Tag Archives: biofuel

A guide to green car insurance and getting the best price

March 19, 2013   Karl   No comments

green cars

Coverage of the car insurance market in the UK is not one that many people tend to take a huge interest in. The constant barrage of bad news and the latest price hikes has numbed many of us into simply not wanting to know any more. However there’s another side of the market that the media seems to have ignored, may we introduce green car insurance.

Before you write this off as just another PR exercise, lets dig a little deeper and see what these green companies are offering.

You’ve probably heard of the carbon offsetting, according to the World Resources Institute, a carbon offset is defined as “a unit of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) that is reduced, avoided, or sequestered to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere” [1]. Until recently to offsetting CO2 produced by your vehicle would have required the purchase of carbon credits or buying into a similar scheme.

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Save Cash by Owning Bio Fuel Vans

August 14, 2012   Karl   No comments

Van Insurance

When the cost of living is increasing but the income does not increase, we obviously look for ways to cut down on the costs. One thing that has not only struck the headlines of news channels, but also our lives is the cost of fuel.
insurancevan.co.uk has understood the increasing need of finding a way that can be adopted to cut down the money that is spent on fuel for transportation and analysed the pros and cons of using bio-fuel vans.

The general reason why we switch over from fuels to bio fuels is the rising cost of fuels. Due to high fuel costs, many people have even given up using their own vehicles for transportation and are using public transportation to fulfil their purpose. Bio fuel comes into picture relieving everyone of the tension caused by the raise in price of fuels.

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Did Solazyme just drop the “fuel” in biofuel?

March 09, 2011   Karl   No comments

Did Solazyme just drop the “fuel” in biofuel?

Biofuels producer Solazyme inked a massive deal with Dow Chemical today to ship up to 60 million gallons of its algae-based oil as an insulating chemical for electric transformers in 2015.

Solazyme’s makes an oil produced from algae that is to replace petroleum that works in just about everything — including jet engines. But some of the most lucrative prospects for biofuel companies like Solazyme aren’t in the fuel business at all. They’re in producing chemicals for other purposes. That can include creating a line of anti-aging beauty products and food additives. Dow Chemical’s plan involves replacing an insulating petroleum-based oil that insulates electric transformers from heat and discharging electricity.

The company might as well kill its “fuel” business if it can get deals of this magnitude. Solazyme’s last significant deal to use its algae-produced oil for fuel was for 20,000 gallons of jet fuel in a deal with the United States Navy. That deal was worth around $8.5 million. The company recently refreshed that deal to 150,000 gallons of fuel, according to a spokesperson for Solazyme.  To put things in perspective, the new deal with Dow Chemical is for up to 20 million gallons in 2013 and up to 60 million gallons in 2015, though there weren’t any specific details on pricing.

It might not be long before the company’s algae-produced oil becomes even more popular in the chemical space, since the company has set a target of between $60 to $80 per barrel. Futures for light, sweet crude oil cost more than $100 as of this morning — which will inevitably send the price of just about everything that uses petroleum as a production component up.

Science-driven research firm Lux Research said biomaterials production will grow faster than biofuels, with 17.7 percent growth each year. That growth would be driven by major deals like this one, according to the firm. The biochemical industry was also worth $11.7 billion last year, up 7 percent from 2009. That’s because about 95 percent of plastics use some petroleum in some way — and most companies are looking for a cheaper alternative.

Solazyme has a joint venture with food ingredient company Roquette and is working to develop renewable oils for soaps made by Unilever. The company has raised $125 million over four rounds of funding. Its investors include Morgan Stanley, Chevron Technology Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Bluecrest Capital Finance, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, The Roda Group and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

Thanks and source venturebeat.com

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USDA Approves Corn Enzyme for Biofuel Production

February 15, 2011   Karl   No comments

USDA Approves Corn Enzyme for Biofuel Production

Syngenta will sell corn seed with plans for large-scale production in 2012.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a genetically modified trait in corn developed by agrochemicals producer Syngenta that could improve ethanol yields, Syngenta said Feb. 11.

