“Thailand is committed to the low-carbon pathway,” said Twarath Sutabutr, deputy director of the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency within Thailand’s Ministry of Energy. Sutabutr is leading the list of speakers for this week’s event.

The Clean Power Asia conference focuses on several elements of Thailand’s energy future, including renewable energy sources and cleaner fossil fuel-based power. The event aims to give Thailand the opportunity to showcase its green track record while highlighting the investment opportunities offered by its renewable energy industry. According to information released by the event’s organizers, approximately 300 delegates present at the conference will hear from energy experts representing more than 14 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Korea, China, the Philippines, India, Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan and Iran.

Regarding the potential for biodiesel investment, Clean Power Asia’s team notes that the government of Thailand has established a goal to produce and use 4.25 million liters (1.12 million gallons) of biodiesel per day. This equates to a usage goal of approximately B7 in 2011. 

One of the goals of Thailand’s Energy Policy and Development Plan is to promote the use of biodiesel and other alternative transportation fuels. To help achieve that goal, the country has aimed to educate members of the public about alternative transportation fuels in order to build consumer confidence. The government has also been promoting the use of palm oil production within Thailand, with the goal of having 400,000 hectares (nearly 990,000 acres) of the feedstock in cultivation by 2012.

While the Clean Power Asia event focuses on investment opportunities, a training program in India will focus on the development of jatropha and other non-food  feedstocks for biodiesel production, including algae, castor, pongamia, moringa, simarouba, and jojoba. The 5-day event will address both feedstock development issues and oil extraction and process technology developments.

Nearly 10 sessions at the training event will focus exclusively on jatropha. According to CJP, these sessions will address genetics, agronomics and horticulture practices. “[The speakers] shall also discuss the need for universally-accepted industry standards for the development of this crop as well as the efforts to develop such activities in developing jatropha varieties with improved oil yield per hectare to achieve [a] three-fold goal of addressing energy, economics and execution with clear focus on critical issues facing [jatropha’s] role as a viable feedstock,” said the CJP in a statement.BIODIESEL MAGAZINE.

Jatropha seed oil touted for jets.

Photo provided by Mission New Energy Jatropha seeds yield as much as 40 percent oil that has been touted for use in diesel applications and refined into aviation-quality jet fuel.

A plant that some have scorned as a predator might well turn out to be part of the answer to rising fuel bills for consumers.

Jatropha curcas, a poisonous, semi-evergreen shrub that can grow as high as 20 feet, produces seeds laden with oil that backers say is an ideal biofuel. One company that maintains 194,000 acres of the plant under cultivation in India is looking to expand farming, and fuel production, in the United States.

Mission NewEnergy, an Australian-based firm with operations in India and Europe and a recently opened branch in San Antonio, says it can deliver refined Jatropha oil at about $40 to $50 a barrel. The firm’s U.S. entry also included listing its shares on Nasdaq, complementing its Australian Stock Exchange presence.

Mixed with traditional jet fuel, Jatropha oil already has been used on test flights by Continental Airlines, Air New Zealand and other carriers. Once approved for general use, Jatropha could help cut one of the aviation industry’s highest costs.

Jatropha can provide “environmentally responsible fuel without compromising the food supply, so we can help the Earth while helping the public,” said James Garton, president of the firm’s U.S. branch. “That means we can finally reverse the skyrocketing prices at the pump and dependence on traditional sources of oil.”

The race for the next big thing in biofuels is attracting serious investor attention. Jatropha is seen as a leading candidate along with such rivals as algae and camelina, a flowering flaxlike plant that, like Jatropha, can grow in marginal agricultural lands.

Jatropha has been touted as among the most promising biofuel sources, but it is not without problems.

In a study released last month, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology looked at the efficiency of Jatropha and more than a dozen other proposed biofuel sources. Jatropha scored well as a fuel source and because the plant’s husks, shells and meal could be used as fertilizer and other industrial purposes. Some of that gain, however, is offset by production and refining costs and the need for land to cultivate the plant.

