CAMBRIDGE - The renewable energy sector is attracting over $30 billion of investment a year, but future growth will depend on advances in energy storage technology. This is the conclusion of a recently published report by Cambridge UK based analysts, CarbonFree. According to the report, emphasis will shift away from photovoltaic technology and towards fuel cell, hydrogen generation and geothermal systems. According to CarbonFree, this shift will provide investment opportunities in downstream renewable energy products such as hydrogen and electricity - at present only polysilicon, rather than the energy it generates, is traded as a commodity.

The report highlights key areas where established renewable energy companies should partner with emerging energy storage technology providers.One of these is the production of hydrogen using wind power. According to Senior Analyst, Remi Wilkinson, "As the proportion of energy generated from wind energy increases, the integrity of power grids becomes an issue unless energy can be stored."

In the short term, CarbonFree sees biofuels remaining the dominant clean energy store for the transport sector. However, the report notes that biofuels themselves will come under pressure due to supply shortfalls and concerns over their environmental impact. This, according to CarbonFree, could give hydrogen fuel cell technology an edge in the carbon neutral transport sector.

Another potential market identified within the report is the use of geothermal technology in urban areas. 'Urban Heat Islands' - built up areas that have microclimates several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside - are a significant contributor to global warming. However, technology is emerging that can be used to manage heat in cities, and CarbonFree sees scope for the development of a business model based on the storage and re-supplying of this energy. The report suggests this business model will operate along similar lines to a hedge fund and will attract the attention of energy traders skilled at setting up deals between energy suppliers and large energy consumers.

The report "Watts In Store - Storing Renewable Energy" is available from CarbonFree. http://www.carbonfree.co.uk

WASHINGTON - Jim Greenwood, president & CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), announced today that Chevron Technology Ventures LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp., has become a member of BIO.

"Chevron Technology Ventures joins a growing list of forward-thinking members in BIO's Industrial and Environmental Section who are working to transform how we produce fuels and consumer products in the 21st century. BIO's member companies all recognize that industrial biotechnology is a key driver for a cleaner, greener and more secure future," Greenwood stated.

"As part of a major integrated energy company, Chevron Technology Ventures' membership in BIO signals that industrial biotechnology has reached a tipping point. Biotechnology holds the keys to making biofuels and bioproducts cost-effective through the development of new feedstocks, novel enzymes, and fermentation technology. Reducing dependence on traditional fuel sources and lessening environmental impacts are important to America's future economic growth and competitiveness," Greenwood continued.

Chevron Technology Ventures has recently announced strategic collaborations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and with the University of California Davis to research and develop next-generation production technologies for biofuels. Chevron Technology Ventures previously this year outlined an alliance with the state of California and Pacific Ethanol to study the use of E85 in state-owned vehicles as well as a collaboration with The Georgia Institute of Technology aimed at making cellulosic biofuels, biodiesel and hydrogen viable transportation fuels.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial & Environmental Section, said, "Chevron Technology Ventures' membership in BIO signals an acceleration in interest in biofuels by major energy companies. BIO supports the production of ethanol from all feedstocks. Agricultural biotechnology is helping to increase corn yields, while industrial biotechnology is helping to convert cornstarch and crop residues into ethanol more efficiently. With ongoing advances in biotechnology, biofuels can help the world meet its growing energy needs. Biofuels can help America meet nearly half its transportation-fuel needs by the middle of this century."

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

Copyright © 1996-2006 PR Newswire Association LLC

WASHINGTON - Four in five U.S. adults (80%) strongly or somewhat agree that national and state governments are not doing enough to promote production of biofuels -- fuels made from agricultural crops or plant matter -- according to a new survey released today by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive(R), also found that 82% of adults say national and state governments should provide financial incentives to biofuels producers to encourage the production and availability of biofuels. More than two out of three adults (69%) would use American-made biofuels even if these fuels cost slightly more than conventional gas. And more than eight of every 10 (84%) say they would be at least somewhat likely to support federal and state political candidates who favor providing incentives to promote increased production and availability of biofuels throughout the United States.

Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO, said, "Developing domestic biofuels and ending our over-reliance on foreign oil appear to be top concerns among Americans in this election year, our survey finds. Reducing dependence on oil and lessening environmental impacts are important to our nation's future economic growth and competitiveness. A strong majority of Americans clearly support federal and state financial incentives to promote development of biofuels such as ethanol that can help end our addiction to oil. And they are ready to support political candidates who favor such incentives."

