Bowing to pressure from the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), the EU on 13 March imposed temporary anti-dumping and countervailing duties - ranging from -26 to -41 per 100 kilogrammes - on imports of US biodiesel. The temporary duties may be made permanent after six months, in which case they could stay in place for up to five years.
This briefing paper synthesises recent debates, focusing on socio-economic factors. To what extent were biofuels to blame for the food price spike? What opportunities do biofuels offer for the poorest farmers in the developing world? What are their socio-environmental risks? The paper concludes with policy recommendations to reduce the risk and maximise the opportunities
India has many years of experience using renewable energy sources to fulfill the energy needs of its population. This includes exploitation of both traditional sources (such as biomass) and nontraditional sources (such as wind power).
This article showcases the successful establishment of cluster level biodiesel resource centres catering to rural energy demands and the creation of livelihood opportunities in over 70 villages in Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. Central to this initiative has been the ongoing experiences with communities who collect and sell seeds of the indigenous tree Pongamia pinnata.
Over 83% of rural families living in the Amazonian jungle of Peru have no access to electrical energy because of the difficulty and high cost of extending the electricity grid to the region. The sustainable use of biomass to generate energy could make a significant contribution in this regard, in particular in the form of liquid biofuels such as biodiesel and vegetable oils.
In the last week of August, eight cars rolled triumphantly into Athens, having driven across Europe from London in a cloud of dust and cooking smells. The 3,000-km car rally ran on oil, recycled from used cooking oil collected from restaurants, service stations, hospitals, even
Extensive analysis has been done in recent years on the technological, environmental and social aspects of biofuel production and trade. This paper aims to provide a succinct
Tata Chemicals, leading manufacturer of caustic soda and fertilisers in the country, said today that it had bought a 35 per cent stake in JOil Pte, a Singapore-based jatropha seedling company. The stake buy will help the firm gain exclusive marketing rights for technology to develop the best seed varieties of the plant, which yields biodiesel.
This study comprehensively summarises the current status of transport biofuels and related technologies in the Australian context, to provide input to formulation of government policy development and to assist in guiding future research priorities.