“You can’t say a biofuel is good or bad – it depends on how it is produced and processed, and that’s part of the debate that hasn’t been brought forward,” James Hileman, who teaches in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said in a statement accompanying the survey, which was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Mission NewEnergy said it is linked to its producers via contract farming agreements in more than 15,000 villages across five Indian states. Those operations, the firm said, are providing sustained employment for more than 140,000 previously impoverished farmers. It takes three to four years to get maximum yield from a Jatropha plant, with a 20-year productive life estimated for most plants.

Using a biofuel such as Jatropha in an industry such as aviation has its appeals.

At the end of May, two industry executives briefed congressional staffers on a report about the use of biofuels in the U.S. aviation industry. Speaking with The Washington Times by phone after the event, the executives noted the need for biofuels as a way to help meet the rising cost of jet fuel. A 1-cent increase in the price of jet fuel rings up an extra $175 million in costs for U.S. airlines, reports indicate.

“Fuel is our single biggest cost. Today, fuel costs 47 percent more than it did last year. That’s a pretty big spike for your single largest cost,” said Keith Loveless, vice president of corporate and legal affairs for Seattle-based Alaska Airlines. “We are looking for all sorts of alternatives,” he added.

Added Billy M. Glover, environment and aviation policy vice president at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, “It’s not a matter of one [biofuel] feedstock being better than others. It’s going to take a portfolio of feedstocks, a portfolio of processing methods. … [T]o get to scale and make biofuels viable, you need feedstock options and a variety of processing methods.”

Jatropha is being developed in Ghana, Tanzania, Peru and other nations such as India; a common denominator is the effort to grow the plant in areas where other crops aren’t easily cultivated. Some environmentalists have said Jatropha has been overhyped and that optimal oil production requires initial irrigation and fertilizer that otherwise would be used for food production, a condition supporters say would affect only the short term.

Government officials in the southern African nation of Namibia late last month put the brakes on plans for large-scale Jatropha plantations in the country’s northeast, citing the need for more study on the potential disruptive impact on food cultivation, landownership patterns and a loss of access to communal property.

Patrick M. O’Brien, a retired executive of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service who is now consulting for Mission NewEnergy, said Jatropha could find a domestic production base in an area extending “from Texas around the Gulf Coast up to South Carolina,” although not too far north because of frost concerns. The areas where Jatropha could be grown domestically include some where farmers might reap profits.WASHINGTON TIMES

Urgente24 reported 8 / 11 that negotiations were between the producers and the government to unfreeze the internal value of biodiesel derived from soybean (see related). However, the conflict would come to an end for the pressures of the association that brings together workers in the sector.

Biodiesel.com.ar site reported, the update of prices was rushed by a demonstration of the Union of Petroleum private gas and biofuels San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, which warned of the effect of this freeze on jobs.

“It is the role of union leaders to defend the workers, the union is the only
tool that workers have to enforce their rights, “said Ruben Perez, secretary general of the union, who at the situation of the sector had said that SMEs are planning advanced suspensions and holidays for staff. “We prepared all the logistics to make roadblocks,” he threatened.

But after a meeting with the national government with De Vido and Javier Urquiza coordinator of the National Biofuels Program of the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services, an agreement was reached.

“We made it clear that defending the workers, there were formal commitment from that in 10 days will fix the problem and fixed the prices of biofuels for oil companies, which as so far not been published to increase the price of soybeans , the companies lost about $ 30,000 “was what he said the unionist.

Thus, the price is set at $ 3,920 to $ 4,200 in November and December. Currently the price is $ 3,769 a tonne, equivalent to 1,136 liters, for the domestic market catering to oil companies.

Exports grow

Biodiesel exports between January and October this year accumulated a total of U.S. $ 994 million, a 37.8% higher than those recorded in 2009, even though the court did not apply to diesel oil required for domestic consumption, implemented by the Law 26.093 .

At this rate, exports of biofuel end the year at around U.S. $ 1,200 million, which would be above the value of exports of gas oil, gasoline and fuel oil.

During the meeting of the value chain of the Biofuels organized by the Argentina Association of Biofuels and Hydrogen, is recalled that the industry’s installed capacity is 2 million tonnes of production and new investment grows up.

Speaking of the prospects for biofuel production, the engineer Fernando Peláez anticipated that in 2010, are being exported one million tons of biodiesel, plus the placement of 300 thousand tons in the domestic market.

