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 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 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 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 »
Posted on July 30, 2008 by pwintersatbiodotorg
Don Mitchell of the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group has released an official version of his analysis of biofuels’ impact on the rise in global food prices. An early version of the study was leaked to the Guardian in London on July 4.
Mitchell attributes 70 to 75 percent of the increase in food commodities prices [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, Oil prices, biofuel | Tagged: Don Mitchell, Farm Foundation, Food and Fuel, food crisis, food prices, food vs. fuel, foodbeforefuel, Purdue University, Texas A&M University, World Bank | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 25, 2008 by pwintersatbiodotorg
The Farm Foundation recently released a report prepared by Purdue University agricultural economists on the forces driving food price increases. They conclude that higher food prices are the result of the complex interaction of global changes in supply and demand for commodities, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, as well as growth in production [...]
Filed under: Food and Fuel, Oil prices, ethanol | Tagged: Food and Fuel, food prices, food vs. fuel, Oil prices, Purdue University, Texas A&M University | 2 Comments »