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    Gulf Ethanol Corporation, a Houston-based energy company, announced today that it has initiated negotiations with representatives of government and industry in Uruguay. Discussions, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, centered on the synergy between Gulf Ethanol's interest in exploiting the potential of sorghum as a non-food fuel stock for ethanol production and the ideal conditions for growing the crop in Uruguay. The company criticizes the use of food crops like corn for ethanol in the U.S. and is seeking alternatives. Yahoo Press Release - July 20, 2007.

    Dutch company Capella Capital N.V. announces its investment in BiogasPark N.V. and acquires a 20 % stake upon the foundation of the company. The remaining shares are held by the management and strategic investors. BiogasPark N.V. will invest in the field of renewable energy and primarily focuses on financing, purchasing and the maintenance of biogas plant facilities. Ad Hoc News - July 20, 2007.

    Bioenergy company Mascoma Corp. is to build the world's first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan where it will collaborate with Michigan State University. The $100 million plant will rely on the biochemical, enzymatic process that breaks down biomass to convert it to sugars. One of the factors that attracted Mascoma to Michigan was the recent $50 million federal grant MSU received to study biofuels in June. MSU will help in areas such as pretreatment technology for cellulosic ethanol production and energy crops that can be utilized by the plant. The State News - July 20, 2007.

    PetroChina, one of China's biggest oil companies, aims to invest RMB 300 million (€28.7/US$39.6m) in biofuel production development plans. A special fund is also going to be jointly set up by PetroChina and the Ministry of Forestry to reduce carbon emissions. Two thirds of the total investment will be channeled into forestry and biofuel projects in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Hebei, the remainder goes to creating a China Green Carbon Foundation, jointly managed by PetroChina and the State Forestry Administration. China Knowledge - July 19, 2007.

    Netherlands-based oil, gas, power and chemical industries service group Bateman Litwin N.V. announces it has signed an agreement to acquire Delta-T Corporation, a leading US-based bioethanol technology provider, with a fast growing engineering, procurement and construction division for a total consideration of US$45 million in cash and 11.8 million new ordinary shares in Bateman Litwin. Bateman Litwin - July 18, 2007.

    TexCom, Inc. announced today that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Biodiesel International Corp. (BIC), and is developing a plan to build an integrated oilseed crushing and biodiesel production facility in Paraguay. The facility, as it is currently contemplated, would process 2,000 metric tons of oil seeds per day, yielding approximately 136,000 metric tons (approximately 39 Million Gallons) of biodiesel and 560,000 metric tons of soy meal pellets per year. Initial feedstock will consist mainly of soybeans that are grown in the immediate area of the proposed production plant in the Provinces of Itapua and Alto Parana. MarketWire - July 18, 2007.

    Spanish power company Elecnor announced that it will build Spain's biggest biodiesel production plant for €70 million (US$96.48 million). The plant, in the port of Gijon in northern Spain, will be ready in 22 months and will produce up to 500,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year from vegetable oil. The plant will be one of the world's biggest. Spain has decided to impose mandatory blending of biofuels with conventional fossil fuels as part of European Union efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Elecnor [*Spanish] - July 18, 2007.

    The University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) conducted a feasibility study to determine the most economical solutions to provide biomass energy to the isolated Chugachmiut Tribal Community in the village of Port Graham, Alaska, located on the Kenai Peninsula about 180 miles southwest of Anchorage. The village is only accessible by air or water, making traditional fossil fuel sources expensive to deliver and alternative forms of energy difficult to implement. The case study based on decentralised bioenergy offers interesting parallels to what would be needed to provide energy to the developing world's huge population that lives in similarly isolated conditions. EERC - July 18, 2007.

    According to a basic market report by Global Industries Inc., world biodiesel sales are expected to exceed 4.7 billion gallons (17.8 billion liters) by 2010. Though Europe, with a share estimated at 84.16% in 2006, constitutes the largest market, and will continue to do so for the coming years, major growth is expected to emanate from the United States. The automobile applications market for biodiesel, with an estimated share of 55.73% in 2006 constitutes the largest as well as the fastest growing end use application. Other applications independently analyzed include the Mining Applications market and the Marine Applications market. PRWeb - July 18, 2007.

