The global recession has collapsed both oil and grain prices, putting the food v fuel debate on the back burner. However, when and as the world economy recovers, demand for energy will increase. At the same time, U.S. and EU policies ensure that demand for corn and other biofuel feedstocks will increase.
Anticipating renewed debate on food v fuel in the New Year, I attach several relevant studies that appeared during the past six months.
Bruce Babcock, Breaking the Link between Food and Biofuels, Iowa Ag Review, Summer…
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by Marlow Lewis
July 16, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
Biofuel policies criticised by OECD
Agra Europe Weekly
Wednesday July 16 2008
A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development argues that existing policies for biofuels in OECD countries are costly, and that their impact on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions is limited, writes Dr Alan Bullion, deputy editor of F.O. Licht’s ‘World Biofuels Report’.
Futhermore, the report fuels the debate over food prices by suggesting that existing support mechanisms are having a significant impact on global commodity prices, although concluding that this…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 17, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
With oil topping $135 a barrel, ethanol must be cheaper than gasoline, right? Not if you adjust for the fact that ethanol has about 30% less energy content than gasoline by volume.
The American Automobile Association monitors daily average national prices for gasoline and E-85, motor fuel blended with 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. When the ethanol fuel-economy penalty is taken into account, E-85 cost $4.704 a gallon compared to $4.486 for premium gasoline and $4.078 for regular gasoline. Here’s today’s chart…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 16, 2008 @ 11:30 am
That’s what two Cornell University economics professors argue in the commentary below, published by Resources for the Future
The Forgotten Flaw in Biofuels Policy: How Tax Credits in the Presence of Mandates Subsidize Oil Consumption
Resources for the Future, June 9, 2008
Harry de Gorter and David R. Just
Gasoline prices are at record highs, and there is widespread public confusion over the reasons why and who is really to blame. But the devil is all in the details. Here we will look at…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 16, 2008 @ 10:47 am
“Some of the most commonly recommended species for biofuels production are also major invasive alien species,” the paper says, adding that these crops should be studied more thoroughly before being cultivated in new areas.
A friend of mine jokes that green lobbying groups love any and every form of energy–as long as there is no market for it. As soon as a market develops–even a government-contrived market–the greens decry the environmental impacts and organize opposition. For example, Rober Kennedy, Jr. professes to love…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 16, 2008 @ 10:27 am
A column in today’s Greenwire [subscription required] reports that POET, the nation’s largest ethanol producer, won an $80 million DOE grant to turn corn cobs into ethanol. Greenwire also notes that in December 2007, Congress upped the tax credit for cellulosic ethanol to $1.01 per gallon.
John Ashworth, a team leader at DOE’s Renewable Energy Laboratory, predicts that as gasoline prices continue to rise, carmakers will produce more flex fuel (E-85-capable) vehicles, and gasoline stations will install pumps like those in…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 16, 2008 @ 10:02 am
The planned $12.5 billion in new outlays on bio-refineries seemed to make sense when crude-oil prices began rocketing last year. But the price of palm oil - produced widely in Southeast Asia - has climbed even more steeply, making biodiesel plants that use the commodity commercially unviable.
Costlier Palm Oil, Europe Oversupply Cast Cloudy Outlook
By TOM WRIGHT
April 30, 2008
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Plans to invest billions of dollars in biodiesel refineries across Southeast Asia have been put on hold as the prices…
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by Marlow Lewis
May 20, 2008 @ 9:49 am
REUTERS: USDA HEAD DOWNPLAYS CALLS TO CUT BIOFUEL MANDATE
By Christopher Doering
May 19, 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said ethanol is not having a “major” impact on food prices, and downplayed calls by lawmakers and industry groups to make changes to programs that promote increased use of biofuels.
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by Marlow Lewis
May 20, 2008 @ 9:44 am
BIOFUELS: Hutchison pushes for ethanol mandate freeze
By Josh Voorhees, E&ENews PM reporter
May 19, 2008
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) today floated legislation [subscription required] to freeze the corn ethanol mandate at its current level of 9 billion gallons a year.
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