November 2006

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Bioenergy > Bioenergy timeline > 2006 > November 2006

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This page includes News and Events from November 2006. (News and events are archived here at the end of the month.)

Events

• 1-3 November 2006; Chicago, Illinois, United States: Ethanol and Biodiesel Project Finance: The Tutorial, Chicago Mart Plaza.
• 7-9 November 2006; Beijing, China: Hart's 5th Annual World Refining and Fuels Conference: Asia, Hotel Kunlun.
• 11-15 November 2006, Rome, Italy: 20th World Energy Congress and Exhibition promoted by the World Energy Council.
• 13 November 2006 Crystal City, Virginia, USA, Energy Forum #8: Thinking Differently About Energy Sources A Paradigm Shift - From Waste to Fuel with Brian S. Appel, Chairman and CEO, Changing World Technologies, Inc. co-sponsored by The Secretary of Defense's Office of Force Transformation (OFT) and the Under Secretary for Defense Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
• 13-15 November 2006; Washington, D.C., United States: Cellulosic Ethanol Summit - Integrating Communities in the Value Chain to Build a New Industry.
• 13-15 November 2006; Denver, Colorado, United States: Coal Gasification: The Path Forward, Sheraton Denver West Hotel.
• 20-21 November 2006, Warsaw, Poland: European Biofuels Conference 2006, World Refining Association
• 21-22 November 2006,Brussels, Belgium: 1st European Bioplastics Conference.
• 21-23 November 2006; Bangkok, Thailand: 2nd International Conference on: Sustainable Energy and Environment 2006 "Technology and Policy Innovations".
• 27-29 November 2006; Washington, D.C., United States: Future Fuels Conference, Madison Hotel.
• 29-30 November 2006; Washington, D.C., United States: Policy Assumptions and Forecasts of Renewable Energy's Contribution to US Energy Supply 2010 to 2050, annual policy forum of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).
• 30 November - 1 December 2006; Cape Town, South Africa: Biofuels Markets Africa.
• 29 November-1 December, Geneva, Switzerland: WTO Expert Meeting on the Participation of Developing Countries in New Dynamic Sectors of World Trade: Review of the Energy Sector.
• 29 November - 1 December 2006,Vienna, Austria: Sixth Meeting of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy (GFSE-6) “Africa is energizing itself”.
• November 29 - 3 December,Salvador, Brazil: 2006 Bioenergy World Americas.