The mandatory cut gas oil to biodiesel began the first day of 2010 with five percent in the aggregate to fossil fuel equivalent to about 600 thousand tons of biodiesel.

This summer, the cut was extended to 7% given the installed capacity of the manufacturing industry and domestic market needs.

Globally, Argentina ranks fourth in the production of biodiesel after Germany, France, and close to Brazil.

But, it is estimated that the leadership in the production and export of biodiesel for Argentina is in full expansion phase with a potential market in the world where demand is growing.

“Argentina’s biodiesel industry will have a sustained growth in the dissertation Peláez ventured.

Source Urgente 24

BIODIESEL BLOGSPOT

BIODIESEL NEWS

The investment will span over a seven-year period. Speaking about the investment, the minister of natural resources Christian Paradis said: ‘By investing in this project we are helping to create and sustain local jobs and economic opportunities while creating a healthier environment for all Canadians.’

 The Biocardel Quebec plant will use animal fat and waste cooking oil to manufacture around 40 million litres a year of biodiesel, which will then be sold to Quebec-based diesel producers, in addition to producers located in the US. ‘We are very pleased with the government of Canada’s support. It will help to secure the future of our biodiesel production,’ commented Biocardel Quebec’s president Rene Delarus.

‘Biocardel’s production of biodiesel and our R&D work in algal biofuels and recovery of by-products will help to reduce greenhouse has emissions while promoting a sustainable environment.’ This CA$18.79 million investment is part of a $1.5 billion investment by the Canadian government that will take place over a total of nine years.

SOURCE: BIOFUELS NEWS

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recently released a new report that champions jatropha as a promising biodiesel crop especially for global rural farmers. The report, “Jatropha: A Smallholder Bioenergy Crop, the Potential for Pro-Poor Development,” set out to examine the potential for jatropha as a sustainable biodiesel crop and has been in development since 2008.

The authors write, “As developing countries face increasing local demand for energy in rural areas, they also must deal with both economic and environmental pressure on agricultural lands in general. The possibility of growing energy crops such as Jatropha curcas L. has the potential to enable some smallholder farmers, producers and processors to cope with these pressures.”

The report says jatropha is a promising crop in part because it can grow on marginal lands, in drought conditions and animals do not graze on the crop. It also holds the promise of high oil output. The report also notes some of the feedstock’s drawbacks which include the fact that no consistently high yielding varieties have been developed and because the plant is toxic to both humans and animals, it can not be used for livestock feed, a major added value to most biofuel feedstock production.

Jatropha  originated in Central America and is making headway in Africa and parts of Asia for biodiesel development. Experts predict that by 2015, Indonesia will be the largest jatropha producer in Asia, Ghana & Madagascar in Africa and Brazil in Latin America.

While the report ultimately favors the crop, it does caution that depending on how programs are developed, there could be significant environmental damage that would outweigh the positive environmental attributes of biodiesel.

The report does not study the possible future of jatropha in the U.S., although at this time there are a few studies underway. In addition, it is not recognized as a biodiesel feedstock under current Renewable Fuels Legislation (RFS2).Joanna Schroeder – August 4th, 2010.

SOURCE: DOMESTIC FUEL

The 100 Mgy Imperium Renewables  facility in Grays Harbor, Washington.

Back in 2008 the death watch began on Imperium Renewables.

Though its 100 Mgy multi-feedstock plant in Grays Harbor was, at the time, the largest and most modern biodiesel facility in the US, the company lost its CEO, withdrew a planned IPO, and was forced to cancel a potentially lucrative Hawaiian development project that would have supplied biodiesel to Hawaiian Electric (HECO).

By August 2008, Royal Caribbean had pulled out of an 18 million gallon annual contract and sold off its investment in the plant, and even the city of Seattle canceled a planned biodiesel contract, citing the rising cost of biodiesel fuel.

Company founder John Plaza, late of Seattle Biofuels, stepped back in as CEO as biodiesel plants began to shutter all across the country in the face of static fuel prices, rising feedstock prices (especially for soy), and ultimately the loss (or near-loss) of a precious $1.00 per gallons biodiesel tax credit that had helped subsidize the cost of biodiesel when it began to exceed the cost of diesel.

