German consortium starts production of ultra-clean synthetic biofuels

A group of German research organisations has begun [*German] producing the primary feedstock for high-quality synthetic biofuels from different types of biomass. The process to obtain such 'biomass-to-liquid' (BtL) fuels was named 'bioLiq' and consists of two steps: a decentralised phase in which raw biomass is transformed close to the source of harvest into an oil with a high energy density via fast-pyrolysis. The resulting bio-oil can then be transported economically to a central facility where it is gasified and liquefied via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis into a range of finished fuel products. The process allows for the production of fuels with properties similar to diesel or gasoline, with the difference that the synthetic biofuels are ultra-clean and renewable.

The Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK) and Lurgi AG have been designing and building the fast-pyrolysis pilot plant for the past two years. During the inauguration last week (June 20) both organisations signed an agreement to build the gasification and liquefaction plant needed to perform the second stage of the production. The work is being supported by the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (Agency for Renewable Materials, of Germany's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer protection).

The fast-pyrolysis plant can transform 500 kilograms of biomass per hour. It is a test-bed for commercial plants which will convert up to 50 tons per hour. Part of the second-stage of the process (gasification into synthesis gas) is carried out by a third partner, Future Energy in Freiberg.

Synthetic biofuels are based on renewable biomass, which is why they do not add CO2 to the atmosphere when they are combusted. But aside from their carbon-neutrality, they also have properties that far surpass those of petroleum based fuels and other biofuels: they are sulphur-free, low aromatic and odourless fuels that significantly reduce regulated and non-regulated vehicle pollutant emissions (NOx, SOx, PM, VOC, CO). They can be readily used in existing fuelling infrastructures and engines, but they also enable the development of a new generation of internal combustion engine technologies with improved engine efficiency and further reduction of vehicle pollutant emissions. Synthetic biofuels are readily biodegradable and non-toxic.

Decentralised production
The two-stage bioLiq process developed by the FZK is a first step towards the large-scale adoption of synthetic biofuels in Germany, where they are estimated to have the potential to replace up to 15% of all transport fuels by 2015 and 35% by 2030 (estimates by the German Energy Agency - earlier post).

The main bottleneck in the production chain of BtL fuels is the low energy density of biomass feedstocks such as wood chips, straw, paper, pulp and other residues from agriculture, forestry and industry. By placing fast-pyrolysis plants near the biomass source the residues can be transformed into bio-oil (pyrolysis oil) the energy density of which is 13 to 15 times higher. Transporting raw biomass over distances larger than 25 kilometres is economically unattractive, with bio-oil the range can be extended by a factor of 10 and more.

This decentralised concept makes it possible to transform biomass into a bio-oil while using existing agricultural production chains and structures. Part of the added value chain is thus kept local, close to the biomass source. - Dr. Ludolf Plass, Chief of Technological Development of Lurgi AG

The decentralised fast-pyrolysis step consists of heating the biomass in the absence of air to a temperature of 500°C after which pyrolysis oil and tar is obtained. Both materials are then mixed into a liquid suspension ('bioliqSyncrude') ready to be shipped to the gasification and Fischer-Tropsch plant:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: fast-pyrolysis :: Fischer-Tropsch :: synthetic biofuels :: biomass-to-liquids :: Germany ::

Central facility
There, the bioliqSyncrude is gasified in an entrained flow gasifier at temperatures of up to 1200 °C and pressures of 80bar to obtain a tar-free synthesis gas, which consists mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Future Energy based in Freiberg has tested and improved its 5MW gasifier over the past years in such a way that it has become possible to transfer the high pressure synthesis gas directly to the next synthesis steps. An intermediate compression step - which is costly and risky - is thereby avoided.

The synthesis gas can be converted into a broad range of platform chemicals. Via the Fischer-Tropsch process it can be transformed into synthetic fuels. A process to convert the gas into methanol, an intermediate material for other fuels, was developed as well. This way, a series of 'designer fuels' can be made with properties similar to fuels from the entire spectrum of middle distillates found in traditional oil refining. The synthetic biofuels are much cleaner, less damaging to the environment, and emit far fewer of all the common emissions. Synthetic biofuels are also cleaner than first generation types of biodiesel and bioethanol. They promise to allow countries to reach their targets for the use of low-carbon fuels, part of the effort to mitigate climate change.

Background
The technology to transform synthesis gas into liquid fuels - the Fischer-Tropsch process - was developed in the 1930s in Germany, when oil was scarce. Coal was used as a feedstock, but that would be problematic today. Renewable biomass can readily substitute coal, but it has taken a while before researchers found the most optimal ways to use different types of it as a feedstock. It is important to know and standardize the properties of the primary bio-oil (bioliqSyncrude) obtained from many different sources of biomass, because once this oil has been produced there is no way back and it will be used 'as is' in the gasification and liquefaction stage.

This is why the fast-pyrolysis pilot plays such a crucial role in the entire project. It allows us to test and optimize the transformation of different types biomass. With Lurgi AG we have found a partner who has been developing the technology for years and who has made several key innovations - Professor Dr. Eckhard Dinjus, Director of the Instituts für Technische Chemie, part of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.

Lurgi AG began experimenting with the fast-pyrolysis of coal and petroleum products in the 1970s. Today it is a leader in the use of the same process on biomass. The same company has also been instrumental in the growth of the biodiesel and bioethanol industry and has built a large number of plants throughout Europe.

The two-stage bioliq process has received a lot of attention from the political, industrial and business communities. Besides the German auto-industry and players in the petrochemical sector, investors from across Europe and beyond have shown interest, partly because the bioliq-concept received the prestigious "BlueSky Award" from the UNIDO, in 2006. The UNIDO is a UN agency that deals with industrial development; the award is given to organisations which develop breakthrough technologies that might benefit mankind as a whole.

The award points to the fact that the technology can be used in the developing world, where large streams of unused biomass are available. Transforming these raw resources into bio-oil allows for the creation of an export oriented biofuels industry, in which the Global South benefits from its competitive advantages in the agricultural sector.

The costs for the production of these next-generation synthetic biofuels is estimated to be around 50 eurocent. To this must be added the costs for the raw biomass which are estimated to be slightly lower but in the same range. This way, the total costs for the high-tech fuels will be below 1 Euro per liter.

The Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe is a member of the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, an organisation uniting 15 of Germany's top research institutions. Its annual budget is around €2.1 billion, making it the largest scientific organisation in the country. A total of 24,000 scientists, researchers and other staff work for the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft in fields ranging from materials sciencies, the environment and Earth sciences, transport, health, energy and new key technology fields such as nanotechnology.

Translated and adapted by Jonas Van Den Berg and Laurens Rademakers

Image: the fast-pyrolis plant at the FZK in Karlsruhe. Courtesy: Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.

References:
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft: bioliq® – Stroh im Tank! - June 20, 2007.

Lurig AG: Lurgi making fuel from biomass - June 21, 2007.

Biopact: German Energy Agency: biomass-to-liquids can meet up to 35% of Germany's fuel needs by 2030 - December 15, 2006

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Oman Green Energy Company makes ethanol from date palm, plans large refinery, 100 ethanol pumps by 2010

Entrepreneurs based in the city of Sohar, Oman, want to turn the sultanate and oil producer into the first Arab country to use biofuels on a large scale. Mohammad Bin Saif Al Harthy and his partners at the Oman Green Energy Company claim they have been successfully producing and testing ethanol from biomass obtained from the abundantly present date palms for the last 18 months.

In an interview with Gulf News Al Harthy said that the production method does not affect the date crop nor does it require the removal of palm trees. Instead, cellulose biomass will be extracted from around 80,000 date palms in a 'non-intensive' way. The description of the process remains vague and could involve tapping glucose-rich sap from the tree, a technique which would however be very labor-intensive (see here for an Algerian biotech company that simply uses the sugar-rich fruits).

Sugars in dates consist of a mixture of sucrose, glucose and fructose. Traditionally, dates have been used more to make date palm wine, alcohol, syrup and liquid sugar than as fruits. Dates belong to the sweetest of all fruits, with a sugar content ranging from 45 to 85% on a dry weight basis (table, click to enlarge). So in principle, they make for an interesting biofuel feedstock.

The Omani company sees an opportunity and immediately thinks big:

• over the next 10 years, it wants to establish plantations with a total of 10 million date palms
• a biofuel refinery will be set up in Sohar and will have an annual capacity of 900,000 tonnes for the first two years, to be increased to 4.8 million tonnes within four years
• it wants to open 100 ethanol stations across the country by 2010
• large-scale production and marketing of the biofuel will begin by 2010
• the biofuel project is expected to generate employment for over 3,500 Omanis in the first five years

Date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) thrive in Oman's hot and arid climate. They require temperatures of around 40°C but quite some water, which is provided by irrigation systems (some of which are millenia old). The palm is the sultanate's the primary crop where it represents 82% of all fruit trees. Soil and water salinity, pests and diseases, increased production costs as well as limited market outlets led to a decline in date production in recent years. In 2005, Oman harvested some 238,000 tonnes of dates, grown on 34,000 hectares, yielding an average of 7 tonnes per hectare - down from 2001, when the country's date palm production reached a highpoint with 298,000 tonnes harvested (FAOstat). Apparently, biofuels may revive the sector.

Even though it is not a member of OPEC, Oman is heavily dependent on oil production. The sultanate derives over 90% of its export revenues from the 700,000 barrels of petroleum it produces each single day:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: biofuels :: ethanol :: date palm :: sugar :: Oman ::

Al Harthy claims his company has acquired a licence to set up the biorefinery in Sohar, the northern town in Oman that has become a hub of petrochemical industries. The entrepreneur and his partners at the Oman Green Energy Company are also hoping to raise 55 million Omani riyals (€106.3/US$142.8 million) capital from European countries.

Talking about the experiment of running his own car on biofuel, Al Harthy said: "All small cars can run on biofuel without any problems and it is much cheaper compared to conventional petrol and also helpful for our environment." Al Harthy also said that the prime target would be automobile users but they would also supply ethanol to power stations.

He claimed that Oman would be the first country in the world neither to cut trees nor to use waste, chip wood to extract cellulose ethanol. "We plan to use the enzyme that we have developed to extract the biomass from palm trees," he said, admitting that they are also seeking collaborations with laboratories in the West.

It is unclear whether Al Harthy's company has developed any innovative technologies either for the harvest of primary feedstock or for its conversion into ethanol. But the production of ethanol from date palm fruits is not unfeasible as such. The oil-producing sultanate may well have cars running on biofuel in the near future.

Table taken from: Date palm products, Agricultural Services Bulletins - 101, 1993, T0681/E

References:
Gulf News: Tapping green alternative - June 23, 2007.

R. Al-Yahyai, "Improvement of date palm production in the Sultanate of Oman", ISHS Acta Horticulturae 736: III International Date Palm Conference, February 2006.

The FAO has an interesting overview of the date palm's cultivation and uses: Date palm products, Agricultural Services Bulletins - 101, 1993, T0681/E

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University of Georgia and Mexican universities team up to produce bioenergy from livestock waste

The University of Georgia and a group of Mexican universities have formed a new research partnership to share expertise in generating biofuels and bioenergy from waste materials generated by the livestock sector. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the partnership will initiate training, internships and exchanges between UGA and a wide array of academics and professionals in Mexico.

The program is designed to provide Mexico's agricultural professionals the skills needed to analyze and support sustainable management of resources at the interface of agriculture and the environment.

The UGA partnership with the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro and the Ecogenics Center for Study of Alternative Solutions of Sevierville, Tenn., will sponsor a demand-driven, integrated and interdisciplinary program of training and technical support to the livestock industry in the Laguna region of Mexico. The program will provide scholarships for 18 students from Mexico and sponsor faculty exchanges of 12 Mexican faculty visiting the U.S and 10 UGA faculty visiting Mexico over a two year period.

The program will target technology and business policy relating to integrated waste management that is cost-effective and will provide additional income through co-product generation from waste treatment. One aspect of the grant will integrate new innovations in animal waste treatment with the production of biofuels and bioenergy. In addition, the program will develop and analyze public policy, with a goal of regulatory regimes that improve productivity and competitiveness in the livestock sector:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: livestock :: waste management :: manure :: biomass :: biogas :: bioenergy :: Mexico ::

Under this research partnership, students will come here to gain insights and training in engineering technology connected to managing and converting waste to energy in the livestock sector. I am excited about it - the project will support education of graduate and undergraduate students at UGA and training of research and outreach faculty in Mexico and at our institution. - K.C. Das, UGA engineering professor, project director for the U.S.

