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 …
Contrasting lessons from Germany's 20-year pursuit of solar and wind power shows how other countries might create industrial champions to develop new energy technologies. A long-term, global energy recipe for climate change and security may be emerging, as countries plan broadly to shift to gas from coal, to electricity and …
Clean energy, with double-digit growth rates and competition spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas, has been a dynamic and forward-looking industry for more than a decade. This report is the 11th annual edition in Clean Edge's Clean Energy Trends report series. From tracking, forecasting, and market sizing the global solar, …
This background document presents a full overview of the measures and actions that address the international dimension of agricultural policy. These include a wide variety of activities, which show how the EU is promoting and defending the EU agriculture sector in a changing world environment and contributing to sustainable economic …
FAO’s Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) project has developed a set of indicators that be used to assess the impacts of bioenergy on food security at both national and levels. In addition, BEFSCI has identified range of possible responses to these impacts. Modern bioenergy development, through its …
The FAO’s Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) project has compiled a set of thirty relevant tools and methodologies that can be used to inform the development of a sustainable bioenergy sector and of sustainable operations, and to assess, both ex-ante and ex-post, the main environmental and socio-economic …
In order to ensure that modern bioenergy development is sustainable and that it safeguards food security, a number of good practices can be implemented throughout the bioenergy supply chain. Building on FAO’s work on good practices in agriculture and forestry, the FAO’s Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) …
Sustainable agriculture and healthy nutrition are high on the social agenda. Work is now being done to face both challenges, often with measurable success. However, huge changes are still needed and some problems have even been exacerbated. Although agriculture and nutrition are closely linked, both issues are often dealt with …
This report, produced through a partnership between the business leaders’ initiative 3C (Combat Climate Change) and the Stockholm Environment Institute, gauges the availability of biomass for low-carbon energy and other uses in the context of sustainability and competing demands. Biomass is a promising source of renewable low-carbon energy, but it’s …
Smog digest is a news service on vehicular pollution based on news clippings selected from leading Indian newspapers and newsmagazine. It also highlights the key developments from South Asian countries. The months witnessed lots of action and developments on the vehicular pollution front in India.
Energy security has become a national issue and several attempts are being made to seek viable alternatives in the form of renewable energy to meet the futuristic needs. Biofuel production from microalgae is considered as an effective strategy in this endeavour. Seven microalgae, viz. Chlorella, Haematococcus, Ulothrix, Chlorococcum, Scenedesmus, Rivularia …
A recent international conference on climate change and sustainable agriculture in New Delhi brought forth the shocking realisation that there are no conclusive studies in India on the prospective impact of climate change on the agriculture sector including livestock and fisheries. Much of the country's understanding comes from global data …
South Africa plans to invest 2 billion rand ($258.5 million) to build an ethanol plant and help a nascent biofuels sector that could reduce the country's reliance on imported fuel, an industry player said on Monday. Africa's biggest economy imports about 60 percent of its crude oil needs and became …
Observed changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, particularly in the North-Eastern region, are the major projections on which Indian agriculture scientists are pegging their “mitigation and adaptation” plans in the farm sector in the absence of definitive long-term and area-specific data on climate change. Acknowledging that in India the …
Burning cowdung cakes can be 10 times more harmful than burning wood in poorly ventilated kitchens, something that can damage the lungs, a study comparing the two widely used kitchen fuels has found. Women who spend many hours cooking food in poorly ventilated homes can develop chronic obstructive lung disease …
At the tip of the 30-mile-long peninsula that hosts one of the busiest ports in the world, Finland's Neste Oil has just finished converting a plot of land reclaimed from the sea into the biggest biodiesel refinery in Europe. The €670 million ($850 million) investment by the state-controlled company in …
Ethanol production has boosted the prices of grains that Canadian farmers buy to raise cattle and pigs, and Ottawa should curb or eliminate its support for the industry, an agriculture research organization said on Tuesday. But a leading biofuels group said the report wildly overstated ethanol's impact on grain prices. …
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) needs to set clear policies and priorities for future work and investments in biofuel related projects while providing guidance to countries that are keen to engage themselves in this sector. UN agencies in collaboration with scientific institutions worldwide address issues such as life-cycle energy and …
Prospecting macroalgae (seaweeds) as feedstocks for bioconversion into biofuels and commodity chemical compounds is limited primarily by the availability of tractable microorganisms that can metabolize alginate polysaccharides. Here, we present the discovery of a 36–kilo–base pair DNA fragment from Vibrio splendidus encoding enzymes for alginate transport and metabolism. The genomic …
Life technology comes up with a bio-fuel research using genetic engineering which holds the key to resolve the issue of food security. Engineering microorganisms to convert complex feed stocks into Bio-fuel which holds a tremendous promise. Algae have recently received a lot of attention for being a new biomass source …
This analysis of the Government of India’s National Policy on Biofuels argues that while the policy of ethanol blending in petrol is in the right direction, it is fraught with several problems which are rendering the approach ineffective. The most critical ones are the lack of sugar cane for producing …
