By Erin Voegele | February 20, 2012/The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry held a Farm Bill hearing on Rural Development and Energy on Feb. 15. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack opened the testimony by speaking about the importance of energy policy in the Farm Bill.

“Biofuels, biomass, wind and solar rely primarily on farm, ranch, and forest lands, the potential for renewable energy development resides predominantly in our Nation’s rural regions,” Vilsack said. “Certainly, renewable energy is an important source of jobs and economic growth in rural communities across the country, while biofuels and biomass offer exciting new opportunities for entrepreneurs and, in particular, for American agricultural producers. Our nation’s future depends on out-innovating, out-investing, out-educating, and out-building our competitors in an increasingly integrated and competitive world economy.” Leer más »

ShareIn Washington, President Barack Obama today signed H.R. 4853, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

Last night, the US House of Representatives voted by a 277 to 148 margin to approve the Obama tax deal, which extends the ethanol tax credit through 2011, and retroactively extends the biodiesel tax incentive and the renewable diesel incentive through 2011. The bill also renewed the 54-cent tariff on Brazilian ethanol through 2011.

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis was invited to the signing ceremony for the Tax Relief Unemployment Extension Bill. At the ceremony, Buis presented the President with a letter on behalf of the American ethanol industry and its supporters, thanking him for delivering a common-sense ethanol tax policy. Leer más »

DANIEL LOOKER, Business Editor.After meeting with Republican leaders Tuesday morning Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters that 71 tax credits that expired in 2009 as well as credits expiring this month will be renewed to last through the end of 2011 as part of the tax deal worked out between Congress and the White House.

“I’m led to believe the extenders of 2009 would be extended for the years 2010 and 2011,” the Iowa Senator said. That would be good news for the struggling biodiesel industry, which lost its $1-a-gallon tax credit at the end of 2009. Leer más »

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Oct. 21 urged Congress to reinstate the biodiesel tax credit and extend the ethanol tax credit. By: Jerry Hagstrom, Special to Agweek.

Vilsack also announced a range of federal assistance for renewable energy development through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program established in the 2008 farm bill. Leer más »

Canola-based biodiesel is closer to becoming a fuel authorized for biomass-based diesel Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), now that the EPA has released a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) for its recent modeling of the canola oil biodiesel pathway.

Earlier this year, EPA announced the final rule for the new Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), but the canola pathway was not yet looked at as biofuel feedstock able to meet required greenhouse gas reduction standards. Now, Biodiesel Magazine reports that the EPA says canola oil biodiesel could reduce GHGs by 50 percent compared to petroleum-based diesel: Leer más »

Accelergy, USAF to evaluate Camelina, liquid coal jet fuel mix
Accelergy has begun production of biojet fuel using a mix of Camelina oil and liquefied coal for evaluation by the US Air Force (USAF). Separately, Accelergy signed a Camelina oil supply agreement with an Ohio company.

US Navy to test F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with biofuels
In 2009, Accelergy entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with USAF for testing fully synthetic fuels that meet or exceed USAF JP-8 military jet fuel standards. Leer más »

Fruits of J. curcas. Fruits are produced terminally in the branches, and each fruit contains three seeds. Image credit: Dr. Wagner A Vendrame, University of Florida at Homestead.

 What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That’s what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station.

The experiment, National Lab Pathfinder-Cells 3, is aimed at learning whether microgravity can help jatropha curcas plant cells grow faster to produce biofuel, or renewable fuel derived from biological matter. Jatropha is known to produce high quality oil that can be converted into an alternative energy fuel, or biofuel(biodiesel). Leer más »

BA says the plant will reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

British Airways has struck a deal to build the first plant in Europe to produce jet fuel from waste matter.

Some 500,000 tonnes of waste will be used by the UK facility each year to produce 16 million gallons of fuel.

Construction of the plant in east London will start within two years. It is set to produce fuel from 2014, creating up to 1,200 jobs. Leer más »

A research project will make jet fuel without wasting fresh water or farmland.

A project in the Middle East aims to make jet fuel from saltwater-tolerant crops grown in the desert. Researchers at the Masdar Institute in the United Arab Emirates are starting a two-square-kilometer demonstration farm that will combine fish and shrimp farming with the cultivation of mangrove trees and salicornia, a plant with oil-rich seeds that can be converted into fuel. Leer más »

JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Brazil on Tuesday opened the world’s first ethanol-fueled power plant in an effort by the South American biofuels giant to increase the global use of ethanol and boost its clean power generation.

State-run oil giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N), which helped design the plant, are betting that increased use of ethanol generation by green-conscious countries will boost demand for the product.

Brazil, the top global ethanol exporter, is already in talks with Japan to develop biofuels power generation there. Leer más »