Joint training programs and workshops in the partnership will be organized by UGA-Mexican partner universities for students, faculty, government officials and regulatory board officials, as well as livestock industry personnel. Participants will focus on animal waste - using it to grow algae in the production of biodiesel, or anaerobically digesting it to produce methane, for example - and the fuels that can be generated from waste materials.

Livestock production worldwide has grown rapidly in light of increased demand for meat in developing countries. The potential for rural economic development and threats of environmental degradation alike have grown alongside the need for new sources of bioenergy. Finding new energy sources from waste streams within the industry is one way engineers have determined to fuse these three aspects into one route for competitive advantage and sustainable growth. The confluence of engineering technology with agricultural economics is a UGA strength that created the context for the new partnership.

The UGA Faculty of Engineering was established in 2001 to advance comprehensive engineering at the University of Georgia. With over 100 members from twenty-four departments in nine schools and colleges across campus, the Faculty of Engineering provides an entrepreneurial setting for engineering academic programs in the unique environment of UGA.

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Alstom signs contracts with E.ON, Statoil and AEP to trial chilled ammonia carbon capture technique

At the Biopact, we keep track of advancements in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, because they can be applied to power plants no matter which fuel they burn. This includes solid biomass (co-fired with coal), liquid biofuels and biogas.

When a power plant utilizes such biofuels and captures the carbon dioxide released from them to sequester the gas, the useful energy obtained from such a facility in fact becomes carbon-negative. That is, the more you use of it, the more CO2 gets taken out of the atmosphere. No other energy system can become carbon-negative (other renewables like wind and solar are slightly carbon positive or carbon neutral at best, CCS with fossil fuels remains a largely carbon positive system).

CCS power plants burning biofuels are called 'Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage' (BECS) systems and are seen by scientists to be one of the only few feasible options to mitigate climate change in a serious way and on a large scale, without drastically cutting the power supply to societies (earlier post).

There are some risks involved in CCS, though, like potential leakage of CO2 from the sequestration site. For this reason, some think the safest way forward is to start large CCS trials immediately with biofuels. In case CO2 leakage were to occur, the escaping gas would only be carbon neutral. But when fossil fuels like coal and natural gas were to be used, the leakage would result in a net increase in CO2 in the atmosphere.

But the main bottleneck for CCS (with biofuels or not) to become commercially feasible is the lack of efficient carbon capture techniques. Several options are available. CO2 can either be removed from the fuel before it is burned ('pre-combustion capture') or from the flue gases after combustion ('post-combustion capture'). An overview of these different techniques can be found here.

French multinational Alstom now announces it has signed contracts with energy giants E.ON, Statoil and American Electric Power to test its chilled ammonia carbon capture technology on both coal and natural gas (schematic, click to enlarge).

With E.ON
Jointly with E.ON, Alstom will implement the chilled ammonia process as a 5MW demonstration plant at the Karlshamn Power Plant in southern Sweden and is expected to begin operation in 2008. The companies plan to introduce the technology in other Swedish power plants after technical evaluation:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: fossil fuels :: coal :: natural gas :: carbon capture and storage :: CCS :: BECS ::

Because CO2 is recognised as the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, development of this technology is an important milestone towards reducing power industry carbon emissions. Alstom’s chilled ammonia technology uses ammonia to capture CO2 emissions that would normally escape into the atmosphere and holds great promise for achieving CO2 capture economically and with low energy loss.

According to Alstom, research suggests that chilled ammonia-based CO2 capture can remove up to 90% of the CO2 from flue gases. Although there are several proposed techniques that can separate carbon dioxide from the other gases, Alstom’s chilled ammonia process greatly reduces the amount of energy used to capture CO2.

This energy is referred to as the 'energy loss' because the plant’s energy output is reduced by the amount of energy needed to remove the CO2. Studies demonstrate that Alstom’s technology results in an energy loss of approximately 10% versus other methods of post-combustion CO2 separation, which result in losses of nearly 30%.

The Alstom/E.ON contract follows a similar agreement made between Alstom and AEP (American Electric Power) in the U.S. to develop a demonstration plant at a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia and has a start date of 2008. A full scale CO2 capture demonstration plant is scheduled to follow at an AEP site in Oklahoma in 2011.

The Alstom chilled ammonia CO2 capture technology will also be demonstrated with We Energies at a 15,000 tonnes per year pilot plant project at its Pleasant Prairie plant, Wisconsin, in the US.

With Statoil
Alstom's cooperation with Norwegian gas and oil company Statoil is aimed at testing the same post-combustion capture technique to remove CO2 from flue gases particular to natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants.

The objective of the agreement covers the design and construction of a 40MW test and product validation facility at Statoil’s Mongstad refinery in Norway. This facility will be designed to capture at least 80,000 tons per year of CO2 from flue gases from the refinery’s cracker unit or from a new combined heat and power plant being built by Statoil and scheduled to be in operation by 2010. The test and product validation facility is expected to enter operation by 2009-2010 with the first operation and testing phase to last 12-18 months.

It is the intent of both parties that this facility will lead to technical advances and the construction of a larger CO2 capture unit that may eventually capture over 2 million tons per year of CO2 at Mongstad.

Alstom and Statoil have been cooperating, in addition to other parties including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in the development of the chilled ammonia CO2 capture technology since 2005.

With American Electric Power
The Statoil deal follows an agreement made between Alstom and AEP (American Electric Power) in the US to develop the technology for application on utility coal-fired boilers and to carry out a pilot. Initial research and development of the Alstom chilled ammonia CO2 capture technology has been jointly funded by Alstom, EPRI and Statoil.

Alstom and American Electric Power (AEP) earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring Alstom’s chilled ammonia process for CO2 capture to full commercial scale of up to 200 MW by 2011. It is described as a major step in demonstrating post-combustion carbon capture. The technology has the great advantage versus other technologies of being fully applicable not only for new power plants, but also for the retrofit of existing coal-fired power plants.

The project will be implemented in two phases. In phase one, Alstom and AEP will jointly develop a 30 MWth product validation that will capture CO2 from flue gas emitted from AEP’s 1300 MW Mountaineer Plant located in New Haven, West Virginia. It is targeted to capture up to 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. The captured CO2 will be designated for geological storage in deep saline aquifers at the site. This pilot is scheduled for start-up at the end of 2008 and will operate for approximately 12-18 months (overview of the plant, first image, click to enlarge).