The survey asked respondents how strongly they agreed or disagreed with certain statements about biofuels. Half of U.S. adults (50%) strongly agreed and a third (30%) somewhat agreed that "Federal and state governments are not doing enough to promote the production of biofuels." When asked, "Do you think the production and availability of biofuel should be encouraged by national and state governments providing financial incentives to biofuel producers?" four out of five respondents (82%) said, "Yes."

"The American people clearly have spoken. They recognize the production of biofuels is a national priority," stated Greenwood. "We see support for continuing and expanding existing tax credits and other biofuels production incentives. Next year, Congress will have the opportunity to fund advanced research and provide additional incentives that will help build a growing biofuel industry that will continue to enhance our national security and create new jobs going forward. With industrial biotechnology processes now available that transform crop residues such as corn stover, wheat straw and rice straw into ethanol, America could soon meet an even larger portion of its transportation fuel needs with biofuels."

More than half (57%) of U.S. adults were able to correctly define biofuels as fuel made from agricultural crops or plant matter.

"BIO supports the production of ethanol from all feedstocks," Greenwood stated. "Agricultural biotechnology is helping to increase corn yields, while industrial biotechnology is helping to convert corn starch and crop residues into ethanol more efficiently. With ongoing advances in biotechnology, biofuels can help America meet nearly half its transportation-fuel needs by the middle of this century."

The survey also asked adults to rate the importance to them "that biofuel production in America helps to accomplish" the goals of creating jobs in rural areas, making America less dependent on foreign oil, and reducing gas prices. Eight of 10 respondents (81%) rated making America less dependent on foreign oil very important or important. Seven of 10 (73%) rated decreasing gas prices very important or important. And lastly, nearly seven in 10 (68%) rated creating jobs in rural areas very important or important.

Harris Interactive conducted the survey on behalf of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) by telephone within the United States between October 5 and October 8, 2006 among 1,031 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, geographic region, and race were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. With a pure probability sample of 1,031 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account.

A tree that can reach 90 feet in six years and be grown as a row crop on fallow farmland could represent a major replacement for fossil fuels.

Purdue University researchers are using genetic tools in an effort to design trees that readily and inexpensively can yield the substances needed to produce alternative transportation fuel. The scientists are focused on a compound in cell walls called lignin that contributes to plants' structural strength, but which hinders extraction of cellulose. Cellulose is the sugar-containing component needed to make the alternative fuel ethanol.

The Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research is funding a $1.4 million, three-year study by Purdue faculty members Clint Chapple, Richard Meilan and Michael Ladisch to determine ways to alter lignin and test whether the genetic changes affect the quality of plants used to produce biofuels. A hybrid poplar tree is the basis for the research that is part of the DOE's goal to replace 30 percent of the fossil fuel used annually in the United States for transportation with biofuels by 2030.

In 2005 ethanol accounted for only 4 billion gallons of the 140 billion gallons of U.S. transportation fuel used - less than 3 percent. About 13 percent of the nation's corn crop was used for that production. Purdue scientists and experts at the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Energy say corn can only be part of the solution to the problem of replacing fossil fuel.

"If Indiana wants to support only corn-based ethanol production, we would have to import corn," said Chapple, a biochemist. "What we need is a whole set of plants that are well-adapted to particular growing regions and have high levels of productivity for use in biofuel production."

Chapple and Meilan want to genetically modify the hybrid poplar so that lignin will not impede the release of cellulose for degradation into fermentable sugars, which then can be converted to ethanol. The changed lignin also may be useable either in fuel or other products, they said. Currently about 25 percent of the material in plants is the complex molecule lignin, which in its present form could be burned to supply energy for ethanol production, but cannot be transformed into the alternative fuel.

Altering lignin's composition or minimizing the amount present in a cell wall could improve access of enzymes. With easier access, enzymes would be able to more efficiently convert cellulose to sugars. Current treatments used for extracting lignin from woody products for pulp and paper production are harsh and pollute the environment, said Meilan, a Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources molecular tree physiologist.

To advance production of non-fossil fuels, Chapple and Meilan are using genetic tools to modify the poplar and then study how the alterations changed the plants' cell walls. Meilan also is attempting to find ways to produce trees that are reproductively sterile so they are unable to transfer introduced traits to wild trees.

When Chapple and Meilan are satisfied with the results, they will give wood samples to Ladisch, a distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, so he can determine if the changes have created trees suitable for high-yield ethanol production.

Using hybrid poplar and its relatives as the basis for biofuels has a number of advantages for the environment, farmers and the economy, they said.

"Poplar is a low-maintenance crop; plant it and wait seven years to harvest it," Meilan said. "You're not applying pesticides every year; you're not trampling all over the site every year and compacting the soil. You're allowing nutrients to recycle every year when the leaves fall and degrade. In addition, you are more likely to have greater wildlife diversity in poplar plantings than in agricultural fields."

