Make your own biofuel (Google)

Today, 10th of July, a search for “make your own biofuel” on Google returns about 466.000 pages. It is amazing!

L’Union européenne fait marche arrière sur les biocarburants (Le Monde)

Original and Portuguese translation available.
All of a sudden, 27 energy ministers from the EU gathered and decided to re-read the article 3 for the renewable energy plan. As mr Jean-Louis Borloo, the French environment and energy minister, said, “The member states realised that the Commission’s plan specifies that 10 percent of transport needs must come [...]

Biodiesel in Brazil (Tendências Consultoria)

This is just a press release, since I can’t find the original study. But first, a little background.
Most of Brazil’s cargo system is made by trucks. Its roots are from President Juscelino Kubitschek’s development program, which opted for a automobile industry. Instead of building tracks and trains, Brazil chose highways in the late 1950’s.
Today, not [...]

Lean, green and not mean (The Economist)

Pedro Doria today drew my attention to an interesting article that outlines a few pros and cons of Brazilian ethanol. I already left a comment there but I also decided to write here. Cutting to the chase:

The petrol prices in Brazil haven’t seen a raise for the past three years. A side effect is that [...]

It’s Corn vs. Soybeans in a Biofuels Debate (NY Times)

Original article here.
The study cited on this story affirms that the fuel vs. food debate is something we should be concerned about. Indeed, as we previously saw here, most of the current generation of biofuels under production in the US is based on transforming corn grain in ethanol, or soybean in biodiesel. Always good to [...]

Getting Serious About Biofuels (Science)

The author, Steven Koonin, points out several important issues for developing the biofuels and making them a globally viable solution to the energy issue. (As he well observes at the footnote, “Brazil is a singular counterexample, where favorable agricultural conditions and a flexible processing infrastructure allow the majority of the country’s road transport to be [...]