In phase two, Alstom will design, construct and commission a commercial scale of up to 200 MW CO2 capture system on one of the 450 MW coal-fired units at its Northeastern Station in Oologah, Oklahoma. The system is scheduled for start-up in late 2011. It is expected to capture about 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year, commercially validating this promising technology. The CO2 captured at Northeastern Station will be used for enhanced oil recovery.

CCS elsewhere
CCS is being developed in response to demands for the coal industry to clean up its act because it is the biggest emitter of climate destructive greenhouse gases. A United Nations expert group has called for more investments in CCS, a top NASA scientists has called for a moratorium on coal that should be lifted only when CCS techniques have become feasible, and the EU recently launched a public consultation on CCS because of growing concern amongst Europeans with climate change and the role of fossil fuels.

Actual CCS trials and projects are currently underway in Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Australia.

Besides bioenergy with CCS, there is another, low-tech approach to creating carbon-negative biofuels. This involves the conversion of biomass into pyrolysis oil and biochar ('agrichar'). The bio-oil is used as a biofuel, whereas the biochar is sequestered in agricultural soils, which boosts the health of these soils and increases crop yields (more info in this text, and the further references there).

Image 1: Footprint of AEP's chilled ammonia process plant. Credit: AEP, Michael G. Morris: presentation of CCS technologies at the Morgan Stanley Global Electricity & Energy Conference, March 15, 2007, New York.

Image 2: Schematic of the chilled ammonia process. Credit: AEP, Michael G. Morris: presentation of CCS technologies at the Morgan Stanley Global Electricity & Energy Conference, March 15, 2007, New York.

References:
Alstom: Alstom signs contract with global company E.ON to build chilled ammonia based CO2 capture plant in Sweden for oil and gas - 21 June 2007.

Alstom: Alstom and Statoil to jointly develop project for chilled ammonia-based CO2 capture for natural gas in Norway - 21 June 2007

Alstom: Alstom and American Electric Power sign agreement to bring CO2 capture technology to commercial scale by 2011 - 15 March 2007

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Presenting the Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database

Investments in the renewable energy sector are growing at an unprecedented rate, as was recently observed in a report by the United Nations Environment Programme. Last year, over US$100 billion of new money went into the green and the clean. One of the key factors determining the success and feasibility of such investments is the local policy climate, specific rules and regulations and possible government incentives. However, finding your way through the dense forest of national and regional policies for this gradually maturing sector can be time-consuming and complex.

Help is on the way, though. An excellent resource on renewable energy policies in different countries is currently being compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition and the European Commission.

The initiative is building a database that features over 100 countries and offers renewable energy market and policy information in one format in one location for countries that together represent almost the total global renewables supply.

The Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database is freely accessible online and offers a wealth of information for energy analysts, policy makers, investors and the interested individual. Visitors can search for information according to to country, policy instrument and type, renewable energy technology, renewable energy target and other criteria such as technology market leaders. Additional IEA energy data per country are included as well.

This online searchable database is part of a continued effort by the IEA to contribute to the international dialogue on renewable energy by providing unbiased information and analysis for the use by decision-makers, policy experts, researchers and industry, as well the broader public [entry ends here].
energy :: sustainability :: wind :: solar :: hydro :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: renewables :: policies :: EU :: IEA ::

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UK government proposes new measures to encourage sustainable biofuels

The UK's Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander underlined the British government's commitment to sustainable biofuels, as he launched a consultation on an environmental reporting system for this type of fuel and a package of measures to complement the reporting requirement.

The consultation is a key part of work on the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which means that by 2010, 5% of all the fuel sold on UK forecourts should come from biofuels. This is expected to save 1 million tones of carbon a year, the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.

In addition to the consultation, the Secretary of State today announced that:

• from April 2010 the government aims to reward biofuels under the RTFO according to the amount of carbon they save. This will be subject to compatibility with EU and WTO requirements and future consultation on the environmental and economic impacts;
• from April 2011 the government aims to reward biofuels under the RTFO only if they meet appropriate sustainability standards. This will be subject to the same provisos as above and subject to the development of such standards for the relevant feedstocks.
• the government will ask the RTFO Administrator to report every three months on the effectiveness of the RTFO's environmental reporting system, and on the carbon and sustainability effects of the RTFO;
• the government intends to set challenging targets for: the level of greenhouse gas savings we expect to see from biofuels used to meet the RTFO, the proportion of biofuels from feedstock grown to recognised sustainability standards and the amount of information we expect to be included in sustainability reports;
• the government has asked the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership to explore the feasibility of a voluntary labelling scheme, allowing responsible retailers to show that the biofuels they supply are genuinely sustainable. Any scheme would need to be compatible with WTO rules.

Note that the references to the WTO rules imply that such sustainability criteria can not become a new set of protectionist trade barriers blocking the import of competitive biofuels produced in the developing world. Moreover, it is to be expected that very few biofuels produced in either the US or the EU can conform to a criterion that requires these biofuels to reduce carbon emissions. There is as yet no scientific consensus on the greenhouse gas balance of these fuels. Some scientists have found first generation biodiesel and ethanol made from rapeseed and corn to be net carbon contributors or to have very weak balances (here for rapeseed, and for corn).

On the other hand biofuels made from tropical crops, like sugarcane and cassava-based ethanol and sustainably produced biodiesel from palm oil, have a very strong carbon and energy balance, but they may fuel deforestation and partly offset these advantages. Alternative crops like new varieties of sweet sorghum and jatropha curcas, which thrive in non-forest, semi-arid lands may offer the perfect compromise. Other tropical grass and tree species might do so as well and prove better feedstocks for second-generation biofuels than the ones currently used in the UK. There is a large potential for sustainable biofuel trade (earlier post).