    O2Diesel Corporation announced that it has received the regulatory approvals necessary to start delivering its proprietary diesel ethanol blended fuel, O2Diesel, in the French market. The approvals pave the way for O2Diesel to move forward into the next stage of its European market development strategy by commencing deliveries to a number of targeted fleets in France. MarketWire - July 17, 2007.

    The BBC World Service is hosting a series of programmes on the global obesity pandemic. Over the coming two weeks a range of documentaries and discussions will be held on the obesity time-bomb that is growing all over the West, but also in the developing world. In North America, a quarter of people are now morbidly obese, 60% is overweight, and one in three children will become obese. The epidemic is spreading rapidly to China and India. BBC World Service - July 16, 2007.

    A new report from Oregon State University shows the biofuels industry is on track to be a $2.5 billion chunk of the state's economy within 20 years. The study identifies 80 potential biodiesel, ethanol and biomass facilities which could produce a combined 400 million gallons (1.5 billion liters) per year of ethanol and another 315 million gallons (1.2 billion liters) of biodiesel. On an oil equivalent basis, this comes down to around 38,000 barrels per day. Oregon State University - July 16, 2007.

    Jatropha biodiesel manufacturer D1 Oils has appointed a leading plant scientist to its board of directors. Professor Christopher Leaver, Sibthorpian professor of plant science and head of the plant sciences department at Oxford University, has joined the Teesside company as a non-executive director. Professor Leaver, who was awarded a CBE in 2000, is a leading expert in the molecular and biochemical basis of plant growth and differentiation. D1Oils Plc - July 16, 2007.

    Panama and South Africa are set to cooperate on biofuels. A delegation consisting of vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Azis Pahad, of Finance, Jubulai Moreketi and of Finance, met with Panama's vice-chancellor Ricardo Durán to discuss joint biodiesel and ethanol production and distribution. Panama's goal is to become a hub for internationally traded bioenergy, making use of the strategic position of the Canal. La Prensa Gráfica [*Spanish] - July 14, 2007.

    Spanish investors are studying the opportunity to invest in agro-industrial projects in Morocco aimed at producing biofuel from the Jatropha plant. Morocco’s Minister for Energy and Mines, Mohammed Boutaleb, said Moroccan authorities are willing to provide the necessary land available to them, provided that the land is not agricultural, is located in semi-arid regions, and that the investors agree to use water-saving agricultural techniques, such as drip-feed irrigation. Magharebia - July 14, 2007.

    Philippine Basic Petroleum Corp. plans to raise as much as 2.8 billion pesos (€44.4/US$61.2 million) through a follow-on offering and loans to finance a 200,000 liter per day bio-ethanol plant in the province of Zamboanga del Norte. The move into biofuels comes in anticipation of the implementation of RA 9367 or the Philippines biofuels law. RA 9367 mandates five percent bioethanol blending into gasoline by 2009, and 10 percent by 2011. Manila Bulletin - July 14, 2007.

    The Michigan Economic Development Corporation last week awarded a $3.4 million grant to redevelop the former Pfizer research facility in Holland into a bioeconomy research and commercialization center. Michigan State University will use the facility to develop technologies that derive alternative energy from agri-based renewable resources. Michigan.org - July 13, 2007.

    Fuel prices increased three times in Mozambique this year due to high import costs. For this reason, the country is looking into biofuels as an alternative. Mozambique's ministries of agriculture and energy presented a study showing that more than five million hectares of land can be used sustainably in the production of crops that would produce biodiesel fuels. The first phase of a biofuel implementation plan was also presented, identifying the provinces of Inhambane, Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado as the first to benefit. News24 (Capetown) - July 12, 2007.

    The Malaysian Oleochemical Manufacturers Group (MOMG) has urged the government for incentives and grants to companies to encourage the development of new uses and applications for glycerine, the most important byproduct of biodiesel. Global production of glycerine is currently about one million tonnes. For every 10 tonnes of oil processed into biodiesel, one tonne of glycerine emerges as a by-product. Bernama - July 12, 2007.

