Tag Archives: biofuel
Biofuel Plant Will Be Boon For Arable And Livestock Sectors
By Andrew Arbuckle Published on 09/07/2013 00:00 The official opening of the massive bioethanol Vivergo refinery on Humberside yesterday was welcomed by the English NFU not only for its planned annual consumption of more than one million tonnes of wheat but also for providing half a million tonnes of animal feed. The Vivergo company was set up six years ago by AB Sugar, the petroleum company BP and the chemical giant Du Pont. Since then some £350 million has been spent on creating the plant on the 25 acre site which will, at full production, produce some 420 million litres of bioethanol annually. The union said the refinery would not only provide an alternative to fossil fuels through its production of bioethanol but would also reduce the UK’s reliance on imports of soya from the Americas. A spokesman said the opening of the facility would come as a relief to both the arable and livestock sectors following a difficult 12 months, which saw a below average harvest, the temporary mothballing of an ethanol plant by Ensus and high animal feed prices as a result of the poor weather across the country. NFU combinable crops board member Brett Askew said: “It’s a boost to farmers to hear that Vivergo will be maximising their potential capacity in the run up to harvest. “The industry’s troubles have been well documented over the past year and the latest noises emerging from Brussels on common agricultural policy reform have done little to lighten the mood. “Multiple markets for our produce allows individual farmers the certainty we need to do what we do best and produce to satisfy market demand for food, feed and fuel. We have a responsibility to help drive a sustainable increase in production and the biofuels market can play a role in delivering the necessary economic certainty that will help us all achieve this.” But he added that policy makers had to take a really close look at the enormous benefits collaboration between the agricultural industry and biofuels sector could deliver. He hoped they would then provide the consistency in policy making that would allow farmers to not only sustainably feed the country but also to contribute towards a changing energy sector. ANDREW ARBUCKLE Continue reading
Unilever And Nestlé Join Aid Charities To Call For Biofuel Curbs
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2023d3e6-ceae-11e2-ae25-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2W6Bin3bz By Andrew Bowman ©Eyevine Unilever and Nestlé have joined development non-governmental organisations in calling on David Cameron to use the Group of Eight presidency to press for an end to the use of biofuels made from food crops. In a letter to Downing Street, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the Nestlé chairman, and Paul Polman, the Unilever chief executive, say agri-biofuels are “exacerbating global hunger”, with many varieties “worse for climate change than the fossil fuels they were meant to replace”. The letter, co-signed by ActionAid, Oxfam, and WWF, urges the UK to back a European Commission proposal for a 5 per cent cap on the use of agri-biofuels in the EU’s overall consumption of transport fuel. International development charities have long criticised EU biofuel policy, with ActionAid researchers estimating that foodstuffs converted to fuel by G8 members each year would be sufficient to feed 441m people. Concerns about the impact on commodity prices are shared by the two food multinationals, who say that biofuel mandates in EU and G8 countries are affecting their ability to make affordable products. In a statement, Unilever said: “The development of a new generation of biofuels which do not compete with food crops is essential.” The companies have stepped up their lobbying efforts in advance of the mid-June G8 summit in Northern Ireland and a meeting of the EU’s energy council on Friday to discuss the European Commission’s proposals. On Saturday, Mr Cameron will host Nutrition for Growth, an international summit, and a meeting of the New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition, an initiative launched by President Barack Obama at last year’s G8 summit to spur investment in African agribusiness. The EU renewable energy directive set a target of sourcing 10 per cent of all transport fuel from renewable sources by 2020, with much of this expected to come from biofuels. As well as the 5 per cent cap, the European Commission’s proposals released in October include environmental reporting obligations to account for carbon sinks destroyed by farmland expansion, and the promotion of “second generation” non-food biofuels. This week, the UK parliament’s international development committee said in a report that Britain should revise the country’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to remove support for agri-biofuels, and push for similar reforms in the EU. The commission’s proposals have provoked angry responses from European biofuel producers, however, and on Tuesday the UK’s Renewable Energy Association said it “would mean the destruction of thousands of jobs, see millions of pounds of investment squandered and increase the cost of meeting renewable energy targets”. Continue reading
Biofuel Development Key To Meet California’s GHG Emission Reduction Goal
11 Jun 2013 Biofuel development could be the answer for California to meet its 2050 greenhouse gas emission reduction goal, according to a new report that focuses on the state’s biofuel potential. The report titled “California Energy Future: The Potential for Biofuels,” done by the California Council on Science and Technology, co-authored by Heather Youngs and Chris Somerville, concluded that developing the potential for next-generation biofuels can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, specifically, replacing the use of gasoline with cellulosic ethanol and biodieasel. However, replacing gasoline with conventional cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel can only reduce California’s emissions by as much as 53 percent of the 80 percent GHG emissions reduction goal. In order for the state to meet its target, the report suggested developing other alternatives to fossil fuel such as low-carbon lignoecellulosic ethanol or biomass derived from hydrocarbons and a reduction in the overall demand for fuel. The authors of the report cautioned that even with optimistic efficiency, electrification, the use of other renewable energy sources, the use of extensive amounts of low-carbon biofuels is still needed. That is why when it comes to the issue of using vast amounts of biomass to power the state; the authors explained that “sustainable resource management” and “judicious use of feedstocks” is needed to fully maximize the resource. Currently, California is targeting 75 percent of its biofuels from its state resources. According to Ms. Youngs, reaching the 75 percent goal can be met by importing biomass from countries like Brazil, of which will then be used to supply the state’s biorefineries, however, this would prove very costly. The target of reducing GHG emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 comes from the State Executive Order S-03-05 that was signed by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 2005. With such a timeframe, Ms. Youngs believes that technologies can be deployed to produce low carbon biofuels by then, but this deployment of technologies will still have to depend on factors such as biomass supply and economic considerations. In another report also done by the California Council on Science and Technology, titled “California’s Energy Future – The View to 2050,” it was found that i to make a mark on the 2050 GHG emissions goal would require different strategies. The strategies in the report were stringent efficiency measures; avoiding the use of fossil fuel through electrification; doubling the use of electricity produced from renewable energy and other sources as well as storing carbon dioxide emissions underground; and getting enough supply of low-carbon fuel. – EcoSeed Staff Continue reading