The British government has often stated that without bioenergy imports it will not be easy to achieve its biofuels targets. Moreover, it has been investing (together with Brazil) in a few developing countries to help them produce biofuels for export. But amongst key stakeholders there is now a consensus that a comprehensive set of sustainability criteria for all biofuels should be introduced:
biofuels :: energy :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: greenhouse gas balance :: environmental sustainability :: social sustainability :: trade ::

A large number of existing agri-environment and social accountability schemes have been benchmarked against a set of core environmental and social principles, to allow the government to propose a list of "qualifying standards" for RTFO purposes. These are standards that deliver an acceptable level of sustainability assurance. The consultation document suggests that the following standards should initially count as "qualifying standards", although the list will be revised as suitable new standards are developed for different feedstocks:

• Linking Environment and Farming Marque
• Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
• Sustainable Agriculture Network
• Rainforest Alliance
• Basel Criteria for Soy [*.pdf]
• Forest Stewardship Council
• Social Accountability 8000

On launching the consultation Douglas Alexander said:

Biofuels present an opportunity to address the climate change impact of transport. But we must ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. The UK is leading international debate on this issue. We are one of the first countries to develop a detailed methodology to allow transport fuel suppliers to report in detail on the carbon and sustainability impacts of their biofuels. And the comprehensive package of new measures we are proposing today only strengthens this global leadership role, by making clear our determination to put in place a mandatory sustainability framework for biofuels, putting us at the forefront globally of tackling this important issue.

To receive certificates under the RTFO scheme from April 2008, it is intended that transport fuel suppliers will have to complete a report on the carbon savings offered by their biofuels, as well as on the wider sustainability impacts associated with them. The RTFO Administrator will publish information on the environmental impacts of the RTFO. The consultation sets out the detail of the proposed requirements for these reports.

The consultation closes on 13 September. The RTFO Administrator will publish the final version of the reporting requirements as soon as possible after the RTFO Order has been made.

The approach will be piloted with a number of transport fuel suppliers alongside the public consultation.

The British consultation comes after the Netherlands created a first proposal for a set of biofuels sustainability criteria, earlier this year, the so-called Cramer Criteria. On a conceptual level, some researchers have designed a kind of Green Biofuels Index, measuring the greenhouse gas and energy balance of particular biofuels.

Note that none of the proposals takes social justice nor historical justice into account. Developing countries have often said that the US and European countries have deforested their own forests long ago, which allowed them to create a modern agricultural base which they now might use to grow energy crops - as if this past doesn't count.

This historic deforestation burden not only contributed massively to past greenhouse gas emissions, it also allowed rapid industrialisation. Developing countries think it is unfair that the US and the EU impose criteria on them today, whereas these very countries have a tremendous historic deforestation burden. In fact, the West has become so wealthy because of this highly carbon intensive industrial development, that it has broken the trend of increasing deforestation. In the EU and the US, forest cover is for the first time in centuries increasing again (more here).

A more just proposal for sustainability criteria would add carbon emitted from deforestation in the past, to the actual carbon balance of biofuels produced in the present. On the historic carbon burden of highly industrialised countries, see here.

References:
The consultation documents, including further information on the proposed targets, can be found on the UK's Department for Transport website, here.

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Northern forests less effective carbon sinks than tropical forests

Researchers have found that forests in the United States and other northern mid- and upper-latitude regions are playing a smaller role in offsetting global warming than previously thought. They publish their study in this week's issue of Science. Tropical forests on the other hand were found to sequester much more carbon dioxide than thought. This confirms recent findings by other teams (here) and updates the status of tropical forests from net carbon source to sink.

The Southern Ocean remains a strong carbon sink, even though its capacity to sequester the greenhouse gas is weakening (earlier post). A second study in Science shows carbon dioxide is taken up more by the Southern Ocean, but less by tropical land areas, than previously thought.

Both findings on the role played by different ecosystems in the global carbon cycle have consequences for the design of strategies aimed at reducing tropical deforestation and for the urgency of implementing policies such as 'compensated reduction' in the forest-rich countries of the tropics.

The study on forests, which sheds light on the so-called 'missing carbon sink', concludes that intact tropical forests are removing an unexpectedly high proportion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby partially offsetting carbon entering the air through industrial emissions and deforestation.

The Science paper was written by a team of scientists led by Britton Stephens of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This research fills in another piece of the complex puzzle on how the Earth system functions. These findings will be viewed as a milestone in discoveries about our planet's 'metabolism. - Cliff Jacobs, NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences.

Stephens and his colleagues analyzed air samples that had been collected by aircraft across the globe for decades but never before synthesized to study the global carbon cycle. The team found that some 40 percent of the carbon dioxide assumed to be absorbed by northern forests is instead being taken up in the tropics:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: biomass :: greenhouse gas emissions :: CO2 :: carbon sink :: carbon cycle :: Southern Ocean :: soils :: forests ::

"Our study will provide researchers with a much better understanding of how trees and other plants respond to industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, which is a critical problem in global warming," Stephens says. "This will help us better predict climate change and identify possible strategies for mitigating it."

For years, one of the biggest mysteries in climate science has been the question of what ultimately happens to the carbon emitted by motor vehicles, factories, deforestation and other sources.

Of the approximately 8 billion tons of carbon emitted each year, about 40 percent accumulates in the atmosphere and about 30 percent is absorbed by the oceans. Scientists believe that terrestrial ecosystems, especially trees, are taking up the remainder.

The missing sink
Computer models that combine worldwide wind patterns and measurements of carbon dioxide taken just above ground level indicate that northern forests are taking up about 2.4 billion tons. However, ground-based studies have tracked only about half that amount, leaving scientists to speculate about a "missing carbon sink" in the north.

To test whether the computer models were correct, Stephens and his collaborators turned to flasks of air that had been collected by research aircraft over various points of the globe.

The air samples had been collected and analyzed by seven labs, where they were used to investigate various aspects of the carbon cycle, but this is the first time scientists used them to obtain a picture of sources and sinks of carbon on a global level.

The research team compared the air samples to estimates of airborne carbon dioxide concentrations generated by the computer models. They found that the models significantly underestimated the airborne concentrations of carbon dioxide in northern latitudes, especially in the summertime when plants take in more carbon.

The aircraft samples show that northern forests take up only 1.5 billion tons of carbon a year, which is almost 1 billion tons less than the estimate produced by the computer models.

From net source to sink
The scientists also found that intact tropical ecosystems are a more important carbon sink than previously thought. The models had generally indicated that tropical ecosystems were a net source of 1.8 billion tons of carbon, largely because trees and other plants release carbon into the atmosphere as a result of widespread logging, burning and other forms of clearing land.

The new research indicates, instead, that tropical ecosystems are the net source of only about 100 million tons, even though tropical deforestation is occurring rapidly.

"Our results indicate that intact tropical forests are taking up a large amount of carbon," Stephens explains. "They are helping to offset industrial carbon emissions and the atmospheric impacts of clearing land more than we realized."

