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Big Oil May Be Close to Taking Control of the Biofuels Industry
Bill Paul, Energy Tech Stocks
The evidence is still anecdotal, but it’s starting to look like major oil and gas companies will soon seize control of the biofuel industry from the independent firms that launched the ethanol and biodiesel businesses only a few years ago.
For Big Oil, taking over the biofuels industry is smart business. Begin with the fact that more than 80% of the world’s remaining known oil reserves lie beyond Western oil companies’ direct control. Add to that the huge financial cost of looking for and extracting those reserves that are still available north of the Arctic Circle, beneath the ocean floor, and in thick tar sands deposits. Further add to that the huge climate change bill oil companies will face when carbon trading takes root globally. Now consider how the environmental benefits and relatively low cost of producing biofuel could help solve these problems.
(28 October 2008)
Ethanol stance taints Barack Obama’s green credentials
Ed Pilkington, PUB
Barack Obama has enjoyed near-universal backing from American environmentalists, with the Sierra Club, the country’s largest grass-roots environmental group, and Friends of the Earth US both endorsing the Democratic nominee for president.
But there is one policy area in which Obama and the environmental lobby have increasingly grown apart: ethanol. As senator for the corn-growing state of Illinois, Obama has been a firm advocate of corn-based ethanol, 34 billion litres of which is now added to US petrol every year to reduce imports of foreign oil.
Ethanol has been booming in the past two years across the corn heartlands of the US. But environmentalists are critical of the rush towards the fuel. They say its value as an alternative energy is debatable: one unit of energy expended in producing it gives less than two units of energy in the form of ethanol. Add to that the pressure on land use to grow more corn, and some analysts say its impact in terms of global warming emissions is actually negative.
(27 October 2008)
UK: Seaweed farms ‘could fuel future’
BBC News
Pilot seaweed and algae farms are needed to assess Scotland’s marine biomass potential, experts have urged.
The recommendation comes in a report on using biomass for heating and fuel while avoiding the use of valuable agricultural land. Scientists want to see pilot farms and research into the most energy-rich types of seaweed.
The report was carried out by the Scottish Association for Marine Science for The Crown Estate.
Prof Mike Cowling, science and research manager at The Crown Estate, said: “Given Scotland’s rugged western coastline and island groups, and relatively clean seas, it is sensible to examine the farming of seaweeds and sustainable harvesting of natural supplies as a source of energy, to heat our homes and fuel our vehicles.
“Heating and transport make up around three quarters of our energy use so it’s vital that we find new ways of meeting that demand.
“Extracting energy from seaweed is a particularly efficient and reliable method of producing green energy, and the growing of seaweed could have positive impact on local marine biodiversity.”
One key advantage of using seaweed is that it avoids the problems associated with agricultural crop biofuels such as pressure on arable land and fresh water.
(26 October 2008)
Nothing about the envrionmental impacts. It seems that any attempts to power our large and growing energy demand from biofuels is doomed to failure, without intensive efforts at efficiency and conservation. -BA