Experts are proposing planting the trees in rows just like any field crop. The basis of these tree plantations will be tens of millions of acres that the DOE and USDA have inventoried as being unused or fallow - previously used farmland that is standing empty because farmers are paid not to grow anything.

"We need a bioenergy crop that can grow many places year-round," Meilan said. "The genus Populus includes about 30 species that grow across a wide climatic range from the subtropics in Florida to sub-alpine areas in Alaska, northern Canada and Europe."

Corn can be grown only in a few areas of the world and only during a relatively short growing season. Besides needing potential fuel-source crops that can be grown year-round and in many geographical locations, experts also want to increase the per acre tonnage yield of crops and the gallons of ethanol per ton.

Researchers believe that using the hybrid poplar in its present form could produce about 70 gallons of fuel per ton of wood. Approximately 10 tons of poplar could be grown per acre annually, representing 700 gallons of ethanol. Corn currently produces about 4.5 tons per acre per year with a yield of about 400 gallons of ethanol. Changing the lignin composition could increase the annual yield to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre, according to experts. Planted on 110 million acres of unused farmland, this could replace 80 percent of the transportation fossil fuel consumed in the United States each year.

"We don't want to compromise the structural integrity of the plant," Meilan said. "We just want to alter the lignin composition to make it easier to liberate the cellulose for conversion to simple sugars that the yeast can gobble up and turn into ethanol."

Chapple and Meilan are affiliated with the Energy Center and the Bindley Bioscience Center at Purdue's Discovery Park. Meilan also is affiliated with the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center. Ladisch is director of Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE).

Purdue's Discovery Park is designed to bring together researchers from a wide range of specialties and provide an environment for interdisciplinary research that explores new ideas, technologies and moves research to the marketplace. It is now a $300 million enterprise with 10 established research centers.

Purdue and U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) are co-sponsoring the Summit on Energy Security on Aug. 29 on the West Lafayette campus. Among the participants scheduled are Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Ford Motor Company's vice president for the environment and safety, Susan Cischke, and Peggy Hudson, U.S. vice president for federal and international affairs for fuel giant BP America Inc.

Leaders in the finance profession are meeting in Las Vegas this week at the AFP Annual Conference to discuss critical issues facing treasury and finance professionals. More than 150 educational sessions and workshops are being offered on the key issues and over 300 exhibitors and sponsors are showcasing the latest products, services and technologies for the treasury and finance profession.

First phase of combined heat & power plan adds 414MW of co-generation

TORONTO - The Ontario Power Authority has signed contracts with seven high-efficiency combined heat and power projects (also known as co-generation) across Ontario, with a combined electrical capacity of 414 MW.

The contracts, announced today, are the culmination of the first phase of a competitive 1,000MW procurement process - the first of its kind in Canada - designed to take advantage of situations where larger industries or groups of users require both electricity and thermal energy for industrial use, heating or cooling. Co-generation is considered an efficient form of fossil fuel electricity generation - getting the most overall energy out of a fuel source.

The seven projects represent a total capital investment of some $800 million and range in size from a 2MW district energy project in Oshawa to a 236MW industrial application in Thorold. Commercial operation dates range from February 2008 to May 2010.

"Developing more distributed energy such as these cogeneration projects is key to having a balanced, reliable and secure electricity system for Ontario," said Energy Minister Dwight Duncan.

"The projects are diverse in type and location, providing electricity and efficient thermal energy to Ontario industry and communities," said Paul Bradley, OPA Vice President of Electricity Resources. "They represent the high efficiency we should be striving for in Ontario's future power projects." The procurement identified a number of projects which, because of some of the challenges in developing co-generation, did not result in a submission to the process. The OPA plans to address these issues in a next phase of procurement. Work on Phase Two will begin shortly leading to additional contract announcements by mid-2007.

"We learned that there is a great deal of interest in co-generation, but that it will take time and experience to fully engage that potential," Bradley added.