2008: How Low Could it Go?

As if the conditions for biodiesel weren’t bad enough across the country, the mood in Seattle was perhaps even more sour. Even downstream alternative fuels marketer Propel Biofuels re-established its corporate HQ in California as individual protesters began to surface outside of biodiesel stations, and local eco-publishers like Grist began to run increasingly negative articles about the bio side of the alternative energy movement.

The producers of the “Fields of Fuel” documentary, which won an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and a standing ovation from the alt-film crowd for its vision of a crop-based solution to global energy woes, hastily re-named itself “FUEL” and took on a more algae-centric view.

The resurrection of a biodiesel giant

“I’m not dead yet,” proclaims a decidedly uncooperative corpse in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and as with Mark Twain, reports of Imperium’s impending demise were somewhat exaggerated.

Today, what was expected to become one of the first major casualties of the biodiesel crisis of 2008-10 has emerged as one of its leading survivors, and John Plaza, then as now, remains one of the biofuels industries most outspoken and astute observers.

“Relative to the industry this year, we have avoided layoffs, and we’re enjoying our niche market – serving the Canadian marketplace,” Plaza says. “There’s additional demand because of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in BC. Our customers have come to recognize that we produce the lowest cost, highest carbon reduction fuel.”

As far as prospects in the US, Plaza is sanguine. “There’s been a lengthy delay in any impact from the launch of RFS2. We’re seen more RIN trading than demand for fuel from obligated parties, so far. They are buying RINs from a huge backlog available.”

Nevertheless, Imperium is looking up these days, rather than being hunkered down. “We’re pretty bullish for demand for Imperium’s, We’re not producing on a continuous basis, but we have been producing on monthly campaign basis within 24 hours of receiving oil. At many points we are at or near 100 percent capacity, and for the first quarter we were overall at near half our capacity.”

The tax credit – never say die

“The tax credit still has some legs,” Plaza contends. There’s a discourse this week around the extenders package, and we’ll have one more chance after Labor Day. I’m 55 percent optimistic, 45 pessimistic.”

“But we have to see changes. What the industry needs is a two-fold support, a mnadted floor, and incentives with tax policy to get the outcomes we’re trying for. That’s where a Low Carbon Fuel Standard comes in, with a focus on a reduction in carbon emissions, that would reward the best behavior.”

The ethanol tax situation

“The frustrating part of the debate,” Plaza contends, “is that we’ve been subsidizing corn since I’ve been alive. Ethanol came about because of excess corn. The goals were right – rural development, price stabilization, but the policy drivers were wrong, and gave us this monoculture producing excess cheap food which was primarily used for cheap feed.”

Corn support going away? “Absolutely not, I don;t see them dismantling the whole system. And frankly, if ethanol policy [inadvertently] creates a few rich farmers in the Midwest, so what? I’d much rather have rich farmer than a rich Chavez.”

Sustainability

“The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is the biggest issue,”Plaza comments, “and we need sustainabiliuty criteria, and we need to understand what we are truly measuring against. Wd have to have a frame of reference that looks at the marginal production of fossil fuels, which we obtain from Canadian tar sands, and we need a fair standard based on fair data. The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels is developing some baseline assumptions, and will measure the inputs and have it audited. Their approach is to have an average for all of biodiesel, and then if you want to get an individual score for a facility, you can pursue that.”

“The California Air Resources Board (CARB) got it all wrong. It’s a complete and utter disaster, with utopian requirements to meet standards that will just kill off first generation fuels in California and you never get to the second generation.”

[Editor's note. No new commercial-scale or demonstration-scale advanced biofuels project has been announced in California since the completion of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard.]

“RSB needs to be taken seriously, by the Europeans, the obligated parties, and needs needs to be valid organization. It does feel at times like middle school kids finding out how to get along, but when the European Biodiesel Board and eBIO pulled out of RSB, it was a petty and foolish move by some petty and foolish guys.”

Biodiesel consolidation

Biodiesel has been undergoing some consolidation in recent months, primarily with REG on the move, acquiring new capacity. Imperium has stayed away.

