biofuel production News
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IEA Report Confirms Biofuels Can Enhance Energy Security While Reducing GHG Emissions
A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) this week confirmed that sustainable biofuels could displace over a quarter of the world's transportation fuels by 2050. Today the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) applauded some of the reports key findings. The IEA report stated that, "by 2050, biofuels could provide 27% of total transport fuel" and "the projected use of biofuels ...
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Dynamic Fuels earns RSB certification
This was announced today by The RSB Services Foundation, the implementing entity of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) which has developed a global sustainability standard and certification system for biofuel production. The audit was conducted by DNV Business Assurance. The RSB certification encompasses Dynamic Fuels’ Geismar, Louisiana plant, located near Baton Rouge, where ...
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White House Publishes Mid-Century Strategy For Deep Decarbonization
On November 16, 2016, the White House filed the Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decarbonization with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change under the Paris climate deal. The strategy highlights the role that U.S. government-funded research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) had on the technological advances of the last century, and the potential to increase the pace and ...
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EPA Inspector General Reports EPA Has Not Followed Through On Studying Effects Of RFS
On August 18, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report stating that EPA has not complied with federal requirements to study the effects of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The report, "EPA Has Not Met Certain Statutory Requirements to Identify Environmental Impacts of Renewable Fuel Standard," found that while EPA is required to ...
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Forest carbon work on-the-ground in Indonesia
The choice of Bali as the location for the 2007 U.N. climate conference, currently underway, is significant because Indonesia is home to the world’s third largest remaining intact tropical forest (following only Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo). This makes it crucial in the fight against global warming. At this year's conference, there has been much focus on offsetting carbon ...
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Leaked ‘Iluc’ studies make it hard for EU not to act
Commission studies that have been leaked to the Reuters news agency show that the indirect land-use change caused by biofuels production is significant and feedstock-specific, and that biodiesel is likely to be worse for the climate than fossil fuels. The Commission is currently evaluating indirect land-use change (Iluc), and has postponed a proposal on how to cope with this issue to ...
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How green is ethanol made from sugarcane?
A recent study has concluded that expanding the amount of land in Brazil used to grow sugarcane for ethanol could have serious environmental and social consequences. It could lead to more pressure on natural rainforest if sugarcane displaces other crops northwards, degraded soil and water supplies, and exploitation of workers in the industry. Brazil provides an important case-study for policy ...
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The Indirect Land Use Change Impact of Biofuels – IEEP Launches Analysis of EU Nations Projected Use of Biofuels and their Consequences
A new IEEP report analyses the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the substantial additional biofuel usage that will be generated up to 2020 by the targets under the EU renewable energy Directive. Plans from national governments setting out how they will reach these targets, which are only now becoming available, confirm that conventional biofuels will be the primary technology used in ...
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EU Energy Union: good intentions, short on specifics, backtracking on trucks
The European Commission’s Energy Union strategy for cleaner cars and electrification of transport is welcome but the removal of CO2 standards for trucks and buses is a disappointing concession to special interests, sustainable transport group Transport & Environment has said. The inclusion of aviation and shipping in the 2030 reduction commitment – which covers all sectors and ...
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MEPs add weight to land-use concerns
A group of MEPs has written to leading commissioners, expressing ‘serious concern’ about the issue of indirect land-use change (Iluc) caused by biofuels production. Their letter follows the publication last month of a report commissioned by nine NGOs showing the additional emissions of greenhouse gases likely to be caused by an increase in use of biofuels if EU biofuels policy ...
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New video on Greenhouse Gas soil monitoring
In response to the demand for a better understanding of climate change, Gasmet Technologies and researchers from the University of Helsinki have created a video to demonstrate the speed and simplicity with which Greenhouse Gas (GHG) measurements can be taken in the field. Following the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally ...
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A low-carbon transport system requires coherent national policy
The transition to a low-carbon transport system needs a coherent national policy framework that supports all its aspects, according to a review of transport and innovation policy in Finland. Its findings suggest that policymakers need to identify and remove contradictory policies that present barriers to achieving greener transport system. Globally, transport is the second largest source of ...
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MEP bids to green EU fuel carbon reduction plan
The European parliament's rapporteur on EU proposals to make oil firms cut lifecycle carbon emissions from fuels is insisting that the plans include biofuel sustainability criteria to prevent deforestation and water shortages. Dutch socialist MEP Dorette Corbey says the criteria must be added to the law even though similar sustainability rules are already being developed by the commission as ...
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Cost of tackling climate change should be shared more fairly, says OECD Secretary-General
Most of the action to address climate change will need to take place in developing countries, but developed countries should shoulder much of the cost, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today in a speech at the United Nations Climate Conference in Bali. 'We must find a way to share the burden of the costs of climate change action that takes into account the level of economic development ...
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Monitoring of Algae Growth by TOC Measurement
Global warming due to the excessive use of fossil fuels is becoming a problem which has prompted and accelerated the search for alternative fuels. Among the more attractive alternatives is biomass fuel, which is attracting considerable attention. Microalgae can be used for the production of oil without competing with food production, and to a greater extent than other biofuels, its productivity ...
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European Commission biofuels proposal threatens wetlands and climate goals
The European Commission announced yesterday that it will not consider indirect land use change (ILUC) in sustainability requirements for biofuels. Wetlands International is deeply disappointed. This proposal undermines the objective of EU biofuels policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While the additional decision to limit the use of food crops as fuel is welcome, the omission of ILUC ...
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Science article on GHG accounting misses the mark on biofuels
Biofuels produced from biomass feedstocks (i.e. plant matter) are, by definition, carbon neutral because carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions from the combustion of biofuels are readily absorbed by growing plants. As such, the tailpipe emissions resulting from the use of a gallon of ethanol produced from corn grown on U.S. farmland are negated by the growing of the corn itself. Yet, in a newly ...
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Massive Erupting Sunspot May Foreshadow Cycle of Solar Hibernation but North America is Unprepared for Resulting Global Cooling Say Friends of Science
Last week NASA released images of a massive, growing sunspot that is six times the size of earth. The Smithsonian Magazine reported on possible damaging impacts of a solar storm if directed at our planet. However, Friends of Science say this may foreshadow a problem North America is unprepared for – global cooling. Many solar researchers are convinced that the sun is entering into a long ...
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The H2020 NextGenRoadFuels Project: Ready for the Next Generation of Sustainable Road Transport Fuels
NextGenRoadFuels is a new project funded by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. It will develop a competitive European technology platform for sustainable liquid fuel production technologies, proving the Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) pathway as an efficient route to produce high-volume, cost-competitive drop-in synthetic gasoline and diesel fuels as well as ...
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Preparation Environment Council, 13 December 2013
The second formal Environment Council under the Lithuanian Presidency will be held in Brussels on 13 December. Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik and Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard will represent the European Commission. The meeting will start with an exchange of views on the Commission's proposal on the monitoring, reporting and verification of maritime emissions. ...
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