Most of the computers models produced incorrect estimates because, in relying on ground-level measurements, they had failed to accurately simulate the movement of carbon dioxide vertically in the atmosphere.

The computer models tended to move too much carbon dioxide down toward ground level in the summer, when growing trees and other plants take in the gas, and not enough carbon dioxide up from ground level in the winter.

As a result, scientists believed that there was less carbon in the air above mid-latitude and upper-latitude forests, presumably because trees and other plants were absorbing high amounts.

Conversely, scientists had assumed a large amount of carbon was coming out of the tropics and moving through the atmosphere to be taken up in other regions. The new analysis of aircraft samples shows that this is not the case.

Southern Ocean strong sink, but weakening
Based on observed atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and an inverse method, a team of researchers led by Corinne Le Quéré of the Max Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, estimates that the Southern Ocean sink of CO2 has weakened between 1981 and 2004 by 0.08 petagrams of carbon per year per decade relative to the trend expected from the large increase in atmospheric CO2.

The researchers attribute this weakening to the observed increase in Southern Ocean winds resulting from human activities, which is projected to continue in the future.

Consequences include a reduction of the efficiency of the Southern Ocean sink of CO2 in the short term (about 25 years) and possibly a higher level of stabilization of atmospheric CO2 on a multicentury time scale.

References
Eurekalert: Northern forests less effective than tropical forests in reducing global warming - June 21, 2007.

Britton B. Stephens, et. al., "Weak Northern and Strong Tropical Land Carbon Uptake from Vertical Profiles of Atmospheric CO2", Science 22 June 2007: Vol. 316. no. 5832, pp. 1732 - 1735, DOI: 10.1126/science.1137004

Corinne Le Quéré, et. al, "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO2 Sink Due to Recent Climate Change", Science 22 June 2007: Vol. 316. no. 5832, pp. 1735 - 1738, DOI: 10.1126/science.1136188

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Latest Doha talks collapse again, agriculture remains stumbling block

Talks between trade powers to salvage global trade talks collapsed today, throwing the future of the World Trade Organisation's struggling 'Doha Development Round' deeper into doubt. The Doha round's original aim was to adjust the global trade regime in such a way that it helps lift millions out of poverty through more trade. Doha has faced problems from the start, mainly over agriculture, a highly sensitive political issue for both developing as well as wealthy nations.

Trade and agriculture ministers from the 'G4' - the EU and the US, representing rich nations, and India and Brazil, for the developing world - had been meeting in Germany to find a new breakthrough but talks collapsed and the parties blamed each other for the failure. Brazil and India said the EU and US did not offer enough concessions on agricultural subsidies and trade barriers. The EU and the US in turn blamed their counterparts for not going far enough on opening markets for manufactured goods. The wealthy countries try to secure export opportunities for their own corporations. However, the crux of the matter is that trade barriers and subsidies remain much higher for agriculture in the EU/US than for manufactured goods in the Global South. Also consider that 70 percent of people in developing countries depend directly or indirectly on agriculture, so they are the losers under the current trade regime.

• The EU's latest offer was to eliminate export subsidies by 2013 and cut trade distorting domestic farm subsidies by more 70%.
• EU officials told journalists the sort of tariff cuts being offered by Brazil in return would not have led to any additional exports from companies from the developed world.
• the US offered to cap its overall spending on trade-distorting domestic support at $17 billion. But as leaders of the G20, the coalition of developing countries which also includes China and Argentina, India and Brazil are pushing for an annual US spending limit of no more than $15 billion.

The Doha round is seen by many as an opportunity for the developing world to gain access to agricultural markets in the West, while it would protect their markets from being flooded by heavily subsidized farm products. As such, a deal that cuts farm subsidies and trade barriers in the EU and the US would be important for the development of a global bioenergy industry in which the Global South would have clear competitive advantages that should be consilodated by classifying biofuels in a new way (an analysis of this complex matter).

Several people, including Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz (earlier post), Ted Turner (previous post) and C. Boyden Gray, ambassador to the EU (more), have even suggested that the global biofuel revolution may hold the key to revive the Doha talks. The latter said that continuing demand for corn for the production of ethanol could make it easier for the US to cut the enormous amount of subsidies US farmers receive. However, the idea met heavy resistance from Big Corn:
energy :: sustainability :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: trade :: tariffs :: subsidies :: US :: EU :: G4 :: G20 :: Doha :: WTO ::

In a recent essay, Stiglitz illustrated the Doha deadlock with the example of Brazilian ethanol, which can be produced far more efficiently than biofuels in the North:

Perhaps the most outrageous example is the US$0.14 per liter import tariff on ethanol in the US, whereas there is no tariff on oil, and only a US$0.13 per liter tax on gasoline. This contrasts with the US$0.13 per liter subsidy that US companies (a huge portion of which goes to a single firm) receive on ethanol. Thus, foreign producers can't compete unless their costs are US$0.27 per liter lower than those of US producers.

Sitglitz added that "Developing countries cannot, and should not, open up their markets fully to the US' agricultural goods unless US subsidies are fully eliminated. To compete on a level playing field would force these countries to subsidize their farmers, diverting scarce funds that are needed for education, health, and infrastructure".

Now in Potsdam, Washington has demanded that any deal that significantly cuts US farm subsidies must open new export markets around the world in agriculture, manufacturing and services. But Brazil and India said Washington was not prepared to go far enough to warrant additional concessions on their part in manufacturing goods or in lowering barriers to imports of U.S. farm goods.

"If the round is to move forward, there will have to be a substantial attitude change," said India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

In a letter to Schwab and Mandelson on Wednesday, leading U.S. and European manufacturers warned they could not support an agreement that did little to open developing countries to additional exports. This dashed hopes of a breakthrough.

Without an agreement between the four powers at this meeting in Potsdam, diplomats and trade officials had warned that it would be difficult for the full 150-member state WTO to strike a deal as hoped by the end of July.

Some non-governmental organisations, altermondialists and civil society groups think the collapse of Doha is not necessarily a bad thing. Such a crisis of the formal trading system would open a new era in which developing countries can push for a new model that benefits poor societies and the environment more than the current WTO regime does today.

More information:
World Trade Organisation: Statement from Director-General Lamy concerning Potsdam outcome - June 21, 2007.

BBC: Latest world trade talks collapse - June 21, 2007.

Reuters India: G4 talks collapse, throw trade round into doubt - June 21, 2007.

