The EU's 2020 renewable energy targets will be met and exceeded, according to the European Commission, if each country fully implements its renewable energy model and improves financial support, including grants, loans, feed in tariffs and certificate regimes. If renewable energy is to be integrated into the European market as a whole, support between the individual member... [Read More]

In Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric Company has submitted a request for an annual supply of 3 to 7 million gallons of biodiesel. The biodiesel will power the 100MW Campbell Estate Industrial Park generating station – one of the world's largest commercial-scale power plants to be 100% fuelled by biodiesel. 250,000 gallons of the biofuel supply will go towards powering... [Read More]

Ohio, US-based environmental services provider Environmental Quality Management (EQM) and Beacon Energy Holdings, a producer of biodiesel, located in Cleburne, Texas, have signed a definitive merger agreement. Upon the closure of the agreement, EQM will merge with Beacon and become its wholly owned subsidiary. Beacon will be named EQM Technologies & Energy. Upon completion... [Read More]

UK-based alternative energy company Goes on Green has acquired a biodiesel plant in the Netherlands. Located in Sluiskil, the 250,000 tonne-a-year facility was acquired by BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions. Also included in the transaction is the plant's deep water storage loading/unloading berth, 250,000m3 of storage capacity and fully integrated logistics. 24 new jobs will... [Read More]

Between March and September 2011 Thailand's government will launch an E95 bus fleet trial to test the viability of replacing the current diesel- and LNG-fuelled buses with a 95% ethanol blend. 1.3 million litres a day of ethanol are consumed by the nation today, but the government is hoping to ramp this up to 9 million litres a day by 2022. The buses used in the trial... [Read More]

Italy is one of the key producers of biodiesel in the EU. However the nation's output capacity has been hurt due to a rise in the importation of cheaper biodiesel. The biofuel is most commonly made from palm oil and rapeseed oil in Italy, however it is thought that the imported fuel can cost less than these feedstocks. In the first nine months of 2010, 410,000 tonnes of... [Read More]

A couple in Wichita, Kansas, in the US, have been arrested after they were caught stealing waste grease from a local eatery. After leaving Joplin, it is thought that the pair visited small towns such as Iola and Cherryvale throughout the night, helping themselves to used cooking oil, before arriving at Burger King in the early hours of the morning. They were spotted at... [Read More]

On 3 February 2011 energy company Jatoil achieved production of 200 tonnes of crude jatropha oil, all of which will be shipped and used as feedstock for biojet aviation fuel for use by commercial airlines. The 200-tonne production milestone comes six months after Jatoil made its inaugural 10-tonne biofuel sale from its Indonesia project to the airline industry. 'Currently,... [Read More]

80% of the EU's transport fuel needs could be met with biofuels by the year 2050, according to an independent study published by the Öko-Institut. Commissioned on behalf of The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, the study titled The Vision Scenario for the European Union concludes that the use of biofuels in the EU transport sector will... [Read More]

In the US Ineos New Planet BioEnergy, a joint venture between Ineos Bio and New Planet Energy, broke ground on its commercial-scale waste-to-biofuels plant on 9 February.   The $130 million (€95.4 million) Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Florida, will convert yard, vegetative and household wastes into cellulosic ethanol and renewable power for the... [Read More]

A specialist in Deinococcus bacteria for biofuels, green chemistry and antibiotics, Deinove has published its financial results to 31 December 2010. Last year the company consolidated its alliances with its longstanding technology partners and signed a new, wide-ranging collaboration agreement with enzyme and chemical company VTT-Technical Research Centre of Finland. As... [Read More]

It has been over three years since the mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom announced that the 1,500 city-owned diesel-powered vehicles had been converted to run on B20 – a blend of 80% conventional diesel and 20% biodiesel. However for a minimum of 12 months, while around 50% of Muni’s buses have been using B20, the remaining buses and the Department of Public Works... [Read More]

The $12 billion (€9.1 billion) joint venture between Brazilian sugar and ethanol company Cosan Indústria e Comércio and oil major Royal Dutch Shell has been cleared by the European Commission. The approval was granted on the 4 January 2011, following a binding agreement which both companies signed in August last year. Shell and Cosan will together produce and commercialise... [Read More]

In the European Commission’s report on indirect land use change (ILUC) relating to biofuels and bioliquids, the Commision recognises that GHG emissions savings with regards to biofuels are in fact reduced by ILUC. However the Commission also points out that there are uncertainties with the existing models for the impact of biomass on agricultural markets. According... [Read More]