Syngenta will market the modified corn seed under its Enogen brand name. Syngenta refers to the corn seed as a “breakthrough technology” that can easily be integrated into existing infrastructure.

Syngenta has estimated that Enogen can provide ethanol producers a cost advantage between 8 and 15 cents per gallon.

“Enogen corn seed offers growers an opportunity to cultivate a premium specialty crop. It is a breakthrough product that provides U.S. ethanol producers with a proven means to generate more gallons of ethanol from their existing facilities,” said Davor Pisk, Syngenta’s chief operating officer. “Enogen corn also reduces the energy and water consumed in the production process while substantially reducing carbon emissions.”

Enogen corn seed will be available for the coming growing season with large-scale commercial introduction planned for 2012.

Syngenta will manage Enogen corn production using a contracted, closed production system.
The corn amylase trait in Enogen has already been approved for import into Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia and Taiwan and for cultivation in Canada.

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Scania receives large order for biofuel buses in Sweden

January 21, 2011   Karl   No comments
Scania

Scania receives large order for biofuel buses in Sweden

Scania has received an order for 158 buses from public transport company Keolis Sverige. By ordering buses that run on biofuels, the company strengthens its position in sustainable urban transport.

The delivery to Keolis consists of urban, suburban and intercity buses. The majority, 123 urban and suburban buses, will be used in the greater Stockholm area, where Keolis operates for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL).

“The order is very important to us and helps strengthen our position as a strong partner in the public transport industry,” says Ove Forsberg, Bus Sales Manager at Scania-Bilar Sverige. “We have had a rewarding partnership with Keolis in Sweden for a long period, and we see this order as a result of that.”

Scania has previously delivered ethanol- and biogas-fuelled vehicles to Keolis, and the new buses will be equipped with engines for the renewable fuels ethanol and rapeseed methyl ester (RME). Compared to using a conventional diesel engine, Keolis reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by 70 percent by using ethanol; for RME, the corresponding figure is 64 percent.

Deliveries of the buses will take place from April until July, and the buses will start operating between June and August.

Keolis Sverige’s vision is to use locally suited, sustainable transport to double transit ridership in Swedish cities. By the second half of 2011 Keolis’ vehicle fleet in Sweden will consist of approximately 2,000 buses, of which over 60 percent will be running on renewable fuels.

Keolis’ Technology and Environmental Director Håkan Björk says, “This and previous large orders to Scania are a result of a close cooperation, giving us well-developed and customised products for our operations.”

Scania has more than 20 years of experience with ethanol buses, having delivered a total of about 800 ethanol buses. More than 700 of them have gone to Swedish cities, but the company has also delivered ethanol buses for commercial service to countries such as Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Norway.

The world’s largest fleet of ethanol buses operates in the greater Stockholm area, where Stockholm County Council has set the goal that at least 50 percent of all passenger traffic will employ renewable fuels by 2012.

Ethanol accounts for around 90 percent of renewable vehicle fuels available today. It is the most cost-effective such fuel in the market in terms of availability, infrastructure and access to tried-and-tested technology

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Biodiesel to power ‘American Idol’ bus tour

January 18, 2011   Karl   No comments

American Idol Bus to be powered by Biofuel

“American Idol” is kicking off its 10th season with a four-week, 16-city bus tour that will be powered by biodiesel.

The bus tour, “Idol Across America Mobile Experience” will begin on Wednesday, Jan. 19, which is also the date of the season premiere on FOX-TV, according to the release. “Idol” memorabilia by Ryan Seacrest, Carrie Underwood and David Cook will be displayed on the tour.

“By choosing a clean diesel bus fueled with biodiesel fuel, “American Idol” made an excellent choice toward being environmentally friendly while still having the power and fuel-efficiency needed to complete this grueling, four-week, 16-city national tour that ranges across the entire United States,” said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, in a release.

According to the release, the Diesel Technology Forum is working with the National Biodiesel Board to “promote the use of renewable fuels.”