Bloomberg: WTO Talks Break Down; EU and U.S. Blame India, Brazil - June 21, 2007.

Biopact: Stiglitz explains reasons behind the demise of the Doha development round - August 15, 2006

Biopact: Discussion text: global biofuels trade and WTO's role - October 21, 2006.

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Caribbean states urged to invest in biofuels to cut high oil import bills

With the right reforms and investments, Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados, could substitute at least ten per cent of their current gasoline consumption with domestic ethanol fuel, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Moreno has said.

Moreno spoke at the first ever high-level Conference of the Caribbean that united heads of state from fifteen Caribbean nations and the U.S. who gathered in Washington to examine the growth and development of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) from a regional perspective. The three day summit was hosted by the World Bank, and co-hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Noting that with the exception of Trinidad and Tobago (an oil and gas exporting country) energy has become a critical issue for the Caribbean with the cost of their dependency soaring, he cited Jamaica's energy cost as growing by 41% in 2005 and 30% in 2006. It is now projected to pass US$2 billion this year. This is almost as much as the total amount of the country's exports.

The good news is that the Caribbean had significant potential in biofuels and wind power. Now more than ever, the Caribbean needs a bold energy strategy that combines energy conservation and efficiency with investments in renewable resources. - Luis Moreno, president IDB president Inter-American Development Bank.

Funds lost to expensive oil cannot be invested in much needed social and economic development programs. But biofuels can be produced efficiently from an abundance of tropical energy crops that thrive in the Caribbean, and replace fossil fuels in a competitive way. The region's technical exportable bioenergy potential over the long term (2050) is projected to be amongst the highest per capita (earlier post).

Quoting from a study the IDB financed in collaboration with Caricom (Caribbean Community) Moreno said that if Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados adopt the latest technology these three countries could also co-generate a total of 100 megawatts of electricity by burning sugarcane bagasse. The study, on expanding biofuel opportunities in the three Caribbean countries and which was conducted earlier this year, showed the potential that exists. Recently the IDB also published 'A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas', a major overview of the potential for biofuels in the Western Hemisphere:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biomass :: bioenergy :: IDB :: Caricom :: Caribbean :: Jamaica :: Barbados :: Guyana ::

Moreno noted that the IDB has an active programme which grants technical assistance to help member governments determine the feasibility of renewable energy in the production of ethanol, biodiesel, biomass and other renewables.

In addition to a US$3 billion investment planned for private sector biofuel projects (here), Moreno announced that the IDB's private sector department was also preparing to launch a green energy programme that would provide at least US$300 million in loans for projects in energy efficiency and renewable energy in small developing countries.

He said the issue of energy was one of three priority areas that the IDB considered challenges for the Caribbean. The other two he described as competitiveness and "initiative opportunities for the majority."

More information:
Stabroek News: IDB president urges Caricom to look inwards for renewable energy - June 21, 2007.

Inter-American Development Bank, Environment Division (Sustainable Development Department): Issue Paper on Biofuels in Latin America and the Caribbean [*.pdf].

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Genencor introduces more efficient enzyme for corn ethanol

Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, has announced it introduces a greener, more efficient enzyme for ethanol production. The new 'Maxaliq ONE' product significantly improves process efficiency in production of biofuels from corn and complements Genencor's growing range of dedicated enzymes for the ethanol industry (table, click to enlarge).

The enzyme optimizes the process of converting corn to ethanol by increasing throughput and the value of its by-product, known as distiller’s dried grain with solubles (DDGS) used as a component in formulating animal feed.

The Maxaliq ONE blend contains a novel thermostable enzyme that is used as a processing aid to efficiently reduce the viscosity of the liquefact and break down phytic acid in grains to create a higher value by-product DDGS:
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biobutanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: Africa ::

According to Genencor, the Maxaliq ONE blend used in conjunction with its Phytase Amylase Liquefaction System (PALS), reduces viscosity and reduces mash phytic acid in the dry-mill process. The addition of a simple step at the beginning of the process therefore results in efficient liquefaction. It thus improves the sustainability values of two industries, ethanol and animal nutrition [entry ends here].

Genencor enzymes and biotechnology solutions are aimed at improvements in several bioconversion steps for first generation ethanol production, notably:

• Improving production efficiency
• Increasing fuel volume produced
• Reducing manufacturing costs
• Decreasing waste products and gas emissions

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EU eases OPEC's fears of biofuels at 4th EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue

The 4th ministerial-level meeting of the energy dialogue between the European Union (EU) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was held in Vienna today. Ahead of the meeting the EU tried to ease fears by the OPEC on the rise of alternative energy sources in Europe. The EU-OPEC Energy dialogue, established in 2004, focused on OPEC's work on carbon-dioxide capture and storage, energy policy but also on the impact of financial markets on oil prices as well as improving market transparency and predictability. Biofuels remained a key point of debate.

German Economics Minister Michael Glos, serving as president of the EU Energy Council at the high-level meeting, said before the summit that burning of fossil fuels must be restricted for climate reasons. However, he reassured OPEC biofuels would be "introduced as a supplement" to fossil fuels. "We do not want to restrict OPEC," he told journalists at the outset of the meeting.

Earlier this year, the European Commission set out its strategy to turn the EU into a low carbon economy. It contains the ambitious target to source 20% of its overall energy mix from renewable energy by 2020. The European Council later translated this in an agreement amongst EU member states to set a 10% minimum target on the use of biofuels in transport by 2020 (earlier post).

OPEC warned earlier that in case of a long-term boom in biofuels it could cut down on investment in oil production, and that in turn a fuel shortage could be the result if biofuels ran into supply problems. The announcement was immediately countered by the chief of the International Energy Agency, who stressed that oil is in no way threatened by biofuels (earlier post).

EU experts reiterated ahead of the meeting that even if biofuels were increasingly used in Europe in the next years, the demand for oil would remain stable. Around 40 per cent of the EU's oil imports come from OPEC countries, and this share will only grow.

Crude oil prices have been hovering below the 70-dollar barrier for a while. Analysts believe that if this barrier is breached prices can climb a lot higher, into the mid-80s range. Glos warned that current prices were "the upper level of what will be tolerable for consumer countries," adding the OPEC had a shared interest in avoiding a global economic slowdown.