News

• China to Subsidize and Protect Bioenergy Industry 30 November 2006 from Biopact China has issued a package of policies, including risk reserves, subsidies and tax breaks, to encourage the development of the country's nascent bioenergy industry. Under the new policies, bioenergy enterprises should set up risk reserves, which will be used to offset their losses when the oil price is low. When the oil price is low for a sustained period, a government subsidy regime will be triggered to cover the losses of enterprises. The Chinese government will also provide subsidies to developers of feedstocks particularly those using land that is currently classified as 'non-arable'and to model projects that are resulting in significant technological innovations.
• Wastewater Plant Turns Kitchen Grease Into Biogas 21 Nov 2006 from WaterandWasteWater.com. Chevron Energy Solutions and the City of Millbrae, California have completed new facilities at Millbrae's Water Pollution Control Plant that uses inedible kitchen grease from restaurants to naturally produce biogas for generating renewable power and heat to treat the city's wastewater. The grease and other organic matter will produce enough biogas at the plant to generate about 1.7 million kilowatt hours annually, which will meet 80 percent of the plant's power needs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million pounds annually.
• Foreign investors drive Hungary’s biofuel sector 27 November 2006 from Czech Business Weekly. European Union demand for biofuels, as well as the promise of EU subsidies, excise tax refunds, and a climate well-suited for growing corn and rapeseed, has brought in biofuels investors from Sweden and Italy among others. 2005 saw some 2,000 metric tons of biodiesel and 10,000 metric tons of bioethanol produced in Hungary, all of which was bought by oil giant Mol to blend with conventional fuels to meet the European Commission (EC) requirements.
• Slovenia's Sole Sugar Factory Could Switch to Producing Ethanol 24 November 2006 from the Slovene News Agency. The only sugar factory in Slovenia, which was due to close in 2007 after a [[[EU]]-wide sugar reform made production unprofitable, could switch to bioethanol, using 133,000 tonnes of wheat and corn, with 40% of the resources coming from Slovenia and the rest from abroad.
• Philippines Conference Committee OKS Biofuels Act 24 November, 2006 from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. A congressional bicameral conference committee yesterday approved the proposed Biofuels Act of 2006 which requires the use of clean alternative fuels. The bill will now be sent to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her signature. Within two years from the effectivity of the law, gasoline fuel should contain at least 5 percent bioethanol, which would be increased to 10 percent four years after the law is passed. A minimum of 1 percent biodiesel would be blended into all diesel engine fuels, which would increase to 2% after two years.
• Stover to Fill Part of Ethanol Goal for US 22 November from the Des Moines Register. A report issued by the Biotechnology Industry Organization on Tuesday estimated that it was "realistic" to harvest 30 percent of the available stover nationwide to yield 5 billion gallons of ethanol. Most of the stover would continue to be left in the field for environmental reasons as the decaying plant material prevents soil erosion and adds ground nutrients. The US DOE has set a goal of 60 billion gallons of ethanol by 2030. However that goal assumed the use of 70% of stover for ethanol.
• First Commercial-sized Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in US to be built in Iowa 21 November 2006 from the Des Moines Register. The Broin Cos. plant will be converted from a 50 million-gallon-a-year conventional corn dry mill facility into a 125 million-gallon-a-year commercial-scale biorefinery producing ethanol not only from corn but also corn stalks, leaves and cobs. The $200 million plant expansion is scheduled to begin in February and take about 30 months to complete. Iowa already has 25 ethanol plants producing about 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol, more than any other state.
• Company brings in High-Yield Trial Rice Straw Harvest; Targets Cellulosic Ethanol Production for 2007 20 November 2006, from greencarcongress.com. Colusa Biomass Energy Corporation has completed its first ever rice-straw harvesting operation in California, the US' second-largest rice producer. It collected 6,800 tons of rice straw with an average yield per acre harvested of over 4 tons/acre, compared to previous assumptions of 2.5 tons/acre. The higher yields significantly reduced the amount of acres necessary to be harvested in order to reach CBEC’s target volume of rice straw. Colusa will turn the rice straw into ethanol at its plant, which is due to be finished in 2007.
• Car Manufacturers, oil industry, agricultural federations sign France's ambitious biofuel's charter 15 November 2006 from biopact. French auto manufacturers Renault and Peugeot-Citroën as well as Volvo, Saab and Ford, as well as oil and agricultural groups, have signed France's ambitious "Super-ethanol Charter", which contains the conclusions of a governmental study group on the future of transport biofuels and their implementation. This commits car manufacturers to building vehicles capable of running on E85 fuel and on biodiesel. If the actions called for in the charter are carried out in time, France will be Europe's leading biofuel nation by the end of the decade.
• US Ethanol Industry Growth to Slow, say Economists 14 November 2006 from the Des Moines Register. Iowa State University economists cautioned that increased costs and delays in ethanol plant construction, transportation bottlenecks, and rapidly rising corn prices signaled that the expansion of the ethanol industry might be cooling.
• RAND Study Says Renewable Energy Could Play Larger Role In U.S. Energy Future Under Right Conditions 13 November 2006, from RAND. "Renewable resources could produce 25 percent of the electricity and motor vehicle fuels used in the United States by 2025 at little or no additional cost if fossil fuel prices remain high enough and the cost of producing renewable energy continues falling in accord with historical trends."
