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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Biofuel blight: tastes great, less filling
Alcohol refinery may enhance tourist industry |
biodiversivist |
03 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Tourists, bird watchers, and native cattle herders in Kenya's Tana River delta may soon have a spanking-new alcohol refinery in the middle of their wetland. Granted, the wetland will be slightly less wet because a third of its water will be diverted to cropland. Always one to look for a silver lining, I would hope that this refinery will include an air-conditioned bar where tourists and herders alike can gather for happy hour after a long, hot day of wildlife viewing ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, Richard Branson (all these topics) |
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It's bloomin' idiotic
Can words describe how bad corn ethanol is? |
Joseph Romm |
02 Mar 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Well, maybe my words can't describe how bad corn ethanol is, or Mayor Bloomberg's, or those of top scientists, but I think I have found someone's words that do: Opus's from Bloom Country. First, however, the lastest grim news from Fortune: 'The ethanol boom is running out of gas as corn prices spike.' Yes, 'plans for as many as 50 new ethanol plants have been shelved in recent months.' Why? Spurred by an ethanol plant construction binge, corn prices have gon ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Welcome to the Mile-High Club
Virgin Airlines flies first biofuel-powered plane, enviros unimpressed |
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25 Feb 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:12 PM on 25 Feb 2008 Like a virgin, the world's first biofuel-powered plane flew for the very first time from London to Amsterdam on Sunday. (Well, it was a little bit biofueled: One of the plane's four main tanks was filled 20 percent with coconut and babassu palm nut oil.) Virgin mogul Richard Branson celebrated his conquest, and deflected concerns about biofuels' bad rep by pointi ... |
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| Topics: air travel, biofuels, energy, news, Richard Branson (all these topics) |
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Maybe They Can Use Cigars as Fuel
Fidel Castro's resignation may boost biofuels in Cuba |
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20 Feb 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:16 PM on 20 Feb 2008 Fidel Castro's step down after 49 years as Cuba's leader may have implications for biofuels in the country. Castro was outspokenly critical of U.S. biofuel policy, and blocked a proposed expansion by ag giant Archer Daniels Midland into Cuba in the 1990s. But Fidel's brother Raul, who will assume leadership of Cuba, is a biofuels supporter. Industry analysts have projected th ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, Cuba, energy, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Paging Vinod Khosla ...
Billionaire Branson regrets mindless biofuel support |
Tom Philpott |
19 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Time was when biofuels, including corn-based ethanol, had no stauncher supporter than Richard Branson, the U.K. airline and entertainment magnate. Now, according to the BBC, he "regrets his investments in biofuels on economic and environmental grounds." In the above video, the billionaire deplores the lameness of corn ethanol. For the record, I think he's being naive by suggesting that sugar plantations in Africa represent some sort of panacea comp ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, celebrity, energy, investing, Richard Branson (all these topics) |
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ILSR, spinning like a top
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JMG |
19 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is really, really sad. A group, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which has done stalwart work on relocalizing the economy, has let their pro-local passion overcome their principles. Now they simply embarass themselves, beating the drums for corn ethanol, using flackery techniques that would do any corporate PR shop proud. Let's start in: New Anti-Ethanol Studies Reach Wrong Conclusion on Greenhouse Gases Wow, quite a headline, about not one but two studie ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, climate, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Biofuels and the fertilizer problem
Can a 'renewable fuel' rely on mining a finite resource? |
Tom Philpott |
13 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| While scrolling through news accounts of the recent boom in the agrochemicals industry -- yes, that's how I spend my days -- I came across an interesting take on biofuels and phosphate, a key element of soil fertility. The article, from Investors Business Daily, takes a standard rah-rah position on what it deems a 'heyday in the heartland.' The journal wants to make sure its readers know there's plenty of cash to be made investing in the companies catering to the gre ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, industrial ag, sustainable ag (all these topics) |
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Biofuels: good for agrochemical/GMO biz
GMO giant Monsanto wows Wall Street, consolidates its grip on South America |
Tom Philpott |
13 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| While debate rages on Gristmill and elsewhere about whether biofuels are worth a damn ecologically, investors in agribusiness firms are quietly counting their cash.As corn and soy prices approach all-time highs, driven up by government biofuel mandates, farmers are scrambling to plant as much as they can -- and lashing the earth with chemicals to maximize yields. At a Wall Street meeting on Tuesday, genetically modified seed/herbicide giant Monsanto promised investors ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Argentina, Big Ag, biofuels, Brazil, business, energy, food, GMOs, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Letter Drip
Scientists write to Bush and Pelosi asking for biofuel-policy reform |
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08 Feb 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:35 PM on 08 Feb 2008 In light of recent studies showing that biofuel production ain't good for the environment, 10 prominent ecologists and biologists have written to President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking that the U.S. reform its biofuel-boosting policies. Seeing as the Bush administration has a track record of being very responsive to scientists' entreaties, we have no doubt that the mas ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, George Bush, Nancy Pelosi, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Biofuels bombshell
Researchers find corn ethanol, switchgrass could worsen global warming |
Frank O'Donnell |
07 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Some very respected researchers today have lobbed a real bombshell into the energy public policy world: they have concluded that ethanol produced both by corn and switchgrass could worsen global warming. In other words, Congress really blew it last year when it mandated a massive increase in biofuels (an action coated with green language but really an effort by both political parties to cater to farm states). This is also a slap at President Bush's effort to pa ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, climate, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics) |
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Next market bubble: farmland!
