The first biofuels produced using new generations of biomass raw materials could be available in commercial volumes from 2010 at the earliest, German junior Environment Michael Mueller said on Monday.

But the exact time scale was still unclear, Mueller said at the European Biomass conference in Hamburg.

Germany's lower house of parliament on Thursday gave final approval to government proposals to cut the target amount of biofuels to be blended into fossil fuels this year.

The lower house approved a plan to cut the 2009 blending target to 5.25 percent biofuel content in fossil fuel in 2009 from the 6.25 percent originally intended.

Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Plc said it has received approval to use 400,000 hectares of land to plant coconut trees in the Philippines to make alternative auto fuel, which it aims to sell to Japanese users in five years.

Green is in as Indian corporates race to compete for a share of the fast-growing Rs 35,250-crore global market for climate-friendly technology and carbon credits

India added nearly 3 gw of grid-connected renewable energy in 2008, 2 gw of which came from the wind sector. The government is under intense pressure to increase electricity production and has put strong incentives in place to spur investment into renewable energy from both domestic and foreign investors.

Mangalore, June 7 All the buses of KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) in Karnataka are likely to run on bio-fuel by the end of 2010-11. At present, around 2,000 buses in KSRTC are being run by fuel blended with ethanol.

R. Balaji

Chennai: Nearly a decade after the Centre decided on an ethanol-blended petrol programme, it is yet to expand the supply countrywide despite a law that makes it mandatory. Lack of priorities, conflict of interest between the States and the Centre and pricing issues have stymied the programme, say the stakeholders.