The successful projects are:

<< Great Northern Tri-Gen Facility
Community Kingsville
Electricity Capacity 11.5MW
Proponent Soave Hydroponics Company
Thermal Host Great Northern Hydroponics
Description Greenhouse


Countryside London Cogeneration
Community London
Electricity Capacity 12MW
Proponent Countryside London Cogeneration Corp.
Thermal Host Countryside District Energy
Description District energy for Industrial and Commercial Facilities

Warden Energy Centre CHP
Community Markham
Electricity Capacity 5MW
Proponent Markham District Energy
Thermal Host Markham District Energy
Description District energy for commercial, institutional and residential buildings

Durham College CHO District Energy Project
Community Oshawa
Electricity Capacity 2.3MW
Proponent Oshawa PUC Energy Services Inc.
Thermal Host Durham College
Description District energy for college buildings

Algoma Energy By-Product Cogeneration
Community Sault Ste. Marie
Electricity Capacity 63MW
Proponent Algoma Energy L.P.
Thermal Host Algoma Steel Inc.
Description Steel Mill

Thorold Cogeneration Project
Community Thorold
Electricity Capacity 236.4MW
Proponent Thorold CoGen L.P. a subsidiary of Northland power Inc.
Thermal Host Abitibi Consolidated
Description Paper Mill

East Windsor Cogeneration Centre
Community Windsor
Electricity Capacity 84MW
Proponent East Windsor Cogeneration L.P.
Thermal Host Ford Motor Company
Description Engine Plant
>>

TORONTO - Access Energy Inc., a Toronto-based oil and gas exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding with the Buffalo River Dene Nation to joint venture in the exploration and development of oil and gas prospects within the Treaty Entitlement Lands located in Saskatchewan approximately 60 kilometers west of Buffalo Narrows and south east of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Paul Parisotto, President and CEO of Access Energy, states: "I am very pleased that we have reached this understanding based on the principles of a long term partnership that will allow for exploration, development and production of hydrocarbon resources. Access Energy has a strong commitment to its First Nation partners, the land, and the environment. This MOU will serve as a basis for a long-term business agreement that we hope to announce shortly".

Chief Louie Chinalquay of the Buffalo River Dene Nation states, "We're also quite pleased at the prospect of having a serious involvement in a major exploration and development program within our lands and being active in the processes. Speaking for my Council and myself, it means a lot to us to have a say in how land is used, the potential for jobs, and the growth of our community."

General Motors is building a prototype for a home hydrogen refueling unit in hope of selling fuel-cell cars by 2011.

The unit, which would make hydrogen using either electricity or sunlight, would help sidestep one of the most vexing problems surrounding the creation of the pollution-free, alternative-power cars: how to persuade oil companies to invest in expensive new hydrogen stations that would compete with their core product, gasoline.

HIGHWAY SAFETY : High hopes for new boss

The automaker's goal is an affordable, compact unit that would allow customers to fill their cars overnight in their own garages, says GM spokesman Scott Fosgard.

GM would join Honda, which has already created a model for a home refueling hydrogen unit.

Home refueling makes the possibility of fuel-cell cars "much more real," especially since building hydrogen fueling stations would be a "massive undertaking," says Ron Cogan, publisher of the Green Car Journal.

GM is starting to seriously plan a business case for hydrogen vehicles, which up to now has been a long-range research project eclipsed by more market-ready fuel-saving alternatives, such as gas-electric hybrids.

Next year, GM plans to put 100 hydrogen fuel-cell versions of its Chevrolet Equinox SUV into the hands of consumers — from teachers to government officials — in Washington, D.C., California and New York.

And Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently predicted that GM fuel-cell-powered vehicles could go on sale in as few as five years from now, beating previous forecasts by a decade.

He said fuel cells could create a new golden age for GM hearkening back to the 1950s and 1960s.

Fueling is a problem. California, with the most hydrogen filling stations of any state, has just 23 and another 15 on the drawing boards. Even GM's oil company partner, Shell, has immediate plans for only six, two outside New York and four on the drawing board in Los Angeles.

One big reason: expense. Shell's only existing hydrogen filling station, in the Washington, D.C., area, cost $2 million.

As for how many it eventually might build, "We haven't hung numbers on it," says Shell Hydrogen's Tim O'Leary.

GM isn't alone in home refueling. Honda unveiled the third generation of its home unit last year, created in conjunction with a fuel-cell company called Plug Power. It produces enough hydrogen from natural gas to power both a car and a home.

Honda also has a solar-powered refueling station in operation at its test center in Torrance, Calif. It makes enough hydrogen for 30 miles of driving a day.

Honda today demonstrated its next-generation hydrogen car in Japan. Honda says its new FCX, with a smaller, lighter fuel cell, has a range of more than 270 miles. It's due to arrive in the USA in 2008. Honda has 15 current-generation FCXs being tested by consumers.

Other automakers have hydrogen programs as well, but aren't as far along.

Today, Woertz is standing on the other side of the gasoline debate, wholeheartedly supporting the growth of ethanol, the fuel the oil industry loves to hate but has had to learn to live with. In May, she took over as the chief executive of Archer Daniels Midland, the agricultural giant that also happens to be the biggest ethanol producer in the United States.