Thanks to the ethanol boom, big investors are plowing cash into corn country |
Tom Philpott |
07 Feb 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Big investors seem to have forgotten how to exist without some sort of speculative bubble. In the last decade, they've whipped cash from tech stocks to bonds to emerging markets to real estate to junk mortgages. With the latter bubble now deflating rapidly, they've turned to ... Midwestern farmland? Yes, big cornfields. Here's a Chicago asset manager talking about who's buying up farmland, quoted in USA Today: It's everybody from the person concerned about the sto ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, economy, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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USDA food-safety czar: Ethanol waste causes tainted beef -- and that's okay
Let cows eat vaccines along with distillers grains |
Tom Philpott |
28 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In December, a study came out suggesting a link between distillers grains -- a waste product of the corn-ethanol process -- and a spike in cases of beef tainted with the deadly E. coli 0157 virus. You see, the government-mandated ethanol boom has dramatically pushed up corn prices. To cut costs, feedlot operators have been substituting cheap distillers grains for pricey corn. Thus in the past year or so, we've seen an explosion in use of distillers grain as livestock ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Department of Agriculture, energy, ethanol, food (all these topics) |
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Stock analysts v. venture capitalists
Tom Konrad on cellulosic electricity |
Guest author |
24 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a guest essay by Tom Konrad, a financial analyst specializing in renewable energy and energy efficiency companies, a freelance writer, and a contributor to AltEnergyStocks.com. ----- Romm v. Khosla In a persuasive series of articles entitled "Pragmatists vs. Environmentalists" (Parts I, II, and III), Vinod Khosla has provided the reasoning behind his "dissing" of plug-in hybrids, which drew the ire of Joseph Romm. Nei ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Biomass, part I
Where will biofuels and biomass feedstocks come from? |
Vinod Khosla |
22 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| When it comes to biofuels we have choices. We can do it poorly, using short-run approaches with no potential to scale, poor trajectory, and adverse environmental impact. Or we can do it right, with sustainable, long-term solutions that can meet both our biofuel needs and our environmental needs. We do need strong regulation to ensure against land-use abuses. I have suggested that each cellulosic facility be individually certified with a LEEDS-like 'CLAW' ratin ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Plowing up the Amazon
Scientist says biofuel boom endangers world's largest rainforest |
Tom Philpott |
18 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A fifth of the Amazon rainforest -- the world's biggest carbon sponge -- has disappeared since the 1970s. The Brazilian government has succeeded in recent years in slowing the deforestation rate, but its efforts have recently been faltering. Bungle in the jungle. Photo: iStockphoto In the last four months, 2300 square miles of rainforest got leveled, Reuters reports. In the year before that, the forest surrendered 3700 square miles. If the current rate hold ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Brazil, deforestation, energy, rainforests (all these topics) |
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Why Vinod Khosla is very wrong
A pragmatic view of cellulosic biofuels |
Joseph Romm |
17 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| So Vinod Khosla is not happy with with my recent attack on his (willful) ignorance, 'Khosla blows his credibility dissing plug-ins.' Gristmill has given the billionaire a platform to defend himself, but he just spouts even more nonsense in the bizarrely titled post, 'Pragmatists v. environmentalists, part I': I have been accused of dissing hybrids. I was mostly discussing Prius-type parallel hybrids and all the support they get, when one can get the same carbon ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cars, cellulosic ethanol, electric vehicles, energy, ethanol, hybrids, Prius (all these topics) |
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Cellulosic ethanol: It might be a bust
Thus spake Chairman Peterson of the House Ag Committee |
Tom Philpott |
17 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| David already pointed to it, but it bears repeating: House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson, a tireless champion of ethanol and any other big-ag project he can get his mits on, has declared that cellulosic ethanol could well never 'get off the ground.' At best, he declared, cellulosic ethanol stands at least 10 years away from commercial viability (exactly what cellulosic boosters have been saying for three decades). Wait a minute. Ethanol's champions have long c ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
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David Roberts |
16 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| "I really think the more I look at this whole cellulosic issue, there is a lot bigger problem to overcome here than people realize in terms of the feedstocks. We have a lot of work to do in that regard. I'm not sure cellulosic ethanol will ever get off the ground." -- Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Pragmatists v. environmentalists, part III