“There are very few facilities we like – with the large scale, high quality, and logistics similar to what we have. For us, consolidation is not best strategy for our shareholders. Our focus has always been on innovation and market opportunity, based on most efficient and highest value. We try to be differentiated enough to be biodiesel 1.5, with, for example, our emphasis on a multi-feedstock approach.”

Imperium’s own expansion plans

In the Digest, we have been extensively covering in recent months the opportunities for expansion based on existing first-generation capacity in the ethanol side of the market, with a special reports on biobutanol as well as covering cellulosic biofuels bolt-on capacity such as POET is building in Emmetsburg, IA with Project LIBERTY.

What’s opportunities are there for similar expansion, using the existing capacity of biodiesel facilities, their feedstocks acquisition logistics, rail lines, storage facilities, and industry knowledge?

“We like drop-in replacement fuels,” says Plaza, “that use our existing feedstock and agricultural waste. We see real opportunities with hydrocarbon replacement in the distillate markets, and we are focused on what we see as tremenodus opportunities with aviation and military markets. It’s so much about feedstock, and we feel that we have the existing ag wastes, and forest resources, and we have the knowledge in how to efficiently invest in technology.

“We’ve been doing more working than talking, but what we’re working on is a next generation, integrated biorefinery that makes 12 products, inclusive of jet fuel and high value chemicals. [At Grays Harbor], we’ve got the state of art biofuel facility, plenty of land around it. We’re focus on building right at home for now. We like that market.”

SOURCE: BIOFUELS DIGEST

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).

By studying the effects of microgravity on jatropha cells, researchers hope to accelerate the cultivation of the plant for commercial use by improving characteristics such as cell structure, growth and development. This is the first study to assess the effects of microgravity on cells of a biofuel plant.

“As the search for alternate energy sources has become a top priority, the results from this study could add value for commercialization of a new product,” said Wagner Vendrame, principal investigator for the experiment at the University of Florida in Homestead. “Our goal is to verify if microgravity will induce any significant changes in the cells that could affect plant growth and development back on Earth.”

Launched on space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-130 mission in February, cell cultures of jatropha were sent to the space station in special flasks containing nutrients and vitamins. The cells will be exposed to microgravity until they return to Earth aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS-131 mission targeted for April.

For comparison studies of how fast the cultures grow, a replicated set of samples are being maintained at the University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead.

“Watching the space shuttle go up carrying a little piece of my work is an indescribable experience,” said Vendrame. “Knowing that my experiment could contribute to creating a sustainable means for biofuel production on Earth, and therefore making this a better world adds special value to the work.”   by Lori Meggs, AI Signal Research, Inc.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Source: Nasa

As Indonesia is today the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) — a desirable feedstock for biodiesel production — it has the potential to grow into a world biodiesel leader and a model for plantation sustainability.

Biodiesel has the potential to become a significant industry sector in Indonesia, supported by two of its most valuable assets: its oil palm plantations, and more importantly, its people. Indonesia currently produces approximately 20 million tons of CPO per year from 7 million hectares of oil palm plantation, of which approximately 80 percent  is exported. 

In terms of revenue, CPO exports provide Indonesia with its biggest non-petroleum source of export income, and this is expected to grow in the future. 

Beyond revenue generation, oil palm plantations also currently provide a livelihood for more than three million Indonesian families.  This, too, is also expected to grow in the future.

By 2015, the area of Indonesian oil palm is expected to increase to 10 million hectares, of which three million hectares have already been approved. 

Studies have shown that the total amount of land that is suitable for growing oil palms, but which has not yet been approved, may be as high as 44 million hectares. 

Using conservative yield estimates, this area of oil palm plantation would produce 145 billion litres per year of biodiesel, or 10 percent  of current fossil diesel demand.  Beyond this significant biodiesel potential is the possibility of providing income to an additional 19 million Indonesian families. 

While these 44 million hectares are considered suitable for oil palm plantations, it is imperative to consider the long-term environmental consequences — including the overall, or life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions — before pursuing any development.

Conscious of the potential environmental impact of oil palm plantation development, new crops which grow on marginal land are being investigated. This greatly reduces the required land-clearing and concomitant “carbon dioxide debt” from the forest destruction. 