    BioDiesel International AG has acquired 70 per cent of the shares in Lignosol, a Salzburg based company that is making promising progress in Biomass-to-Liquids conversion techniques. The purchase price is in the single-digit million Euro range. ACN - July 10, 2007.

    Gay & Robinson Inc. and Pacific West Energy LLC announced today a partnership to develop an ethanol plant in Hawaii based on sugarcane feedstocks. The plant's capacity is around 12 million gallons (45 million liters) per year. The partnership called Gay & Robinson Ag-Energy LLC, will also ensure the continuation of the Gay & Robinson agricultural enterprise, one of the oldest in Hawaii. Approximately 230 jobs will be preserved, and a large area of West Kauai will be maintained in sustainable agriculture. Business Wire - July 10, 2007.

    Water for Asian Cities (WAC), part of UN-Habitat, is extending partial financial support for the construction of several biogas plants across the Kathmandu valley and develop them as models for municipal waste management. The first biogas plants will be built in Khokna, Godavari, Kalimati, Patan, Tribhuvan University premises, Amrit Science College premises and Thimi. The Himalayan Times - July 09, 2007.

    EnviTec Biogas's planned initial public offering has roused 'enormous' interest among investors and the shares have been oversubscribed, according to sources. EnviTec has set the IPO price range at €42-52 a share, with the subscription period running until Wednesday. EnviTec last year generated sales of €100.7 million, with earnings before interest and tax of €18.5 million. Forbes - July 09, 2007.

    AthenaWeb, the EU's science media portal, is online with new functionalities and expanded video libraries. Check it out for video summaries of the latest European research activities in the fields of energy, the environment, renewables, biotech and much more. AthenaWeb - July 04, 2007.

    Biopact was invited to attend a European Union high-level meeting on international biofuels trade, to take place on Thursday and Friday in Brussels. Leaders from China, India, Africa and Brazil will discuss the opportunities and challenges arising in the emerging global biofuels sector. EU Commissioners for external relations, trade, energy, development & humanitarian aid as well as the directors of international organisations like the IEA, the FAO and the IFPRI will be present. Civil society and environmental NGOs complete the panorama of participants. Check back for exclusive stories from Friday onwards. Biopact - July 04, 2007.

    China's state-owned grain group COFCO says Beijing has stopped approving new fuel ethanol projects regardless of the raw materials, which has put a brake on its plan to build a sweet potato-based plant in Hebei. The Standard (Hong Kong) - July 03, 2007.

    Blue Diamond Ventures and the University of Texas A&M have formed a biofuels research alliance. The University will assist Blue Diamond with the production and conversion of non-food crops for manufacturing second-generation biofuels. MarketWire - July 03, 2007.

    African Union leaders are to discuss the idea of a single pan-African government, on the second day of their summit in Accra, Ghana. Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is championing the idea, but many African leaders are wary of the proposal. BBC - July 02, 2007.

    Triple Point Technology, a supplier of cross-industry software platforms for the supply, trading, marketing and movement of commodities, announced today the release and general availability of Commodity XL for Biofuels™. The software platform is engineered to address the rapidly escalating global market for renewable energy fuels and their feedstocks. Business Wire - July 02, 2007.

    Latin America's largest construction and engineering firm, Constructora Norberto Odebrecht SA, announced plans to invest some US$2.6 billion (€1.9 billion) to get into Brazil's booming ethanol business. It aims to reach a crushing capacity of 30 million to 40 million metric tons (33 million to 44 million tons) of cane per harvest over the next eight years. More soon. International Herald Tribune - June 30, 2007.

    QuestAir Technologies announces it has received an order valued at US$2.85 million for an M-3100 system to upgrade biogas created from organic waste to pipeline quality methane. QuestAir's multi-unit M-3100 system was purchased by Phase 3 Developments & Investments, LLC of Ohio, a developer of renewable energy projects in the agricultural sector. The plant is expected to be fully operational in the spring of 2008. Market Wire - June 30, 2007.

    Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. and the U.S. National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) today announced a partnership to speed the growth of alternative fuel technology. The 10-year agreement between the center and Siemens represents transfers of equipment, software and on-site simulation training. The NCERC facilitates the commercialization of new technologies for producing ethanol more effectively and plays a key role in the Bio-Fuels Industry for Workforce Training to assist in the growing need for qualified personnel to operate and manage bio-fuel refineries across the country. Business Wire - June 29, 2007.

