This briefing paper reviews evidence of the impacts of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices, with a focus on corn and soy, and presents new analysis on the impact of the RFS on U.S. livestock farmers. Studies examining the relationship between food prices and biofuel demand conclude …
World Development Report 2008 calls for greater investment in agriculture in developing countries.The report warns that the sector must be placed at the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized.
Switching to biofuels to curb greenhouse gas emissions could be a mistake, as increasing biofuel production will release two to nine times more carbon over the next 30 years than fossil fuels, notes the first comprehensive study of biofuel emissions. The study, done by a team of UK-based scientists, criticises …
the use of algae as a source of biofuel has gained popularity in the last few years. In July 2007, three entrepreneurs from the uk came out with a way to feed algae by capturing carbon dioxide (co2) from automobiles. This co2 was used to feed algae which then produced …
the Udaipur administration recently announced its plans to go ahead with allotment of land for jatropha plantation. The move, made under the recently notified Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of waste land for bio-fuel plantation and bio-fuel based Industrial and processing unit) Rules, 2007, has sparked several protests. Under the new …
Sweet sorghum is a special type of sorghum which accumulates sugars in its stalks. The unique high carbon assimilation capability of sorghum crop coupled with another desirable trait of accumulating high levels of extractable sugars in the stalk can be exploited for extensive use of sorghum as raw material for …
Too many people striving for too high a standard of living and purusing the so called "rates of growth" and "aping the unsustainable life styles" of the West are destroying the natural regulatory powers of the Earth.
This report reviews the current knowledge on the use of biomass for non-food purposes, critically discusses its environmental sustainability implications, and describes the needs for further research, thus enabling a more balance policy approach. The life-cycle wide impacts of the use of biomass for energy and material purposes derived from …
These rules may be called the Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of waste land for bio-fuel plantation and bio-fuel based Industrial and processing unit)Rules, 2007. They shall extend to the whole of the State of Rajasthan. They shall come into force at once.
In a recent meet in Brussels, the European Union (EU) agreed to new emissions reduction targets, after a long tussle over renewable energy targets. On March 9, 2007, 27 EU member states agreed to a binding cut of 20 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. …
recently the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, denounced us president George Bush's new-found fondness for biofuels. Food stocks for millions would be threatened, Castro warned. The octogenarian Communist speaking on ecology doesn't get much press. Castro's fulminations were duly consigned to back pages of newspapers, where they had more to do …
A SURVIVOR'S GUIDE ON WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP BRING DOWN CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS AND COMBAT GLOBAL WRMING 1. CHANGE YOUR BULBS Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (cfl)
the European Union (eu) and the us state of California recently announced the first-ever fuel standards to regulate greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions. On January 9, 2007, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order to establish the world's first low carbon fuel standard, which requires that by 2020 the state …
a committee set up on March 5, 2007, to investigate a toxic spill by a paint manufacturing unit in south Kashipur near Agartala, submitted its report on March 22 after failing to meet the original March 15 deadline. The committee consisted of two members of the Tripura State Pollution Control …
The us and Brazil, which account for more than 72 per cent of global ethanol production, recently finalised a pact to jointly research biofuels and develop standards for their global commercialisation. Presidents George Bush and Luiz In
Energy: Could new techniques for producing ethanol make old-fashioned trees the biofuel of the future? Mankind has used trees as a source of fuel for thousands of years. But now the notion of exploiting trees for fuel is being updated with a high-tech twist. The idea is to make ethanol, …