One example of such a crop is Jatropha, which has been studied extensively by the Indonesian Center for Estate Crops Research and Development.  Recent estimates from the Indonesian National Team for Biofuel Development suggest that as much as 15 million hectares of land in Indonesia are suitable for Jatropha plantations. 

With conservative yield estimates, this land would produce 40 billion litres per year of biodiesel.

From a feedstock perspective, Indonesia certainly has the potential to become a world biodiesel hub, but there are two additional elements that need to be in place — sufficient biodiesel processing capacity and adequate demand, either domestically or internationally.

As with any other investment, biodiesel processing capacity will only develop if it results in a profitable business.  With the spot price of CPO close to US$700 /t, it is not currently economical to produce biodiesel, explaining the large proportion of idle capacity in Indonesia’s current biodiesel production capacity of nearly 3 billion litres per year.

Feedstock cost represents the majority of biodiesel production costs and is the only lever for affecting significantly the profitability of biodiesel production. Securing feedstock supply contracts is an option to lower feedstock cost but prices will still be subject to market volatility, and will also include some margin for the plantation.

Even with a profitable biodiesel business in place, sufficient demand must exist for any biodiesel that is produced. Current demand is driven largely by government biofuel blending mandates, which are currently set at 2.5 percent.  This demand will increase only if the government accelerates the biodiesel blending mandate, or if crude oil prices increase relative to CPO prices, which is unlikely given the recent high correlation between the two.

A third way to accelerate domestic short- to mid-term biodiesel demand while also increasing biodiesel export demand, however, does exist.  Recent advances in biodiesel processing technology have made it possible to use CPO to produce so-called “green diesel” which has superior fuel properties compared to both biodiesel and fossil diesel.  This technology uses a hydrogenation process, similar to that found in modern oil refineries, to upgrade vegetable oil to green diesel.

The superior fuel properties of green diesel means that it can be used as a blending agent to upgrade the quality of the fossil diesel pool at a traditional refinery, and this allows for the possibility of increasing the overall refinery margins in some cases.  Domestically, this means that green diesel can be used in large quantities in place of fossil diesel, thus reducing Indonesia’s dependence on fossil diesel imports.  The implementation of increasingly stringent Euro IV and Euro V fuel specifications in Europe also increases the possibility for the export of green diesel as a blending agent.

While Indonesia has great potential to become a major world player in biodiesel, it is unlikely to be fulfilled unless sustainable plantation practices are followed.  The location where palm plantations are established and the manner in which new palm plantation land is cleared, have a large effect on life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions.

Indonesia is in a strong position to further develop its already significant CPO production into a much larger and more profitable biodiesel industry.

The combination of a rich natural resource base, a dedicated and knowledgeable people and recent advances in biodiesel technology, combine to form a strong base on which to develop Indonesia as a major world player in biodiesel. 

Dr. Bernd Waltermann is a BCG senior partner and managing director and Dr. Henning Streubel is a BCG partner and managing director. Both are based in Southeast Asia.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Following the publication of the EPA’s draft Regulatory Impact Analysis this week which includes proposed changes to the Renewable Fuels Standards Program, the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber expressed both concerns and optimism regarding the possible effects this will have on the export-driven Argentine biodiesel industry.

Buenos Aires, May 8, 2009 – A recent study published by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United Status (EPA) is promoting biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no less than 50% when compared to their fossil fuel counterparts. This same report classifies different categories of biofuels and concludes that soy-based biodiesel reduces GHG emissions by only 22%. If approved, the EPA’s proposal could cause grave harm to Argentine biodiesel producers, since more than 95% of Argentina’s biodiesel is made from soy oil. Additionally, the industry is export-driven and the United States is Argentina’s second largest export market after the European Union.

“The EPA’s analysis has the potential to drastically reduce Argentine biodiesel exports to the United States. It makes decisions regarding land use change for countries other than the U.S., yet doesn’t appear to take into consideration the positive effects of Argentina’s No-Till farming methods which plays a role in ensuring that Argentine soy biodiesel meets and exceeds the newly proposed stringent U.S. standards,” said Carlos St. James, president of the Chamber.

