News of the Day

12.04.07

WORLD

The US and the EU jointly launched a proposal in world trade talks aimed at countering global climate change by removing trade barriers to climate-friendly technologies. "By eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers to environmental goods and services, particularly clean energy technologies, we can lower their costs and increase global access to these important products," said US Trade Representative Susan Schwab. This comes in advance of world trade talks with delegates from about 190 nations set for Bali, Indonesia from Dec. 3 to 14. The talks will focus on a new pact as a successor to the UN Kyoto Protocol, which binds 36 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 1990 levels by 2012.

NORTH AMERICA

The U.S. and China, the two largest consumers of oil and producers of carbon dioxide in the world, are working on an agreement to promote ethanol and other biofuel use that may be announced through the Strategic Economic Dialogue on December 12, 2007.

The US Defense Logistics Agency has awarded a $6.95 million contract modification to Southern Counties Oil Co (operating as SC Fuels of Orange, CA) for biodiesel fuel.

The US Congress has reached agreement on Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards in the energy bill, settling one of the differences between the House and Senate versions. Under the proposed standards, the US auto industry's fleet of new vehicles will have to average 35 mpg by 2020.

New Hampshire's Cranmore Mountain Resort has been operating a fleet of biodiesel-fueled vehicles in temperatures at about –20 F without incident, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

In Oak Ridge North, Texas, residents are using peak-demand power created by three biodiesel generators plugged into the electric grid. Interconnection for the project is being provided by Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc.

SOUTH AMERICA

Petrobras and Portuguese oil firm Galp will form a joint venture, Brasgalp, to invest in biofuels production and oil exploration. Brasgalp will produce biofuel from plants such as castor and jatropha, and is due to come on stream by 2010 with a 900,000 mt/year biofuels production capacity slated for export to Europe.

The city of Araraquara in Sao Paulo will be the site of an algae-based biodiesel plant to be built by Biopetro Brasil. Construction is to start in January 2008, with completion slated for August 2008. Biopetro Brasil is an investment fund formed by a group of U.S entrepreneurs that could invest as much as $90 million in the next 10 years. The technology is imported from Canada. The algae will be grown in the city's water and sewerage station. The plant will also use sunflower and castor bean.

EUROPE

Dutch company EcoPower Bonaire BV has signed a contract with the Water and Energy Company of Bonaire to build a combined wind and biodiesel system on the Caribbean island. The project is to be completed in 2009 and will encompass 13 wind turbines and a biodiesel power plant. Each turbine can produce 0.8-0.9 MW; the biodiesel plant will generate 13MW.

The Director of the Institute of Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences said the Ukraine may provide Europe with a substantial source of biodiesel. By 2010, 20 plants for production of biodiesel will be constructed in Ukraine with capacities of 5,000 to 100,000 mt/year.

Despite a first-half pretax loss on lower turnover, UK’s Viridas PLC plans to build a biodiesel plant in Brazil while continuing with its traditional underwear businesses in UK and Germany.

ASIA / PACIFIC

During a trip to Spain, the Philippine President expects to sign an agreement with Bionor Transformacion to promote biofuels investments and identify land for feedstock development in the Philippines. The Filipino Agriculture Department has identified over 725,000 hectares of available agricultural land that can be planted with biofuel feedstock crops.

Jatropha farmers in Thailand want the Energy Ministry to guarantee the buying price of jatropha oil at a minimum of $1.15 per liter to promote production of biodiesel from non-food crops.

In India, Delhi-based Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited have planted 50,000 saplings of jatropha at the Palam Farms in Palam Vihar and Aravalli Farms near Gurgaon. The company is planning to plant 2,000,000 plants per year for the next two years.

A 200-acre Biofuel Integrated Environmental Park is to be built in the Malaysian state of Perak at a cost of $400 million. The project, a joint venture between the Perak State Government and Earth Biofuel (Asia) Sdn Bhd, will involve a centralized waste water treatment system, methane gas recovery from a 300,000 ton/year landfill, and a R&D and Training Centre. The proposed biofuel industrial park, with its own self sufficient source of electricity and steam, is slated to commence in 2008.

AFRICA

African government officials, economists, and scientists have met for three days in Burkina Faso to discuss the local production and use of biofuels. An official with the Economic Community of West African States, which is financing a project in Ghana in biofuels, said the country has one million hectares of growing land and could produce 600,000 tons per year of biofuel within 5 to 10 years, which is around 80% of their diesel imports.

AUSTRALIA

Australian Biodiesel Group says that with shutdown of its biodiesel production since November, it expects to sell less than 7 million liters in 2007. The firm expects revenue of about $10 million and a net loss of around $17 million.

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