ADM spent nearly three decades pushing relentlessly for the use of ethanol in gasoline, lobbying Congress and the White House and rousing farmers. But only in the past few years, amid record oil prices and government mandates to use ethanol, has this clear, colorless fuel - a form of ethyl alcohol - finally begun to catch on, transforming it from a dream into almost a religion in the Midwestern states that produce corn.

Ethanol has been a boon to ADM's fortunes, helping it to achieve record earnings last year of $1.3 billion on sales of $36.6 billion. While the company does not break down the sources of its profit, analysts say ethanol could make up 40 percent of ADM's net income in fiscal 2007, about double what it meant to the company last year.

With that bigger profit potential has come greater volatility in ADM's stock, which lately has mirrored more closely the rise and fall of energy prices. That has caused some analysts to caution investors to go slow on the company.

"For the bulk of the company's history, the vast majority of their profits came from crushing products like corn to feed the world," said Eric Katzman, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. But a greater proportion of ADM's earnings will come from biofuels in the future, he said, as a large portion of the $2.4 billion the company plans to invest in the next two years is energy-related.

So far, that capital is devoted to sustaining corn as the preferred crop for producing ethanol. While ethanol can be made more cheaply from sugar cane, as it is in Brazil, lobbying by ADM and farm-state politicians has helped corn win out as the crop of choice for ethanol in the United States. It did not hurt that the powerful American sugar lobby helped to erect trade barriers keeping out cheaper imported sugar and cheaper imported ethanol.

Most politicians originally saw ethanol as a way to help farmers earn more from their corn crop. Now it is being seen by policy makers, including President George W. Bush, as a partial antidote to U.S. reliance on imported oil.

To achieve that vision of energy independence will require much more ethanol, and many agricultural experts have begun to worry about the food-for- fuel trade-off of using so much corn - more than 60 percent of which is used to feed livestock, an important American export - to produce fuel. And corn is one of the most energy-intensive and water-intensive crops to grow anywhere.

But ADM has been slow to participate in research that might shift ethanol production away from corn and into crops that require less water and less fossil-fuel-based fertilizer; one such crop is switchgrass, a tall prairie grass that is highly drought-resistant.

Some outside experts call ADM's strategy shortsighted.

"I am sure ADM shareholders want the company to be economically viable for the next 20 to 25 years, not just for the next 5 to 10," said Clayton Yeutter, a former secretary of agriculture and U.S. trade representative. "If ethanol is going to be a significant part of ADM's profits, they should have as much interest in finding the lower-cost inputs as anyone would."

Sitting in a conference room in ADM's global headquarters, Woertz did not dwell on the risks of ADM's focus on corn as the primary source of ethanol. She was enthusiastic about ethanol's growth potential, saying she saw the fuel making up 10 percent of the U.S. gasoline supply sometime in the next decade, up from about 4 percent this year.

That ethanol could one day replace more than half of the gasoline supply is not impossible, she said, but it would require successful development of ethanol from agricultural waste like corn stalks or hardy grasses like switchgrass. The technology to efficiently produce this so-called cellulosic ethanol is probably many years away. "We will be there when it's there," she said.

She said she saw little contradiction between her current stand and her previous concern about the fuel - a worry that she said was tied to federal clean- air standards for vehicle emissions and the debate over how to meet them. Refiners, she said, wanted to be told what the emissions standards were and to allow their scientists to find a way to meet them, rather than to have a specific gasoline formulation dictated by regulators.

"Things have evolved," she said, and the oil industry and ethanol producers "have come to work much more closely on the fuel supplies for this country."

Woertz arrives at a favorable time in the company's 104-year history. ADM paid $400 million last year to settle the last of a pile of lawsuits stemming from a price-fixing scandal in the mid-1990s involving lysine, an animal feed additive. Three top executives were sent to prison over the scandal.

At the same time, prices are rising for high-fructose corn syrup and other products that ADM processes from corn, soybeans and wheat. And the demand for ethanol is forecast to soar as government-mandated fuel formulations take effect

The future looks perhaps even better. While the federal government has mandated greater ethanol use in the United States, European governments are pushing for higher use of soybean- based biodiesel in the fuel supply. ADM is one of the biggest producers of both of those fuels.

Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune

Sales totalled 9 218 200 cubic metres, a year-over-year increase of 1.1%. (One cubic metre is equivalent to 6.3 barrels.)

The biggest increase occurred in diesel fuel oil, where sales advanced 6.1%, or 147 100 cubic metres. Motor gasoline sales were unchanged, registering a rise of only 200 cubic metres, while heavy fuel oil sales declined by 54 500 cubic metres, or 8.7%.

