The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued new rules dictating that 18 billion gallons of biofuels must be blended into America’s 2016 transportation fuel supply. This mandate, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), has been a disaster for the country. The only sensible minimum renewable fuel mandate is zero.
By promoting the hypothesis that humanity controls Earth’s climate, Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon undermine many of the goals of last weekend’s Sustainable Development Summit.
Bio-derived sources of energy—wood, grass, dung and alcohol—have a rich history yet have failed to command the “buzz” of solar, wind or even geothermal in public discussions regarding renewable energy.
Land is precious, and using it to produce biofuels is something the world cannot afford if we are going to continue to feed ourselves, according to a report.
Growing carefully chosen plants like agave amid photovoltaic panels could allow solar farms to not only collect sunlight for electricity but also to produce crops for biofuels, new computer models suggest.
What began 20 years ago as an innovation to improve paper production and to make poplars more digestible for cattle, may now lead to a more efficient way to convert biomass into fuel.
Researchers have engineered a bacterium to synthesize pinene, a hydrocarbon produced by trees that could potentially replace high-energy fuels, such as JP-10, in missiles and other aerospace applications.
The environmental benefits of biofuels over fossil fuels may be overestimated, due to problems in the way greenhouse gas emissions are calculated, say two scientists.