Why the RFS Is Vital

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality earlier this week held a hearing on implementation of the new Renewable Fuel Standard.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.), Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Assistant Administrator Robert Meyers, Bob Dinneen with the Renewable Fuels Association, Nathanael Greene with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Randy Kremer of KL [...]

TIME Magazine’s Journalism Scam

Or How TIME Eliminated Fairness In Reporting
As a former reporter and scientist I read Michael Grunwald’s recent story in TIME, The Clean Energy Scam with a certain amount of dismay. The New York Times calls Michael Grunwald, “a talented Washington Post reporter.” However talented Mr. Grunwald may be, in this story he has [...]

Find out how advanced biofuels will slow climate change

Biofuels from new sources such as switchgrass and algae will soon be widely and efficiently produced, thanks to ongoing industrial biotechnology research. BIO’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing will present the latest research on advanced biofuels and biobased products that provide sustainable climate change solutions.
More than 25 top company executives will join 200 [...]

Indirect Land Use Thoughts

Dear Colleagues:
I have spent a lot of time the last few weeks trying to think through the indirect land use change (ILUC) issue. I have divided my thoughts into two questions that I am asking myself: 1) are we in fact currently able to estimate these changes with any degree of confidence?, and 2) if [...]

Linking Biotechnology, Chemistry & Agriculture for a better future

Interested in alternative energy sources? BIO’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, on April 27-30 in Chicago, IL, is the forum where experts from around the globe come together to discuss this topic, with major themes around sustainability and climate change.  But let’s not stop there. If industrial and environmental biotechnology is your business — [...]

Meet the Press (Or at least their editorial boards)

Recently two editorials were written by the NY Times and Washington Post concerning biofuels in which the recent Science papers were referred to.
According to the NY Times,

“The studies’ authors say that some ethanol sources wood wastes, or grasses planted on previously degraded land — could yield net benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Still, [...]

Biofuels Feedstocks - Yield Matters

The following post was submitted by Richard Hamilton, president and CEO of Ceres, Inc.
Technology is playing a critical role in maximizing the inherent advantages of dedicated energy crops. Through advanced plant breeding, public and private researchers are increasing yields both in terms of tons per acre (field yields) and in terms of gallons per ton [...]

The Truth is Out There: But you have to look

Biofuels are great! There. I’ve been wanting to say that. And I say that not just because I work here at BIO, but because the science in the Science papers needs a little examining. There is misinformation all over the blogosphere. For example, Siko, in the German Carzone posting the following comments today,
“Two studies shows [...]

Scientists Respond to Carbon Debt Issue

Reaction to the ScienceXpress articles by Searchinger et al. and Tilman et al. has focused on the assumptions the teams of authors used in measuring greenhouse gas emissions from changes in land use. As Michigan State University Professor of Chemical Engineering Bruce Dale points out,
Both of these papers are modeling studies and are therefore [...]

The Truth is Out There

The journal Science published two papers:

Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change

Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt

in their online, early publication ScienceXpress that suggest that the production and use of biofuels may be worse for climate change than gasoline. The study and papers argue that cultivating [...]