    A paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society proposes a new method of producing hydrogen for portable fuel cells that can work steadily for 10-20 times the length of equivalently sized Lithium-ion batteries. Zhen-Yan Deng, lead author, found that modified aluminum powder can be used to react with water to produce hydrogen at room temperature and under normal atmospheric pressure. The result is a cost-efficient method for powering fuel cells that can be used in portable applications and hybrid vehicles. More soon. Blackwell Publishing - June 29, 2007.


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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Probing biology's dark matter: new device makes study of microbes more accessible

Microbiologists have coaxed less than one percent of the bacterial species that inhabit natural environments into growing in culture. The study of these tiny organisms promises to bring breakthroughs in many science and technology fields, in particular in the bioconversion of biomass to useful products (previous post, here and here). But the vast majority of microbes are notoriously resistant to growing in laboratory cultures because they are so intricately linked to their own unique ecosystems. However, a new microfluidics device created by researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Stanford University may help scientists who want to identify and characterize new microbes circumvent the need to culture them at all.

HHMI investigator Stephen R. Quake and Stanford collegues report their research [*abstract] on the device in the July 17, 2007, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The findings have far-reaching implications for the rapidly developing field of microbial ecology, as well as advancing microfluidics technologies, which could do for biology what silicon chips did for electronics. Quake and his colleagues have already used the device to analyze a rare bacteria found in the human mouth, using just a single cell.

Various methods have given scientists a glimpse of the profound diversity that characterizes different microbial worlds. One approach is to look for variations in the sequence of a specific gene found in all microorganisms; another is a complete inventory of all the pooled genes in a microbial community. These types of studies, however, yield few insights into the character of individual members of a microbial ecosystem, leaving most species almost entirely enigmatic.

Those unstudied organisms are biology's 'dark matter', Quake says. Like the dark matter that astronomers can only infer must exist in the universe, these organisms have never been studied directly. Quake and his colleagues hope their new technology will change that.
We are hoping to open a whole new chapter in how one understands the microbial universe. Microfluidic tools can give us direct access to this dark matter. - Stephen R. Quake, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Quake's research lies at the nexus of physics, biology, and biotechnology. His microfluidics chips, which he designs to tackle problems in fields including structural genomics, systems biology, microbial ecology, and synthetic chemistry, are akin to having a fully automated laboratory on a postage stamp-sized wafer. Remember the early days of electronics with all of those big vacuum tubes and wires. Next came the transistor and finally the silicon chip, which dramatically revolutionized computers and modern electronics. Microfluidics is following the track of silicon chips and promises to revolutionize biology in the same manner:
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

The microfluidic chip designed by Quake and his colleagues for the current study is equipped with tiny chambers and valves that allow researchers to isolate microbes at the nanoliter scale. Because each microbe is isolated in a vanishingly small volume of liquid, the concentration of its genetic material within that solution is actually quite high - meaning Quake and his colleagues can easily amplify and analyze the genome of an individual cell, eliminating the need to persuade the organism to multiply in a laboratory culture. The chip offers the potential to discover untold new species of microbes lurking within deep sea vents, ordinary dirt, toxic sludge, or virtually any environment.

To demonstrate the power of the new device, the scientists first used it to target a possible new phylum, of which one member is a rod-shaped bacterium that live between the gums and teeth of humans. The candidate phylum, called TM7, has no cultivated or sequenced members. The scientists demonstrated that they could inject a solution containing multiple types of microbes into a chip, and manipulate tiny valves to direct individual rod-shaped bacteria into miniature chambers. Once individual microbes were isolated, the researchers could extract the DNA and amplify it using routine methods.

In this way, the researchers were able to sequence and assemble more than 1,000 genes, providing insight into the physiology of this previously unstudied group of bacteria. Most TM7 genes, they found, had remarkably little similarity to genes in known bacterial groups. But some of the genes hinted at interesting aspects of the organism's biology, such as an unusual gliding motion that groups of TM7 bacteria might use to get around, and a gene shared with bacteria known to cause chronic inflammation.

