Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday.

Several ethanol companies like Cosan and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol which powers almost all the country's new cars.
But now some of the state's small producers in the world's top sugar cane producer will be able to join them.

Sugar cane already powers a growing number of Brazil's cars with ethanol, and fuels nights of endless conversation inspired by a local cane-based liquor called cachaca.

Brazil's sugar and ethanol industry says cane is now also set to provide much more of the country's electricity within a decade through more efficient burning of the bagasse leftovers of sugar and ethanol production here.
"By 2020 you're looking at 15 percent of the national demand (for electric energy) in Brazil," said Adhemar Altieri, a spokesman for Brazil's center-south Unica sugar cane industry association.

John F Wasik / Mumbai August 26, 2008, 3:48 IST

My neighbour was palpably proud of himself when he mentioned at a backyard barbeque he had bought a specialised fund that invested in a solar-energy company.

When he asked me what I thought of his well-intentioned investment, though, I had to play killjoy. Instead of patting him on the back, I told him it was a bad idea. While I sense that climate change is probably a man-made global problem that needs to be addressed by all of us, as investors we often pursue the wrong ideas.

Researchers have found a new, efficient catalyst to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen - a discovery that could help make the use of hydrogen-powered cars more practical in the future.

The catalyst - which was presented this week at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia -makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 per cent yield.

It is much less expensive than others being developed around the world because it does not contain precious metals, such as platinum or Thodium.

Many practical issues in hydrogen use as fuel have been addressed

There are many practical issues that need to be resolved before we can use hydrogen as fuel

CHICAGO: After an extremely worrisome start that fanned fears of famine and economic devastation, the most crucial American crop is now on track for a bountiful harvest, the government said Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting the second-highest corn yield on record with production of 12.3 billion bushels, nearly 600 million bushels more than it anticipated earlier in the summer.

"We dodged a bullet," said Bill Nelson, a grains analyst for Wachovia.