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A golden handshake for China’s biofuel industry

December 29, 2010   Karl   No comments
chinese_flag

Friendly policies for overseas investors to invest in China's biofuel sector have influenced partnerships between domestic and foreign companies

Friendly policies for overseas investors to invest in China’s biofuel sector have influenced partnerships between domestic and foreign companies to develop the alternative to fossil fuel.

Green Biologics (GBL), a British biotech company, has signed deals with two Chinese biochemical producers – Guangxi Jinyuan Biochemical and Lianyungang Union of Chemicals, the Financial Times reported.

Under the agreements, which are expected to be worth $15 million over the next five years, Green Biologics will provide its fermentation technology to existing production facilities at Guangxi Jinyuan and Lianyungang Union to enable biobutanol production using lower cost sustainable feedstock.

Biobutanol is a substitute for petroleum-based n-butanol, an important chemical used in the production of polymers and plastics and as a solvent in paint.

The worldwide n-butanol market is worth over $4 billion annually with China the fastest-growing market, GBL said in a statement on its website.

“These agreements build on GBL’s successful business-development programs in China where over the last three years our focus has been on introducing advanced technology to allow the profitable operation of existing biobutanol facilities for the chemical market. The relationship with leading Chinese biochemical companies and China-UK Low Carbon Enterprise Co Ltd will allow us to significantly accelerate this process,” said Sean Sutcliffe, GBL chief executive.

In addition, these companies can provide a platform for the introduction of the next generation of GBL technology, which will see the roll-out of biobutanol as a low cost advanced biofuel derived from sustainable feedstocks, he said.

“Because of the government’s support and the potential of the market, more players have joined the biofuel industry recently,” said Michael Fredskov Christiansen, president of Novozymes (China) Investment Co Ltd.

In May, Novozymes announced its cooperation with Sinopec and COFCO on a demonstration facility that will convert agricultural waste into biofuel.

Bioenergy is considered one of the three key alternatives to fossil fuel use, alongside wind and solar energy, because of its easy acquisition and clean emissions. Biorefining is a conversion process that produces fuel, power, heat, and value-added chemicals from biomass, the biological raw material extracted from organic sources.

According to a report on the future of biorefineries by the World Economic Forum (WEF), together with leading companies and consultancies including Novozymes and McKinsey, the conversion of biomass into fuel, energy and chemicals has the potential to generate upwards of $230 billion for the global economy by 2020.

The industry will register up to 32 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) profit for China, and provide six million new jobs, mainly in rural areas. It will also create a 96 billion yuan market for construction projects in the value chain.

The industry will improve China’s energy security, boost GDP growth, and balance development between urban and rural regions, according to the WEF report.

Source and thanks ChinaDaily

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EU Biofuels Goals May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Lobby Groups Say

November 08, 2010   Karl
EU Flag

EU Biofuels Goals May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Lobby Groups Say

Biofuels targets in the European Union could raise emissions of greenhouse gases because forests and wetlands will be destroyed to grow the crops necessary, nine environmental groups said in a study.

Energy targets for 23 of the EU’s 27 members suggest 9.5 percent of the bloc’s transportation energy will come from biofuels by 2020, said the groups, which include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and ActionAid. The crops may need an area twice the size of Belgium, and clearing the necessary land could make the fuels 167 percent more polluting for the climate than sticking with gasoline and diesel, they said.

“Biofuels are not a climate-friendly solution to our energy needs,” Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s European policy and campaigns manager, said in the statement. “The EU plans effectively give companies a blank cheque to continue grabbing land from the world’s poor by growing biofuels.”

The EU aims to get 10 percent of its energy for transportation from biofuels, hydrogen and renewable power by 2020. The target is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

EU energy spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said the targets require less land than the study suggests and that EU guidelines prevent the use of deforested land.

“The Renewable Directive says very clearly that it is not allowed to chop down forests to produce biofuels,” Holzner said in an e-mail. “The same goes for drained peatland, wetland or highly biodiverse areas.”

The study by the campaign groups estimated 69,000 square kilometers, or 6.9 million hectares, would be needed.

