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    Spanish company Ferry Group is to invest €42/US$55.2 million in a project for the production of biomass fuel pellets in Bulgaria. The 3-year project consists of establishing plantations of paulownia trees near the city of Tran. Paulownia is a fast-growing tree used for the commercial production of fuel pellets. Dnevnik - Feb. 20, 2007.

    Hungary's BHD Hõerõmû Zrt. is to build a 35 billion Forint (€138/US$182 million) commercial biomass-fired power plant with a maximum output of 49.9 MW in Szerencs (northeast Hungary). Portfolio.hu - Feb. 20, 2007.

    Tonight at 9pm, BBC Two will be showing a program on geo-engineering techniques to 'save' the planet from global warming. Five of the world's top scientists propose five radical scientific inventions which could stop climate change dead in its tracks. The ideas include: a giant sunshade in space to filter out the sun's rays and help cool us down; forests of artificial trees that would breath in carbon dioxide and stop the green house effect and a fleet futuristic yachts that will shoot salt water into the clouds thickening them and cooling the planet. BBC News - Feb. 19, 2007.

    Archer Daniels Midland, the largest U.S. ethanol producer, is planning to open a biodiesel plant in Indonesia with Wilmar International Ltd. this year and a wholly owned biodiesel plant in Brazil before July, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Brazil plant is expected to be the nation's largest, the paper said. Worldwide, the company projects a fourfold rise in biodiesel production over the next five years. ADM was not immediately available to comment. Reuters - Feb. 16, 2007.

    Finnish engineering firm Pöyry Oyj has been awarded contracts by San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. to provide services for the first bioethanol plant in the Philippines. The aggregate contract value is EUR 10 million. The plant is to be build in the Province of San Carlos on the north-eastern tip of Negros Island. The plant is expected to deliver 120,000 liters/day of bioethanol and 4 MW of excess power to the grid. Kauppalehti Online - Feb. 15, 2007.

    In order to reduce fuel costs, a Mukono-based flower farm which exports to Europe, is building its own biodiesel plant, based on using Jatropha curcas seeds. It estimates the fuel will cut production costs by up to 20%. New Vision (Kampala, Uganda) - Feb. 12, 2007.

    The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to use 10% biodiesel in its fleet of public buses. The world's largest city is served by the Toei Bus System, which is used by some 570,000 people daily. Digital World Tokyo - Feb. 12, 2007.

    Fearing lack of electricity supply in South Africa and a price tag on CO2, WSP Group SA is investing in a biomass power plant that will replace coal in the Letaba Citrus juicing plant which is located in Tzaneen. Mining Weekly - Feb. 8, 2007.

    In what it calls an important addition to its global R&D capabilities, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is to build a new bioenergy research center in Hamburg, Germany. World Grain - Feb. 5, 2007.

    EthaBlog's Henrique Oliveira interviews leading Brazilian biofuels consultant Marcelo Coelho who offers insights into the (foreign) investment dynamics in the sector, the history of Brazilian ethanol and the relationship between oil price trends and biofuels. EthaBlog - Feb. 2, 2007.

    The government of Taiwan has announced its renewable energy target: 12% of all energy should come from renewables by 2020. The plan is expected to revitalise Taiwan's agricultural sector and to boost its nascent biomass industry. China Post - Feb. 2, 2007.

    Production at Cantarell, the world's second biggest oil field, declined by 500,000 barrels or 25% last year. This virtual collapse is unfolding much faster than projections from Mexico's state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos. Wall Street Journal - Jan. 30, 2007.

    Dubai-based and AIM listed Teejori Ltd. has entered into an agreement to invest €6 million to acquire a 16.7% interest in Bekon, which developed two proprietary technologies enabling dry-fermentation of biomass. Both technologies allow it to design, establish and operate biogas plants in a highly efficient way. Dry-Fermentation offers significant advantages to the existing widely used wet fermentation process of converting biomass to biogas. Ame Info - Jan. 22, 2007.

    Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is to build a biofuel production plant in the tribal belt of Banswara, Rajasthan, India. The petroleum company has acquired 20,000 hectares of low value land in the district, which it plans to commit to growing jatropha and other biofuel crops. The company's chairman said HPCL was also looking for similar wasteland in the state of Chhattisgarh. Zee News - Jan. 15, 2007.

    The Zimbabwean national police begins planting jatropha for a pilot project that must result in a daily production of 1000 liters of biodiesel. The Herald (Harare), Via AllAfrica - Jan. 12, 2007.

    In order to meet its Kyoto obligations and to cut dependence on oil, Japan has started importing biofuels from Brazil and elsewhere. And even though the country has limited local bioenergy potential, its Agriculture Ministry will begin a search for natural resources, including farm products and their residues, that can be used to make biofuels in Japan. To this end, studies will be conducted at 900 locations nationwide over a three-year period. The Japan Times - Jan. 12, 2007.

    Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched an arrogant attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their attitudes to global warming, calling the Stern Review 'dubious'. The remarks illustrate the yawning gap between opinions on climate change among Europeans and Americans, but they also strengthen the view that announcements by US car makers and legislators about the development of green vehicles are nothing more than window dressing. Today, the EU announced its comprehensive energy policy for the 21st century, with climate change at the center of it. BBC News - Jan. 10, 2007.

    The new Canadian government is investing $840,000 into BioMatera Inc. a biotech company that develops industrial biopolymers (such as PHA) that have wide-scale applications in the plastics, farmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Plant-based biopolymers such as PHA are biodegradable and renewable. Government of Canada - Jan. 9, 2007.


