The use of grain to make ethanol will rise by 31% to 124 million tonne in 2008-09, according to initial projections suggested by the International Grains Council (IGC).

Biofuels can boost incomes and yields for farmers, revitalising impoverished rural areas when they are introduced in countries with secure land ownership, the International Institute for Environment and Development said. By raising the price of crops such as corn and palm oil, biofuels can reduce poverty in countries with a high dependency on agriculture, the London-based researcher said in a report with the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

A private firm's $100 million plan of setting up maize-based ethanol generation plant near Port Qasim Karachi has been not been implemented so far. Sources in Sindh government told Business Recorder on Monday that poor law and order and political instability in the country had put the project in doldrums, as the foreign investor company is reluctant to invest here in such circumstances.

The Boston GlobeAmid concerns the planet is warming, the market for clean, green technology is beginning to show signs of overheating, too. "I call it the global warming bubble,' said Bob Metcalfe, who knows something about bubbles. An inventor of the ethernet and founder of Marlborough, Massachussets networking company 3Com Corporation, the stock of which plummeted when the tech bubble burst in 2000, Metcalfe now serves as chief executive of Cambridge biofuel start-up Green Fuel Technologies Corporation.

Sri Lankan Cabinet today approved a proposal submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance and Planning requesting suggestions for alternative measures for the burning fuel crisis. The President has sought cabinet approval to prepare a complete report of the alternative measures that should be adopted for fuel management. Rajapaksa has requested all his ministers to offer suggestions that could be practically implemented within Sri Lanka's economy to reduce the fuel consumption in the country and seek new energy sources.

While most companies are watching soaring oil prices with an eye on rising costs some renewable energy executives are licking their lips at the prospect of "spectacular" growth. Oil sped above $135 to a new record for a third straight day on Thursday. That and new forecasts of a higher floor price has some alternative energy suppliers dreaming of an era of peak oil when global crude output starts to fall.

A TEAM of scientists at the Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI) at Thoothukudi has successfully extracted bio-fuel from marine micro algae. The extraction of bio-fuel by standardising the research procedure from marine micro algae is a major breakthrough and the FCRI has planned to develop an industrial model for mass production of bio-fuel from marine micro algae, said institute dean V K Venkataramani.

The head of an Israeli-backed electric car project estimated on Sunday that its partner, the Renault-Nissan alliance, would likely invest $500 million to $1 billion in the swappable-battery electric cars. "This is the cost for a three-year car programme," Shai Agassi, the founder and chief executive of California-based Project Better Place, said on the sidelines of a news conference to introduce the electric car prototype.