Sales fell in two of the three categories of motor gasoline. Mid-grades decreased 5.7%, while regular unleaded grades slipped 0.1%. Premium grades were up 1.9%.

On a year-to-date basis, sales of refined petroleum products at the end of August totalled 66 197 600 cubic metres, down 2.3% from a year earlier.

Sales fell in four of the seven major product groups. The largest decline occurred in heavy fuel oil, where sales were down 20.2%, the equivalent of 1 066 200 cubic metres.

Sometimes biofuels are bad for the environment, which is why the German parliament needs to be careful with a proposed new law that encourages their use.

The German parliament on Thursday started a debate over a quota law requiring biofuels -- organic, renewable sources of energy -- to make up a small percentage of the nation's energy supply. Current targets call for them to comprise at least 4.4 percent of the market by 2007. Biofuels burn cleaner than petroleum, and many are derived from crops which can be grown again and again -- guaranteeing business for local farmers.

The biofuel industry is responsible for an estimated 86,000 jobs, according to the ifo institute, an economics think tank in Munich. No surprise, then, that the German Farmers Association, the Association of Agricultural Biofuels and the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants are in favor of what they call a decisive step "away from petroleum" and want a higher quota of 10 percent.

In Europe, rapeseed oil is a primary source of biofuel. But it is considerably more expensive to produce than palm oil, a popular alternative. Palm oil is a key export for Indonesia which, together with Malaysia, is the world's leading producer of crude palm oil, responsible for 85 percent of production. In southern Germany two power plants that will rely primarily on palm oil for an output of 200 megawatts are in the planning stages.

But just because something is a renewable energy source, doesn't automatically mean it's good for the environment. In fact, if you ask environmental groups, palm oil diesel can be extremely detrimental to the environment.

The problem is that in order to grow more of the lucrative crop, environmental groups fear Indonesia will clear rainforest land. Earlier this year, Indonesia's government tossed plans to develop the world's largest palm oil plantation -- nearly 2 million hectars -- by clearing one of the most diverse rainforest areas in the world only after it was proven that much of the proposed area was too high and steep for cultivation. But in order to supply just 1 percent of the EU's fuel needs, a 3 million hectar plantation would be required, according to a new study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The parliamentary discussions in Germany will also focus on what to do about the controversial palm oil. One state environmental minister is calling for a change in the renewable energy law requiring that only plant oils produced in an environmentally friendly way be used for generating energy.

Otherwise, Germany could find itself in an odious position. Because palm oil diesel, like all biofuels, is a renewable energy source, it would be subsidized. In effect, Germany could be indirectly financing the clearing of the Indonesian rainforest.
Copyright Spiegel

NEW YORK - President Bush said he would speed up his alternative energy push during the remainder of his term, with new spending focused on easing bottlenecks that are slowing the spread of ethanol in the market, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

In an interview with the newspaper, Bush said he is seeking ways to overcome difficulties in transporting ethanol, and to increase the number of stations selling it.

"I envision more money being spent to accelerate" availability of ethanol and other alternative fuels, The Journal quoted Bush as saying.

Bush also talked about other issues in the interview.

On the problems of auto giants General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., The Journal said Bush said he is interested in talking with their top executives after the November elections, but he appeared to hold out little hope that the federal government would take the lead in relieving the companies of their legacy costs for retired workers.

On Iran, the president said he is willing to let negotiations on Tehran's nuclear ambitions run a while longer before trying to increase pressure to curb such programs, the Journal said.
© Copyright 1996-2006 The Washington Post Company

A U.S. group dedicated to promoting capitalism says the current interest in ethanol as a gasoline replacement is grossly uneconomical.

Washington's Competitive Enterprise Institute said Tuesday Sepetmber 26, 2006, an analysis of corn-based ethanol has yet to be produced outside experimental production facilities.

CEI, a free-enterprise and limited-government supporter, also said following Brazil's example of producing ethanol from sugar cane would require such a massive expansion of the production of corn and other crops for fuel that it would pre-empt that land's use for feeding much of the world's hungry.

"Even without ethanol, the world is facing a clash between food and forests. Food and feed demands on farmlands will more than double by 2050. Unfortunately, the American public does not yet understand the massive land requirements of U.S. corn ethanol nor the unique conditions that have allowed sugar cane ethanol to make a modest energy contribution in Brazil," the group said.