Just as importantly, the researchers say, they have demonstrated the success of their new technology in analyzing a rare component of a complex microbial community - and there is plenty more to explore. Quake's team has already begun using the chip to isolate, identify, and sequence communities of microbes that reside in termite hindguts (and that have attracted attention for their potential usefulness in breaking down cellulose), and his lab at Stanford is custom building chips for other scientists interested in pursuing any culture-resistant microbe or discovering the dark matter of a specific environment.

Picture: colonies of recombinant Streptomyces bacteria are designed to produce enzymes called cellulases. With these enzymes, the bacteria can break down cellulose on the way to producing ethanol. Courtesy of NREL/U.S. Dept. of Energy/Photo Researchers.

References:
Stephen R. Quake, et. al. "Dissecting biological "dark matter" with single-cell genetic analysis of rare and uncultivated TM7 microbes from the human mouth" -
PNAS, July 17, 2007, vol. 104, no. 29, 11889-11894, Published online before print July 9, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0704662104

Eurekalert: Probing biology's dark matter - July 19, 2007.

Biopact: Entomologists discover cellulase genes in termite guts - February 28, 2007


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Brazilian government to outlaw sugar cane planting in Amazon and Pantanal

The Brazilian government announces [*Portuguese] a new set of measures to get rid of the many misunderstandings surrounding the country's sugar cane ethanol, once and for all. Part of the new legislation will be largely symbolic.

In some circles and amongst the public at large, there is a serious lack of knowledge about the Brazilian ethanol industry. People think the sugar cane from which the fuel is derived, is grown in the Amazon rainforest or contributes to its deforestation. Nothing is further from the truth. The vast bulk of the cane is grown 1000 miles south of the Amazon in the south-central state of São Paulo, and far away from biodiversity hotspots like the Pantanal (map, click to enlarge). There is no indication that second-order effects from the expansion of sugar cane plantations results in increased deforestation (and as such, let's not forget that, over the past few years, the current Brazilian government succeeded in reducing deforestation rates by 50% - a major effort and historic trend-reversal lauded by even the most critical environmentalist). Even U.S. energy officials - who have not the slightest interest in saying so, on the contrary - recently stressed that Brazilian biofuels have no impacts on the rainforest (earlier post).

In Brazil, there are approximately 440 million hectares of arable land. The sugar cane industry uses up only 1 per cent of this area (but yields a tremendous amount of energy that has made Brazil independent of oil imports). Still, some groups who work against Brazil's successful model - which it wants to export to poor developing countries to their great benefit - are deliberately creating a false image of this sector. These groups include some players of the oil industry, a select club of radical environmentalists, and lobbyists from the US and EU ethanol industry, who fear that the much more efficient, sustainable and competitive Brazilian fuels will replace theirs. Indeed, sugar cane ethanol has an energy balance of between 8 and 10 to 1, corn ethanol has an energy balance of 1 to 1, with some even finding a negative balance; likewise, cane ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared to gasoline, for corn ethanol the reduction is marginal, at around 0 to 10 per cent. In short, as independent scientists have repeatedly said: Brazilian ethanol is largely sustainable, helps tackle climate change and is highly energy efficient (see here and here); corn ethanol is neither).

The Brazilian government, and president Lula in particular, have tried their best to explain the reality of the sugar cane industry in the country, but some misunderstandings seem to persist. For this reason, Brazil will now explicitly outlaw the growing of cane in both the Amazon and the Pantanal. This step is an international marketing effort needed to convince the rich countries of the benefits of trading and importing Brazilian biofuels. Experts are already convinced of the many advantages of such a trade, but now the uninformed, the unwilling and the anti-Brazilian lobbies must be countered.

Zoning
The legislation will result in the production of an agricultural zoning-map that will clearly delineate areas where sugar cane will be allowed to grow. For the time being, measures to penalise those who do not follow the zoning order have not been outlined. The map will be ready within one year.

Speaking to an audience of international journalists at a conference on Brazilian biofuel exports to Europe, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes announced the decision, and added that areas other than the Amazon will be studied for protection:
This is a governmental decision. We are going to create a zoning system for sugar cane, with a restrictive map. This map will outlaw every possibility of establishing plantations in the biome of the Amazon and the Pantanal. - Reinhold Stephanes, Minister of Agriculture of Brazil
The law is largely symbolical, because it makes no economic nor agronomic sense to grow cane in the rainforest anyways, the climate and soils of which are not conducive to a good crop. But such a law is most certainly welcome.

