologic systems generate "waste," and that "waste" is a huge resource that’s going unused. Apparently […]

More enviro groups argue in favor of factoring greenhouse-gas emissions into EPA biofuel rules

More environmental groups are calling on the U.S. EPA to consider biofuels’ life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions as the agency draws up rules for the Renewable Fuel Standard. The groups want to make sure that any emissions resulting from land-use changes are taken into consideration. On Oct. 21, a handful of biofuel-industry representatives and academics asked EPA […]

When in doubt, propagandize

The ethanol industry is in trouble because the market is rejecting its products, which turn out to have been wildly over-hyped. So it’s taking a cue from the coal industry and improving its product launching a massive advertising campaign. Fresh from my inbox: WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, November 11th, leading ethanol producers from around the […]

Biofuel you can believe in

Flint, Michigan seeks Swedish help in turning human waste into biogas to power buses.