El-Bardri indicated earlier this week that OPEC was not considering raising its output at the moment. One reason is that increased input would go into stockpiles, as there is not enough refining capacity, OPEC argued:
energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biofuels :: petroleum :: OPEC :: EU ::

Among the participants in the meeting were EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, Mohamed bin Dhaen AL Hamli, President of the OPEC conference, Abdalla Selem El-Badri, OPEC Secretary General and Michael Glos, German Minister of Economics.

The EU and OPEC representatives welcomed the progress that had been made since the third meeting of the energy dialogue in Brussels, Belgium, on 7 June 2006. This included: a roundtable on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September 2006; a workshop on the impact of financial markets on oil price and volatility, held in Vienna in December 2006; a roundtable on energy policies, held in Brussels last month; the launch of a joint study on refining; and other meetings and discussions. The representatives expressed their appreciation for the constructive exchanges of views in all these activities.

The first session of today’s meeting featured presentations by the EU on its recently adopted energy policy and by OPEC on oil market developments and prospects.

The EU presented the energy policy and action plan adopted in March 2007 by the European Council, focusing on sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness. This policy aims to enhance cooperation with key energy producers, transiting countries and major consumers, and calls for further development of bilateral and multilateral energy negotiations and agreements on energy. In addition, climate change is a key driver of the intimately combined EU energy and environment policy. And finally, energy technology becomes increasingly instrumental in improving efficiency and renewable energy sources for addressing climate change, by promoting clean fossil fuel and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. With regard to oil market situation, the EU expressed its concern about expected seasonal increase in demand coupled with possible supply disruptions over the next few months which could lead to tightening in the oil market.

OPEC reiterated in its presentation that the present oil market remains well supplied, with commercial crude oil stocks above five-year average and an increasing level of upstream spare capacity. However, in addition to geopolitical constraints, tightness in the refining sector, which has been recognised as a matter for concern since the second EU-OPEC meeting in December 2005, continues to increase volatility and exert pressure on crude and product prices, in particular, on gasoline prices. OPEC reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to ensuring sound supply fundamentals at all times, and to offering an adequate level of spare capacity, for the benefit of the world at large.

Both sides emphasized the importance of continuously monitoring oil market developments and taking appropriate actions if necessary.

Participants expressed once again their mutual interest in stable, transparent and predictable oil markets, with reasonable prices that are consistent with the need for healthy world economic growth and steady revenue streams for producing countries, and that are conducive to the expansion of capacity to meet rising oil demand. They recognised the importance of secure future demand for crude and products in spurring timely investment both upstream and downstream, thus contributing to greater security of supply.

The two parties believed that the world is becoming increasingly interdependent, with a complex energy system that is steadily developing into a more global and interconnected one, through physical infrastructures and markets. Dialogue, partnerships and transparency were, therefore, considered essential in addressing the world’s energy needs, in a predictable, stable and harmonious manner.

In this connection, they reaffirmed their recognition of the reciprocal nature of energy security, with security of supply and security of demand being two faces of the same coin. It was, furthermore, emphasised that every effort should be made to minimise uncertainties along the supply chain, in order to reduce investment risks and support long-term market stability.

In noting that oil will remain the world’s leading energy source for the foreseeable future, the meeting agreed that, in the long run, on the basis of present information, there are enough conventional and non-conventional oil resources globally to meet the expected significant growth in demand. At the same time, however, both parties welcomed the growing diversity in the energy mix, including renewables. With regard to biofuels specifically, their sustainability was discussed, especially the many potential impacts of their large-scale trade and use for energy purposes. The EU highlighted the scope to tackle such problems through an appropriate policy framework.

The meeting also addressed the current shortages in skilled labour, equipment and services, both upstream and downstream, and rapidly rising costs, which the industry is currently facing, as well as the issue of human resources. A shortage of skilled labour for drilling, engineering, procurement, construction and other services and a downturn in the number of students in energy fields were seen as hampering the industry’s orderly expansion, and thus constituting a serious reason for concern. The meeting, therefore, decided to address this issue in the energy dialogue. It also reiterated the importance of energy technology and its decision to set-up a task force for examining the establishment of an EU-OPEC energy technology centre.

The two parties noted the big contribution that the EU-OPEC energy dialogue could make to broader-based challenges facing mankind, notably environmental harmony, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. They agreed that cleaner fossil fuel technologies should be promoted, to help foster economic growth and social progress, while contributing to the protection of the environment. They stressed, in particular, the need for the further development and deployment of CCS technology, since this would have a key role in reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases. Both sides recognised once again the essential nature of the Millennium Development Goals and the fact that access by the poor to modern energy services facilitated the achievement of these goals.

Accordingly, they agreed upon the following specific joint actions:

• A workshop on the oil refining sector, including the implications of biofuels, to take place in Brussels end 2007 or early 2008.
• A study on the impact of financial markets on the oil price and volatility, with the terms of reference to be developed jointly in the coming months.
• An enhanced discussion on CCS cooperation, leading up to a roundtable in the first quarter of 2008.
• The development by the task force of the concept and operations of an EU-OPEC Energy Technology Centre, including the cooperative framework on education and training in the energy sector, with a report to be presented to the next annual meeting of the EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue.

The fifth meeting of the EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue will be held in Brussels, Belgium, in June 2008.

More information:
EU-OPEC Joint Statement: Further significant developments in the EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue - June 21, 2007.

EUX.TV: EU to ease OPEC fears of alternative fuels - June 21, 2007.

Petroleumworld: OPEC might not increase production in coming months: Badri - June 21, 2007.

EurActiv dossier: Geopolitics of EU energy supply - updated June 19, 2007.

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Diversa and Celunol merge to become Verenium

Diversa Corporation and Celunol Corp. announced today that they have completed their previously-announced merger [*.pdf] transaction to create Verenium Corporation. The new company possesses a growing portfolio of specialty enzyme products and technical and operational capabilities designed to enable the production of low-cost, biomass-derived sugars for a multitude of major industrial applications.

The most significant near-term commercial opportunity for Verenium will be the large-scale commercial production of cellulosic ethanol derived from multiple biomass feedstocks. Verenium's first jointly released enzyme product is 'Fuelzyme', a novel alpha amylase enzyme assembled from genes found in extremophiles, that allows for more cost-effective production of ethanol from corn.

Verenium begins operations with numerous unique attributes, including:

• fully-integrated, end-to-end capabilities in pre-treatment, novel enzyme development, fermentation