A more important pillar of the zoning map will consist of a set of incentives funded by the federal government to stimulate sugar cane growers to plant the crop in degraded areas, like old pastures. There are millions of hectares of such degraded pastures laying around unproductively today. Planting sugar cane on them would partly restore their health.

Finally, and crucially, by December of this year, the government will finalise its social and environmental sustainability criteria for both ethanol and biodiesel, which will facilitate the international trade of these biofuels:
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

"The basic certification documents will soon be finalised and distributed amongst the producers", the Agriculture Minister said.

President Lula, who, after a long campaign, finally convinced the EU of the many benefits of Brazilian ethanol as compared to EU- and US-produced biofuels, has developed a smart discourse to counter prevailing misunderstandings about the sector that has made his country the focus of international attention. This has even turned Sweden, a world leading example of a country that makes intelligent green and sustainable energy choices, into an outspoken ally of the Brazilian vision (earlier post).

Both at the landmark International Conference on Biofuels held recently in Brussels, as well as in numerous speeches, columns and televised debates, the president has routinely summarized the facts:
  • that cane is not grown in the Amazon, and that it never will, simply because of agro-technical reasons;
  • that labor conditions have been historically bad, but that progress towards the humanisation of the sector is being and will be made (cane cutters are now much better protected by new laws and receive far better wages than ever before - but more is needed to improve the working conditions);
  • that the benefits of Brazil's model far outweigh the disadvantages (the substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions helps protect the environment because unmitigated climate change will be disastrous for the entire planet and all of its biodiversity, not only for the Amazon or the Pantanal);
  • that the Brazilian model can be exported to poor developing countries, most notably African, who stand to benefit massively from it
A whole set of objective and scientifically sound arguments.

When it comes to food versus fuel, Lula has stressed over and over again, with clear scientific and sociological backing, that food insecurity is not a matter of a lack of food, but of a lack of income to buy food (earlier post). Sugar cane ethanol does not in any way threaten food output or prices, on the contrary, it allows farmers to boost incomes and countries to cut expensive oil imports. This may benefit the poor (the vast majority of whom rely on agriculture and who eat more than sugar alone). However, there is no denying that the utilization of food crops such as corn - which should never be used for the production of ethanol because they are inefficient, don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have a very weak energy balance - can have disastrous consequences for the millions of poor who depend on it for their daily needs. Sugar cane is not corn. It cannot be repeated often enough.

One of the more often quoted points made by Lula is of a mildly ironic and historiographic nature. It goes something like this:
The Portuguese who came here first and who introduced sugar cane to Brazil, were very intelligent people. 470 years ago, they discovered the Amazon, and they have never planted a single cane stalk there. They didn't, because the climate and the soil there are simply not suitable. Instead, they started planting cane a thousand miles south, in São Paulo, where it still grows today.
Earlier, Lula often spoke in terms of 'national pride' when it comes to Brazil's successful biofuels industry. Today, he speaks in terms of 'national sovereignty' which is boosted by the fuel, but also of 'international solidarity'. It is taken this seriously. And if it is up to Lula - a pragmatic leftist, and president of the largest African community oustide the African continent - the benefits of Brazilian biofuels will soon be exported to some of the poorest countries in the world, most notably to Africa. There, they can strengthen economies and rural population's livelihoods, cut foreign energy dependence, and indeed, beef up much needed 'sovereignty'. For Lula, biofuels are a matter of international cooperation, fair play, and solidarity. The Biopact shares this vision, and hopes it can contribute to developing it further.

References:
EthanolBrasil: Governo veta plantio de cana na Amazônia - July 18, 2007.

Biopact: Brazilian ethanol is sustainable and has a very positive energy balance - IEA report - October 08, 2006

Biopact: Nature sets the record straight on Brazilian ethanol - December 09, 2006

Biopact: Two handy books answer FAQs on Brazilian ethanol - May 22, 2007


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