“While we fully understand and appreciate each nation’s right to establish standards and goals
for products consumed in their country, facts need to correct. We know that Argentine soybased
biodiesel is among the cleanest and environmentally-friendly options. This has been evidenced in scientific studies developed in the U.S. itself some years ago and more recently by our country’s National Institute of Agronomy Technology (INTA, by its initials in Spanish), both of which show reductions in GHG emissions that exceed 70%.”

The EPA has proposed a 60-day window in which the various industry actors can better understand the assumptions in the study and to offer counterproposals and corrections to this data. “Argentina has sound scientific elements to defend its position. We need to work internally with all industry interests along with relevant government agencies to present a common voice to ensure we are heard properly,” affirmed Lucas Trotz, the Chamber’s Manager. The Chamber is requesting a 40-day extension to the initial window, and various Chamber members will travel to Washington to participate in the July 9-11 workshop being organized by the EPA to discuss the draft.

The Chamber will also seek this extension as member of the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, a global association whose members represent 65% of world biofuels production. Bliss Baker, Executive Director of GRFA from its headquarters in Toronto added, “Argentina, as one of the world’s largest biodiesel producers and exporters, will undoubtedly play a key role in ensuring that the industry continues to grow sustainably and we will work with them to present our organization’s point of view regarding the EPA study.”

St. James concludes, “We are confident that at the end of the day common sense, a frank and open dialogue, and the facts will carry the day. If not, the ideals of fair and open trade as espoused by the U.S. will take a step backward in the ongoing task of creating global markets.”

In the Fair of Detroit the presentation of hybrid and electrical vehicles was the tendency marked by the companies before an adverse economic panorama.Â

The vice-president and general manager of Toyota Bob Carter presents the Toyota Prius , a gas-electrical hybrid of third generation. Picture: EFEÂ

DETROIT, (AFP). – The electric and hybrid vehicles continue encouraging the recovery hope of the automotive market in crisis times. It is for that reason that the makers multiply announcements and reveal prototypes to seduce the public in the fair of Detroit with numerous prototypes of big manufacturers as Daimler, Toyota or General Motors that respond to the climatic concerns and the high price of the fuels. Â

“The technology today is ready for the production in series” of electric vehicles, affirmed Thomas Weber, in charge of technological matters of Daimler. This German group presented an electric prototype called BlueZero, with a 200km autonomy and fed by battery. The objective is to market 10.000 units towards 2011-2012.Â

Meantime the Chinese manufacturer BYD’s president, Wang Chua-Fu, presented on Monday in the automotive fair inaugurated on Sunday, a vehicle prototype 100% electric, the “e6?, with an 402 Km autonomy by battery load. Wang also informed that BYD wants to market in the United States by 2011 its hybrid vehicles, particularly the F3DM, which has just been introduced in the Chinese market.Â

The American manufacturer Ford had announced on Sunday a development program of this technology type that will be carried out in next four years in North America. “The next generation of rechargeable hybrid vehicles and fed by battery are the natural stage in our investigation toward a bigger consumption economy”, declared Derrick Kuzak, vice-president of Ford and in charge of the development of the products.Â

These initiatives nevertheless could need the government’s help in case the prices of the fuels lower after having reached so high prices, added Bill Ford, executive president of Ford.
The financial crisis and the credit contraction sank the sales of the sector 18% in United States in 2008, what has been the most spectacular fall in 29 years.

In this context, the manufacturers bet on the green revolution to leave the crisis. General Motors also promised that it will introduce in the market by 2011 a rechargeable mini hybrid, the Spark, although the prototype was not revealed.Â

Of their side Chrysler presented three hybrid prototypes (that work with gasoline and electricity), a sedan, a Jeep and a sport car that “clearly demonstrate that the company is moving towards putting electric vehicles in the garages of the consumers”, according to the president Bob Nardelli.Â

The Japanese Toyota and Honda also compete in the land of the hybrids: the first one revealed the new version of their emblematic Prius, while the second one proposed a new model of its sedan Insight. Daimler presented an electric automobile prototype baptized Blue Zero.Â

Source: La NaciónÂ

Taishi-Kurata, electric-car, flex-cars, hybrid-cars, biobutanol, biocarburants, biofuel, biofuels, biodiesel, carbon-emissions, ethanol, new-technologies-jorge-garcia-peña.