Posted on October 23, 2009 by nicoleatbio
This week we start off with a United Nations report that urges caution on biofuels. Green Inc, a New York Times blog writes,
“The study concluded that whether a biofuel is climate-friendly or not depends largely on whether it is based on crops or production residues. Biofuels of the latter category were generally considered beneficial [...]
Filed under: Biofuel Technology, Climate Change, biofuel | Tagged: biofuel, biofuels, biotechnology, cellulosic, Climate Change, environment, environmental protection agency, ethanol, Food and Fuel, food crisis, food vs. fuel, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas emissions, indirect land use change, sustainability, sustainable energy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 14, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
The Wall Street Journal’s Scott Kilman reported earlier this week on a letter sent by General Mills, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Kraft Foods to Ag. Sec. Tom Vilsack, asking for reduction of trade tariffs on sugar. From Kilman’s article and the letter, it’s clear that grocery manufacturers are once again trying to distract public [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, biofuel, economy, ethanol, food crisis | Tagged: biofuel, Consumer Price Index, corn ethanol, Food and Fuel, food prices, food shortage, food vs. fuel, Grocery Manufacturers Association, media, oil demand, Oil prices, sugar | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 28, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
The Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, and the Natural Resources Defense Council have cosigned a series of letters to Senate leaders opposing additional study of the theory of indirect land use change. These groups would like to lock [...]
Filed under: Climate Change, Food and Fuel, biofuel, climate change legislation, environmental protection agency | Tagged: biofuels, environmental protection agency, EPA, Food and Fuel | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 19, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
University of Minnesota Professor David Tilman, Princeton University Visiting Scholar Tim Searchinger, Dartmouth Professor Lee Lynd and others involved in the debate over the environmental and social impacts of biofuels have published in Science magazine what amounts to a new manifesto on how biofuels can be done right.
The authors list five biofuel feedstocks that are [...]
Filed under: Biofuel Technology, Food and Fuel, biofuel | Tagged: biofuels, Food and Fuel, food vs. fuel, life cycle analysis, lifecycle analysis, Science, Searchinger, Tilman | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 9, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
The EPA today held a public hearing on the RFS2 Rule and will be holding a Workshop on Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis for the Proposed Revisions to the National Renewable Fuels Standard Program tomorrow. These fora are intended to solicit feedback from stakeholders in the rulemaking and provide information on how the EPA developed its [...]
Filed under: Climate Change, Food and Fuel, biofuel, environmental protection agency, renewable fuel standard | Tagged: biofuels, carbon debt, environmental protection agency, EPA, Food and Fuel, greenhouse gas emissions, indirect land use change, international land use change, Land Use Change, life cycle analysis, lifecycle analysis, renewable fuel standard | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 10, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
According to a newly released Congressional Budget Office report, ethanol contributed between 0.5 and 0.8 percentage points (10-15 percent) of the overall 5.1 percent increase in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008. That estimate is considerably lower than previous estimates. The report also calculated the increase in costs for federal food aid programs, [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, Oil prices, biofuel, food crisis | Tagged: biofuels, Food and Fuel, food prices, food vs. fuel, Grocery Manufacturers Association | 4 Comments »
Posted on March 5, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
A new study from MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change examines what it calls the Unintended Environmental Consequences of a Global Biofuels Program. Unintended consequences seems to be the watchword of the year. The authors posit that there will be a feedback loop from climate change and policies that promote [...]
Filed under: Climate Change, Food and Fuel, Greenhouse Gas Emission, biofuel | Tagged: biofuels, carbon debt, cellulosic, Climate Change, Food and Fuel, greenhouse gas emissions, indirect land use change, international land use change, Land Use Change | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 13, 2009 by pwintersatbiodotorg
I was pleased to read AP reporter Deborah Jian Lee’s story on Jan. 12, saying that the food and fuel debate has “receded to a murmur, and even the Grocers Manufacturers Association, one of the most vocal biofuel critics, seems to be backing off a bit.” Biofuel producers will likely remember that last May the [...]
Filed under: BIO, Food and Fuel, Oil prices, biofuel, economy, ethanol, renewable fuel standard | Tagged: biofuels, Food and Fuel, food crisis, food prices, food vs. fuel, Grocery Manufacturers Association, media, oil demand, Oil prices, renewable fuel standard, Roll Call, Scott Faber | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 17, 2008 by pwintersatbiodotorg
A segment on the Discovery Channel’s show “How Stuff Works” caught my eye this week and prompted that question. The segment points out that Xanthan gum, fermented from corn syrup, is used in oil drilling. Xanthan is combined with the drilling mud used to cool drilling equipment, and it helps to clear dirt and rock [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, biofuel, ethanol, food crisis | Tagged: biofuels, corn ethanol, Food and Fuel, food crisis, food prices, food shortage, food vs. fuel, Gulf Cooperation Council, How Things Work, indirect land use change, Land Use Change, oil demand, OPEC, Saudi Aramco, xanthan | 9 Comments »
Posted on October 10, 2008 by nicoleatbio
Yesterday, the New York Times wrote:
“A United Nations food agency called on Tuesday for a review of biofuel subsidies and policies, noting that they had contributed significantly to rising food prices and the hunger in poor countries.
With policies and subsidies to encourage biofuel production in place in much of the developed world, farmers often find [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, biofuel, economy | Tagged: biofuels, economy, food, Food and Fuel, food prices, food vs. fuel, fuel | Leave a Comment »