Hybrids and biofuels: The road ahead |
Vinod Khosla |
16 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Many people make the mistake of comparing apples to oranges. One has to compare futures to futures and current status to current status. All technologies improve, but some improve more than others. The Prius gets 46 mpg, while a similar-sized Toyota Corolla gets 31 mpg. One of our investments (Transonic) is trying to make an engine that (if it works!) can be placed in a Prius to produce a vehicle that will have lower carbon emissions than the hybrid Prius at ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cars, electric vehicles, energy, hybrids (all these topics) |
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A Tough Row to Hoe
E.U. says it will be mindful of sustainability in boosting biofuels |
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14 Jan 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:06 PM on 14 Jan 2008 Realizing that biofuel production can have negative social and environmental consequences, the European Commission says it will propose "strict conditions that biofuels used in the European market are produced in a sustainable way" instead of barreling ahead willy-nilly (because really, that would be crazy). The commission will announce specific climate-change mitiga ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, European Union, news (all these topics) |
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BigThink
Smart people talk about serious questions |
David Roberts |
14 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Check out this cool new site, BigThink. It's a collection of short video interviews with notable or famous people, asking them a series of common questions. Strangely addictive. The environment section is fairly anemic thus far (the site just launched a few weeks ago), but you can watch Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, John McCain, and Bill Richardson all answering the question, Is ethanol overhyped? (Hint: Cellulosic! Cellulosic!) Also, I really like Gillian Caldwell, ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, politics, websites (all these topics) |
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Pragmatists v. environmentalists, part I
Prius: Green or greenwash? |
Vinod Khosla |
14 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I have been accused of dissing hybrids. I was mostly discussing Prius-type parallel hybrids and all the support they get, when one can get the same carbon reduction by buying a cheaper, similar-sized and -featured car and buying $10 worth of carbon credits. I was objecting to greenwashing (powered by a large marketing machine) that suggests hybrids can solve our problems. Corn ethanol, which has been heavily maligned in the mainstream media, reduces carbon emis ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cars, electric vehicles, energy, ethanol, hybrids, Prius (all these topics) |
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So Cellulose, Yet So Far
Study touts environmental benefits of switchgrass-derived biofuel |
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08 Jan 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:11 PM on 08 Jan 2008 Fast-growing switchgrass makes for a super-duper biofuel, says new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The five-year study of 10 Midwest farms concluded that switchgrass-derived biofuel can produce more than five times the energy consumed in manufacturing it, and emits 94 percent less greenhouse-gas emissions than gasoline. "This ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, news, scientific research (all these topics) |
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Monsanto counts its cash
Seed-and-chemical giant sees its profit triple |
Tom Philpott |
04 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In a gold rush, the firms that supply the gold diggers with tools -- not the gold diggers themselves -- make the highest and steadiest profits. That's a platitude, but it's also usually true. And it's now playing out in the boom in corn-based ethanol. Don't waste much time envying corn farmers. Sure, they've seen the price of their product double over the past year and a half or so. But they've also seen their costs inch up. Fertilizer, land rents (much of the farml ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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A negative-carbon corn ethanol plant?
Cogeneration and ethanol production |
Joseph Romm |
03 Jan 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I am not the biggest fan of corn ethanol. But I am the biggest fan of cogeneration, also known as combined heat and power, or CHP (well, maybe the second-biggest fan). It is probably the single most overlooked strategy for sharply cutting greenhouse-gas emissions while reducing overall energy costs. Now a new EPA report finds that running an ethanol plant on natural gas CHP can, with the right design, result in negative net CO2 emissions (click on figure to enlarge) ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, climate, cogeneration, energy, ethanol, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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