“The production of biofuels can indirectly cause additional deforestation and land conversion, including of fragile ecosystems,” the groups said. “When existing agricultural land is turned over to biofuel production, agriculture has to expand elsewhere.”

The 10 percent target would require 2 million to 5 million hectares of land, and there is enough unused terrain in the EU that was previously used for crop production to cover its needs, Holzner said.

She also said that biofuels had “little to do” with a spike in food prices from 2007 to 2009, rejecting the accusation from the groups that land-use changes resulting from biofuel cultivation had “devastating impacts on food security.”

The European Union on June 10 set up controls to ensure biofuels, which are made primarily from crops such as rapeseed, wheat, corn and sugar, don’t come from forests, wetlands and nature reserves.

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Biofuel is only partly to blame for high food prices

October 19, 2010   Karl
FPT_MoneyBag

Biofuels only partly to blame for high food prices

Rising biofuel demand is among multiple factors fueling food inflation around the globe, but markets today are more able to manage that impact than in 2007, when an aggressive U.S. government mandate sent prices soaring, an agriculture industry executive said on Tuesday.

U.S. corn prices this month revisited levels not seen since the months after the amended Renewable Fuels Standard was signed into law, rekindling the debate about whether food products should be used to make fuel.

But this month’s corn market rally to highs near $6 per bushel was driven more by the U.S. Agriculture Department’s lower corn production forecast amid an already tight supply/demand balance than by rising demand from makers of corn-based ethanol, said Tim Gallagher, executive vice president of grains and biofuels with Bunge North America.

Gallagher, speaking in a panel discussion at the Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida, declined to comment on how ethanol demand would impact corn prices in the future.

“It’s had an impact. From 2007 to today, we’ve found a way to manage that impact,” Gallagher said of corn demand by ethanol makers, which use about a third of the U.S. crop.

“It depends on the magnitude (of the demand) and how quickly it comes into the market,” he said.

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Costa Rica Investments in Bio-fuels, and Sustainable Agro Development

October 19, 2010   Karl
flag-on-pole

Costa Rica Investments in Bio-fuel

Central America and especially Costa Rica has seen a large surge in Biofuel initiative. There new Biofuel cooperative projects, intercropping (with food and oil bearing plants) development, including a new investment wave called Multi Purpose Real Estate, UBA (United Biofuels of America.

Investing in bio-fuel is profitable in the short term and long term and helps reduce dependency on unstable foreign sources.

Here in Costa Rica the governmental bodies have full buy-in to renewable energy and sustainable agro developments.

Costa Rica is attempting to produce ethanol and biodiesel on a large enough scale to eventually reduce or even replace petroleum fuel. The state oil company, Recope, is constructing a large processing plant, the government is about to release a plan for the industry’s development, and the Institute for Agrarian Development, is engaged in research projects for certain products to convert to biofuels.

At present, ethanol is produced from sugar cane and to a lesser extent from yuca (cassava), a root crop. There is some production of bio-diesel from African Palm oil. Research is ongoing with respect to very promising oil seed crops for biodiesel, higuerilla and jatropha.

There is ample opportunity for investments in these crops to supply a local and international market. Petroleum prices are expected to remain at high levels. Biofuels reduce vehicle emissions when mixed with or replace gasoline or diesel. However, when biofuels are produced on a large scale there are also large scale environmental and social consequences, especially when the source of ethanol is corn or soybeans for biodiesel or when growing crops that displace food crops or convert forests to crop lands.

These adverse environmental and social consequences are mitigated when biofuel crops are grown on land that had been previously deforested and converted to cattle pasture. In Northern Costa Rica there are vast expanses of unproductive cattle pasture, much of it mechanizable and not requiring irrigation. This is a good opportunity to promote the conversion of cattle lands to socially useful and productive crops. This is already occurring with the proliferation of pineapple, root crop, and palmito plantings. However, it makes good sense to plant many more food crops there, such as rice, beans, and animal feed, while still leaving space for biofuel crop cultivation.

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