Reading Time: 3 minutes In an opinion piece published in the previous edition of this paper (Biofuels are one of our greatest environmental blunders), Gwyn Morgan questions the benefits of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Mr. Morgan would have it that biofuels are a “blunder.” In our opinion, biofuels are a home run for the environment and the rural economy. […] Read more
Canadian biofuels aren’t a ‘blunder,’ they’re a success story
Well-designed renewable fuel policies can be good for the environment, the economy, and agricultural producers
Biofuels are one of our greatest environmental blunders
Proponents of biofuels are simply refusing to count their true environmental cost
Reading Time: 3 minutes Are biofuels really greener than the fossil fuels they displace? In a recent column I pointed out that electric cars are only as green as the fuel used to generate the electricity they consume. For internal-combustion-powered vehicles, much of the focus has been on trying to reduce carbon emissions by adding ethanol to gasoline and […] Read more
New biorefinery to open demonstration refinery
SBI BioEnergy says it has a unique process that uses no water or chemicals and generates no waste
Reading Time: 2 minutes An Edmonton company is reaching the final stage of its project to build a biorefinery that will convert non-food canola oil and waste fats into next-generation, renewable transportation fuels that can replace or can be blended with conventional fuels. The company, SBI BioEnergy (SBI), has been working on scaling up its novel “catalytic” processing technology […] Read more
Manage crop residue with next year in mind
Reading Time: < 1 minute How you harvest, what you are using to harvest, and what you do with the residue will have a huge effect on what happens next spring. “Crop residue isn’t trash as it has a significant amount of fertilizer value,” said provincial crop specialist Harry Brook. “The straw has probably the lion’s share of this, as […] Read more
Crop prices tied to petroleum and that’s not good for farmers
British economist says the biofuel boom led to a massive increase in production of grains and oilseeds, which firmly linked agriculture to energy markets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Producers in the FarmTech conference room looked crestfallen after David Jackson told them the global oilseed market is tied to petroleum — and that oil prices will remain low for a long time. “A lot of it is out of your control,” said the British economist and director of oilseeds at LMC International, a global […] Read more
In Senegal, a land rush is pushing local farmers to the side
Africans without formal title are losing their farms to international biofuel and cash crop companies
Reading Time: 2 minutes From Farm Radio Weekly, published by Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with farm broadcasters in sub-Saharan Africa Doudou Sow is furious. For the last 10 years, small-scale farmers in his area have been steadily losing their land to an influx of private investors. The Senegalese farmer says that outsiders have been purchasing […] Read more
Scientists make ethanol without corn or other crops
The process converts carbon monoxide gas into liquid ethanol using copper electrodes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Scientists have developed a new way to make liquid ethanol efficiently without using corn or other crops needed in the conventional method for producing the biofuel. The scientists said April 9 their process turns carbon monoxide gas into liquid ethanol with the help of an electrode made of a form of copper. They said the […] Read more
Analysis: Are we near peak biofuels?
It is now clear, depending on where the boundary is set in life-cycle estimates of carbon emissions, that some biofuels offer limited or no benefits compared with conventional gasoline
Reading Time: 4 minutes A stalled biofuel industry will need to produce far more efficient fuels to avoid setting off another bout of arguments over its contribution to boosting energy security and cutting carbon emissions. Biofuels had a difficult 2012. In the United States, Energy Information Administration data show production through November fell compared with the same period the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