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Saturday, June 24, 2006

EU in doubt over alternatives to oil - more reasons to consider a Biopact with Africa

Sometimes someone's doubts become someone else's certainties. The EU Commission just announced that neither hydrogen, nor biofuels or any alternative to replace oil in vehicles are entirely convincing at the moment. It adds that a long-term vision supported by carmakers and the oil industry is lacking.

Well here at the BioPact we saw this coming. At the turn of the century, a few years ago, the EU started looking at biofuels, and the enthusiasm for ethanol and biodiesel grew quickly. Then realism set it, and it became apparent that the EU simply doesn't have enough agricultural resources (especially land), to make the green transition. Today it is finally acknowledging that Europe will not get there alone. This is what we have been saying all along.
That's why we made our own proposition: cooperate with Africa, where land is plenty, investments in agriculture are needed, and where millions of poor farmers would gladly become energy farmers if they can produce for the world's largest economy.

Euractiv: Alternatives to replace oil in transport are "urgently needed" but a long-term vision on what technology is best suited to replace it is still up in the air, said Fabrizio Barbaso, Deputy Director General at the Commission's transport and energy department. Speaking at a conference on "Future Energy Sources for Transport" in Brussels, Barbaso indicated that the Commission had already identified three main candidates for the job - biofuels, natural gas, and hydrogen.

But he said each one of these present "tremendous technological challenges" that are just starting to be addressed, for instance by joint EU research efforts such as technology platforms (on biofuels, hydrogen, etc.). Natural gas currently enjoys little support from automakers or the oil industry, meaning the technology would need heavy subsidies to be maintained in the contest for oil substitution.


Transport accounts for some 71% of all oil consumption in the EU, according to the Commission. But the automotive sector alone is 98% dependent on oil, according to the French national petroleum institute (IFP). In its Green Paper: "Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply" (2000), the Commission set out an objective to substitute 20% of traditional automotive fuels with alternatives by the year 2020. A year later, the Commission presented a communication on alternative fuels, identifying three potential alternative ranges of fuels as the most promising: biofuels, natural gas and hydrogen (see Euractiv's Dossier
on alternative fuels
).

"My feeling is that we have not yet reached [an agreement on] policies largely supported by all parties," Barbaso said. And until significant progress is made, he said the Commission considers energy efficiency as its "number one priority".

A revision of the Commission's long term strategy (White paper) on transport is due to be presented on 22 June. The new document, seen by EurActiv, for the first time introduces a section on energy. It recommends action be pursued on various fronts, such as reducing fuel consumption, supporting research and bringing mature new technologies to the market through standard setting and regulations (such as Euro 5).

But it also recognises that much is still to be agreed at EU level, in particular under the European energy policy currently in the early stages of definition.
Positions:

Anders Röj, a fuels expert with Volvo and head of fuels and lubricants at the European car manufacturer lobby ACEA, said industry needs long term certainty on technologies if it is to make the right investment choices. "We cannot have [a different] fuel of the year" every time, he said. He indicated that so-called second generation biofuels based on biomass gasification were currently the most efficient and less costly type of alternative fuels. But he added that easier access to new biomass resources should be provided, together with the related logistics. The aim, he said, should be to develop an "integrated biorefinery" concept by 2020 that can integrate different production options for biofuels.

Carmakers and oil companies are busy trying to develop more energy-efficient cars. Every year, Shell organises a fuel economy competition for students and semi professional independent teams. The 2006 edition was won by an ethanol-powered vehicle and was attended by EU energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Volvo recently presented a new "Multi-Fuel" prototype car that can run on five different fuels: hythane (10% hydrogen and 90% methane), biomethane, compressed natural gas (CNG), E85 bioethanol (85% bioethanol and 15% petrol) and petrol.

Chemicals manufacturer DuPont and oil major BP on 20 June announced that they developed a new biofuel called 'biobutanol', which they say produces 30% more energy than ethanol. According to the two companies, biobutanol can be blended with traditional in proportions higher than 10% without making changes to engine technology. Current engines are said to be able to cope with biofuel blends of up to 10%.

Euractiv.

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Sugar, cassava to serve as energy resource base in Nigeria

Here at the BioPact, we have often sung the praise of cassava's potential as an excellent tropical energy crop. A researcher with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, (IITA), Dr. Lateef Sanni, recently announced that the starchy root crop is now going to play a prominent role in Nigeria's quest to diversify its energy resource base.

Nigeria? Africa's major oil producing country? Why would it need biofuels? Well simply because there's a big difference between exporting crude oil, and refining it into usable fuels. Nigeria does the first, not the latter. Its fuel import bill is very high. And given that it is a tropical country with a big land base and lots of poor farmers, energy farming make sense here.

Dr Sanni: "an energy mix that will make agriculture a source of energy will be good for the country as it will diversify the nation’s economy base through the utilisation of biofuels", notably ethanol and biodiesel. Sanni explained that the development will save the country some foreign exchange and also reduce the dependence on expensive fuel importats.


The Tide recalls that a senior officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had said that efforts to boost the utilisation of bio-fuels made Nigeria to obtain a huge grant from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Partnership.

He said that the approach was meant to support detailed feasibility study of the target locations pointing out that, alternative fuel programme would return long term benefit to Nigeria when functional.

Meanwhile, The Tide gathered that the bio-fuel programme has the capability of making about 200,000 job opportunity available to Nigerians.

Other benefits of the alternative fuel programme reports say include reduction of environmental hazards, availability of lubricants for engines and diversification of the economy.

As a capital intensive project, the Managing Director of NNPC Mr. Funso Kupolokun, has said that more than 67 million dollars will be required as investment outlay for oil and gas projects with linkages with agriculture between now and 2008.

He said that renewable energy will be a major plank on which the sectoral linkage between oil and gas and agricultural sector.

The Tide Online (Port Harcourt, Nigeria).

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