CEI said the United States might have to clear an additional 50 million acres of forest to produce economically significant amounts of liquid transport fuels.
Copyright 2006 United Press International

Ontario Clean Air Alliance

CALGARY - In remarks to dinner on the eve of The Energy Roundtable in Calgary, TSX Group CEO Richard Nesbitt said "Development of the oil sands will depend in large part on the strengths of Canadian capital markets. These markets are among the largest in the world and by working together we can make them even stronger." He went on to point out that there are more energy companies listed on Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange than on any other exchange group in the world. He added that 430 energy companies are listed with a market cap of $553 billion as of July this year.

Mr. Nesbitt said, "We focus a lot of attention on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) ... the kind of issuers that dominate exploration and development in the oil patch and the kind that are in niches in the economy which grow from there." He went on to add, "Clearly being an energy superpower involves a lot more than just the energy ... it involves power generators, pipeliners, miners, refiners, manufacturers of power turbines and heavy equipment, providers of transport services, construction companies, technology companies of all kinds, and all the way down the list to z for zirconium. And it involves capital markets ... all of these activities require capital and the companies undertaking these activities are better served by efficient markets."

Internationally, Canada competes very well in terms of servicing these issuers. "In the first six months of this year, oil and gas companies in the energy sector raised $4.8 billion on our exchanges, $2 billion more than in London ... we also added 18 new oil and gas listings to London's 14," said Mr. Nesbitt.

The Energy Roundtable is an annual conference created to facilitate private-sector investment and growth in Canadian energy markets. Senior representatives from across the globe will gather in Calgary, Alberta for the third annual event on Tuesday, September, 26, 2006.

The 2006 theme "Building the Future: Canada, an Emerging Energy Superpower" will gather senior representatives from energy companies, utilities, engineering and financial service firms for discussions on of the major drivers of investment in energy infrastructure in Western Canada.

greenTbiz: A program delivery unit, operated under the auspices of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) that provides programs and services to the Toronto BIAs, for the benefit of its members and the environment. The aim of this delivery unit is to develop and deliver comprehensive energy conservation and environmental programs that address relative concerns and will have both significant benefits and outcomes, while improving the bottom line of the BIA businesses. Within greenTbiz, the Conservation and Technology Fund will support the Smart Mentoring, green Talks and greenAssist programs.

The Conservation Bureau is a division of the Ontario Power Authority. It was established in 2005 to develop, coordinate and stimulate electricity conservation and demand management by planning, designing, and implementing comprehensive programs that foster a culture of conservation across the province.

The Conservation Fund was established in 2005 to mobilize as many sectors of the Ontario economy as possible to embrace a culture of conservation. The Fund focuses on enabling sector-specific conservation education and electricity reduction pilot projects. The key learning points from each of the Conservation Fund programs will be shared across sectors and across the Province to help spark similar programs in other sectors or to build pilot programs into full-scale initiatives. More details on the Fund can be found at www.conservationbureau.on.ca.

United Nations efforts to promote bio-energy sources such as sugar cane or sunflower seeds to replace fossil fuels like petroleum, thus reducing poverty while producing clean, low-cost power, gained new momentum today with the inauguration of the Secretariat of the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP).

Launched at the 14th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in May in New York, the Secretariat is located at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)headquarters in Rome and is supported by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. Its mandate includes facilitating a global political forum to promote bioenergy and to encourage the production, marketing and use of “green” fuels, with particular focus on developing countries. “We are happy that FAO was chosen to host the GBEP Secretariat,” FAO Assistant Director-General for Sustainable Development Alexander Müller said. “Its presence will stimulate us to continue helping governments and institutions formulate appropriate bioenergy policies and strategies. We hope the creation of a Global Bioenergy Partnership will help reduce current dependency on oil.” Over the next decades, bio-energy will most probably provide an increasing amount of the world’s energy needs, but this must be done in a sustainable manner, he added. The Secretariat will be the principal coordinator of Partnership communications and activities and will assist international exchanges of know-how and technology, promote supportive policy frameworks and identify ways of fostering investments and removing barriers to the development and implementation of joint projects. In the short term, the Secretariat will update the inventory of existing networks, initiatives and institutions dealing with bio-energy and identify any gaps in knowledge. It will also assist the Partners in identifying and implementing bilateral and multilateral projects for sustainable bio-energy development and support the formulation of guidelines for measuring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of bio-fuels. Copyright UN
UN Press Release

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Ethanol production in Canada's largest grain-growing province will double in 2007, a spokesman for Terra Grain Fuels Inc. said on Monday.

Terra Grain Fuels' plant, valued at more than C$100 million ($90 million), is now under construction in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan, and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2007, said President Tim LaFrance.

The plant will use 400,000 tonnes of feed wheat and produce 150 million litres (40 million U.S. gallons) of ethanol annually, creating about 40 jobs, LaFrance said.

Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, is fuel produced from renewable crops such as wheat, sugar and corn. It can be blended with gasoline to ease demand on fossil fuels.

Ethanol demand is set to increase as the Canadian government wants 5 percent of transport fuel in the country to be from renewable sources by 2010, which is expected to require 3 billion litres of biofuel.

LaFrance's privately held Vertex Energy Limited of Calgary, Alberta, and the Drummond Group of Regina, Saskatchewan, are behind the development of Terra Grain Fuels.

The ethanol will be sold in both Canadian and U.S. markets.

Construction of the Terra Grain Fuels plant come as Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.TO: Quote) prepares to bring its Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, ethanol plant on stream.

That operation will produce 130 million litres of ethanol from 350,000 tonnes of feed wheat annually. The plant, previously expected to have been operational this month, is set to start producing by the fourth quarter of 2006, said Dennis Floate, of Husky Energy.

Calgary, Alberta-based Husky is also expanding its Minnedosa, Manitoba, plant to 130 million litres of ethanol annually from 10 million litres currently produced. The plant is expected to be operational by mid-2007.
© Reuters 2006

VIENNA - Despite forecasts that show no end to rising demand for crude over the coming decades, oil-producing nations are casting an uneasy eye on the growing number of measures being taken to tackle climate change.

"The main long-term challenge is definitely the necessity to reconcile oil with environmental demands," Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told a recent conference organised by Opec to examine the industry's future.

Mandil also hinted that the 11 Middle Eastern, African and Asian nations in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could not afford to ignore concerns about climate change, which are even winning over once sceptical consuming nations. Several US states broke ranks with federal policy over the past year to set up stricter emissions standards.

Between 1990 and 2002, carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal rose by 16.4 percent, mainly due to industrialised countries and China's rapidly expanding economy, according to the IEA.

Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases blamed for artificially warming the planet, triggering potentially hazardous changes in global weather patterns. The recent rise in oil prices, which are expected to stay at relatively high levels due to strong demand and supply bottlenecks, has coincided with growing demand for cleaner fuels.

Alternative energy, such as biofuels made from agricultural crops, or renewable sources like solar and wind power, has become economically more competitive and is attracting more investment. Andris Kenteris, one of the people responsible for drawing up the European Union's new energy strategy, told oil producers in Vienna that combatting climate change was "one of the main hooks on which to hang our energy policy."

Kenteris, top adviser to EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, underlined that the strategy to be unveiled in January would resort to a broader range of energy sources, including renewables, nuclear power and clean fossil fuels.

"Twenty percent of savings are I think definitely realistic by 2020," Kenteris told the oil industry. That kind of message irritates the world's top oil producer, Saudi Arabia. "Without a doubt, the world still needs contributions from a wide range of energy sources and regions to meet the growing energy demand of a rising world population in the future," said Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Nami.

"However, impractical energy policies, unrealistic timeframes to bring some alternatives on stream, or the inefficiencies that come with inputting more energy to produce some of these alternatives... do nothing to secure the world's energy future," he added.

Yet, oil remains "the leading fuel in the global energy mix for the foreseeable future," said Opec acting Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo. The IEA's World Energy Outlook predicted that demand for crude oil would break through the 100 million barrel a day mark before 2020, compared to nearly 85 million barrels per day at the moment.

Oil's share of expanding world energy supply fell from 45 per cent to 34 per cent between 1974 and 2004, according to IEA data released last month. But that decline was largely due to the faster growth of gas, while renewables supplied a near stable 10 to 11 percent of global energy needs. The distribution is expected to remain largely stable through to 2030 while total energy supplies grow by more than 40 per cent.

Biofuels like ethanol made from sugar cane are "a rapidly growing competitor but not a big threat" for oil, Mandil said.

Oil producers are also concerned about new anti-pollution regulations that not only aim to drive down consumption, but also oblige oil companies to supply more costly, highly-refined "cleaner" fuels. "Some government policies which artificially curtail demand, and create demand uncertainties irrespective of market signals, will have economic ramifications that could jeopardise (the) global energy future," Nami complained.

The trend for cleaner petrol (gasoline), diesel or household fuel coincides with warnings that there is little or no spare capacity to refine crude oil while limited investment is directed to upgrade refineries. "Investment in these technologies is fundamental for the security of our supply," Kenteris said.

Opec, meanwhile, is placing its faith in technology to mitigate the environmental impact of consuming oil, partly through carbon capture or storage. That would involve pumping carbon dioxide produced by power generation or industry into the ground-including empty oil wells -- to stop it being released in the atmosphere. © All Right Reserverd - Kuwait Times Newspaper - Kuwait