July 2007 Digest

Conversion Technologies Coast-to-Coast

It may be the heart of the summer to most people but national enthusiasm for emerging energy technologies is not taking a vacation. In early July, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid a call on his Florida counterpart, Governor Charles Crist calling him "a new action hero" for taking a stand against emission of greenhouse gases from utilities and the auto industry. Taking the lead from "The Governator" Crist signed several new executive orders committing Florida to setting new clean energy standards.

This was followed by a Florida's well-planned Farm to Fuel Summit hosted by Commissioner Charles Bronson of the state's Department of Agriculture. Highlights of the event included several announced purchase agreements between utilities and energy developers for citrus waste, energy crops, and woody biomass-to-energy power facilities.

Meanwhile, the California Resource Recovery Association held its Navigating to Zero Waste Conference and Expo in San Pedro, California. Organizers scheduled speeches by several proponents for advanced waste-to-energy programs while raising the bar on what could be accomplished to save energy through waste source reduction.

It was a good sign for the nation that each state will feed and compete with each other to advance their energy and environmental agendas.

Below are links to stories that made July 2007 memorable.

BIOstock Blog--------------
· Range Fuels will break ground this summer
· Senator decries inertia on controlling wildfires
· Southern utilities lobby against federal RPS legislation
· Food cost studies compare impact of corn vs. energy price increases
· Student teaches biofuel professionals
· Florida's Farm to Fuel Summit: A Californian's View

BIOconversion Blog--------------
· The Biorefinery Concept Today

BIOoutput Blog--------------
· A scientific assessment of plug-in hybrids

BIOwaste Blog--------------
· Envirepel: Gasified waste-to-electricity in San Diego
· Biomass and BioWaste Conference in Pittsburg this September
· Navigating to Zero Waste in California

Each month we provide a similar breakdown of article titles from our favorite "companion" site - Biopact Blog. This list is kept current and is accessible in the right hand column of each of the three blogs.

Please forward a link to this digest to anyone you know who would be interested in keeping track of change that will affect us all. They can add their name to the mailing list on the BioConversion Blog.

technorati digest, biofuels, conversion, bioenergy, cellulosic, feedstock, ethanol, sustainability, forestry

The Biorefinery Concept Today

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that world biofuel output will double between 2006 to 2012. That is the primary finding from its recently published Medium-Term Oil Market Report.

According to an article from Biopact based on the report findings:

Technology for significant production of second generation biofuels based on lignocellulosic feedstocks isn't expected by the IEA to come into play by end of the 2012 outlook period.

That is certainly true. But in the meantime, considerable R&D is taking place internationally leading to the deployment of a promising number of pilot, demonstration, and commercial-scale biorefineries.

No agency knows this better than the IEA's own IEA Bioenergy group:

IEA Bioenergy is an organisation set up in 1978 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) with the aim of improving cooperation and information exchange between countries that have national programmes in bioenergy research, development and deployment.

On April 25, 2007, the IEA Bioenergy group's annual meeting, ExCo59, was held in Golden, Colorado bringing the world's experts to the home of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to discuss the current status of emerging biorefinery technologies. BioPact has provided a real service by summarizing contents of the information presented at ExCo59.


Thankfully, these Biorefinery Concept presentations have been posted as downloadable PDFs on the IEA Bioenergy website. Several of these presentations are identical to those given at the recent BBI Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo. Those slides were only distributed to attendees.

technorati BIOconversion, bioenergy, biofuels, ethanol, hydrolysis, syngas, cellulosic, gasification

Biopact: July 2007 Digest

Biopact Blog writes many stories that are relevant to the study of BIOstock, BIOconversion, BIOoutput, and BIOwaste.

Rather than summarize and reprint excerpts from this excellent source of information, a breakdown of each month's most relevant titles is provided in one updated article...

BIOstock...
• New biodiversity data access portal launched
• Revolution in the kitchen: 5000 Indian rural households receive smokeless biomass pellet stove
• 'Plants for the Future' technology platform presents plan for European bioeconomy
• OECD-FAO Outlook: growing biofuel demand underpinning higher agriculture prices
• Satellite survey links tropical park fires with poverty and corruption
• Study of energy crops shows miscanthus twice as productive as switchgrass
• Simulated crop provides answer to irrigation issues
• China to boost forest-based bioenergy, helps win battle against desertification
• Report: community forest enterprises drive sustainable forestry, but stifled by red tape

BIOconversion...
• Nanosphere catalyst could improve biodiesel production
• Investigating life in extreme environments may yield applications in the bioeconomy
• Highlights from the International Conference on Biofuels (Day 1)
• Sweden calls for the creation of a 'biopact' with the South - Highlights from the International Conference on Biofuels (Day 1, part 2)
• Texas launches Bioenergy Strategy
• An in-depth look at biorefinery concepts
• EU and China agree on joint development of knowledge-based bioeconomy
• Scientist skeptical of algae-to-biofuels potential - interview
• Report: the future of biofuels is not in corn, better alternatives available
• Gevo receives funding from Virgin Fuels and Khosla Ventures to make biobutanol
• World sugar prices keep falling, despite ethanol boom

BIOoutput...
• EU Environment ministers approve reductions in car emissions, divided over implementation
• Syntroleum to deliver bio-based synthetic jet fuel to U.S. Department of Defense
• IEA forecasts world biofuel output to double from 2006 to 2012
• Survey Finds Strong Support Among Voters for Mandatory Auto Fuel Efficiency Increases

BIOwaste...
• FPL Energy teams up with Citrus Energy to make cellulosic ethanol from citrus waste