• Grass-based biogas and pellets much more efficient than biodiesel/ethanol 15 November 2006 from biopact.com. A recent study of more than 70 different fuels and fuel paths carried out by the EU's Joint Research Centre, showed that [biogas] is both efficient to produce and is the cleanest of all transport fuels. Many trials are also underway with the production of solid biomass (pellets, briquettes) based on grass species such as Miscanthus giganteus (elephant grass) for the production of electricity through simple combustion. For example, switchgrass pellet fuel has a ratio of energy production to consumption (energy balance) of 14 to 1, compared with only 1.5 to 1 for corn-based ethanol.
• Company signs agreement to build 90 biodiesel reactors in South Africa 14 November 2006, from biopact.com. Green Star Products has signed an agreement with De Beers Fuel Limited to build 90 biodiesel reactors in South Africa, each of which will be capable of producing 37.8 million liters (10 million gallons) of biodiesel each year for a total production capacity of 3.4 billion liters (900 million gallons). This is 4 times greater than the entire U.S. output in 2006.
• Company launches major forestry and biofuel project in China 14 November 2006 from biopact.com. Carbon Positive, announced today that it has secured 266,000 hectares of land in China for reforestation and biofuel crops in Honghe state, Yunnan province, and planting has already begun at the sites. More than 6,660 hectares of native timber species will be in the ground by the end of February 2007 and 2,000 hectares of Jatropha, used for making biodiesel, have also already been planted. Intercropping experiments involving biofuel crops and food crops have been carried out (e.g. jatropha and groundnuts).
• UK's first vegetable oil powered trawler is undergoing trials 14 November 2006 from BBC News. The Jubilee Quest trawler has had its diesel engine converted to run on the more environmentally friendly vegetable oil. The environmental benefits of using biofuel on vessels would be vast, as a typical diesel-powered trawler on a 10-day trip emits 37 tons of the greenhouse gas, while running a family car for a year would result in only two tons of CO ₂.
• By 2010 50% consumption of Ethanol-gasoline blend in China 13 November 2006 from the People's Daily Online. According to a plan developed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)the consumption of ethanol gasoline in China will account for over fifty percent of total gasoline consumption by 2010. Ethanol gasoline consumption currently accounts for 20 percent of total gasoline consumption. It was not clear what the percentage blend of ethanol and gasoline would be.
• US Ethanol industry on pace for 20+% growth in annual production 8 November 2006 from greencarcongresscom. "US ethanol production is currently averaging nearly 4.7 billion gallons a year, a 20.5% increase from the 3.9 billion gallons produced in 2005. In August, US producers averaged 329,000 barrels per day (bpd)—a record for daily production average and an increase of 69,000 bpd from August 2005."
• Philippino biofuels project gets P1 billion funding 9 November 2006 from the Manila Standard. "A P1-billion fund has been earmarked for the development of the biofuel industry, using jatropha (tubang bakod) as a fuel source. The Philippine National Oil Company Petrochemicals Corp. and the National Development Co. will each contribute P500 million to the project"
• Indonesia Building Tens of Biofuel plants, including micro-sized facilities, November 7, 2006 from biopact.com. The Indonesian government has dropped plans to build several centralized biodiesel plants and "has instead chosen to decentralise biodiesel production based on jatropha, in 54 micro-sized plants, spread across the country".
• Indonesia ranked 3rd for greenhouse gas emissions 6 November 2006 from the Jakarta Post (requires free registration). "Indonesia has jumped to third place from 21st behind the United States and China as the world's top contributor of greenhouse gasses because of its clearing and burning of peatland areas". Emissions reached 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year -- almost a 10th of world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Indonesia emits 6.5 times as much CO2 from degraded peatlands as it does by burning fossil fuels every year, while it produces more gases than all the efforts of western countries to reduce. The peatlands are burned to make way for oil palm plantations among other uses.
• Idea that Forests are Carbon Sinks No Longer Holds November 6, 2006 from Biopact. A team of Canadian and American forest researchers has found that some forests release more carbon than they store. "Overall, in three of the four years they measured, the forest was putting slightly more carbon into the air than it took out". This challenges the concept that forests are "carbon sinks" and can be used as carbon "credits", to offset other carbon emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
• Tanzania begins biofuel production November 5, 2006 from Biopact. "Sun Biofuel Tanzania Limited (SBF) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dar es Salaam and Kisarawe district authorities for the production of biofuel" from jatropha curcas (locally known as mkaranga), planted on 18,000 hectares of land.
• Tyndall Air Force Base Relies on Its Renewable Energy Initiative November 3, 2006 from RenewableEnergyAccess.com. "At Tyndall AFB, a solar photovoltaic system is in the works, joining renewable energies already in use including biomass, geothermal and wind. The Air Force is the largest purchaser of renewable power in the federal government, accounting for 41 percent of all green power purchases by the federal government, according to the U.S. Department of Energy."
• Ethanol producer VeraSun announces bio-diesel co-production November 3, 2006 from Greecarcongress.com. "VeraSun, the US' second-largest ethanol producer plans to produce biodiesel from oil extracted from distillers dried grains (DDG), a co-product of the ethanol production process.
• Comparing the Effect of Palm and Jatropha Biodiesel in a Diesel Engine November 3, 2006, from greencarcongress.com. "Researchers at Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung have compared the effects and performance of biodiesel fuels derived from two different feedstocks of importance to that country—palm oil and jatropha—in a direct-injection diesel engine."

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