Alternative Outlook

Money may not grow on trees, but for a time it appeared to grow on bushes—specifically, a tropical shrub called jatropha curcas. Over the past decade, jatropha was planted on millions of acres across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa after research showed that oil from its crushed seeds makes an excellent biofuel. Because jatropha can tolerate dry, rocky soil unsuited to agriculture, boosters said, subsistence farmers could grow it as a cash crop without denting food production. And with governments worldwide pushing renewable fuels, invest…

Biofuels is on the rise… again. The first time some painful lessons were learned for fast-in investors. This time the focus is on second generation biofuels and Central America.

First generation:

Why so bad? Some of it´s obvious and has been covered before: using petroleum-based fertilizer to grow corn, which is sprayed with petroleum-based pesticides and then shipped using fossil-fuel based transport (before and after it´s turned into ethanol), doesn´t make a lot of sense. This is also a problem with sugarcane ethanol exporte…

The agave plant, from which tequila is derived, may be the answer to Australia’s thirst for fuel.

IT FUELS MEXICO’S ECONOMY and fills the world’s shot glasses, but the succulent agave plant – from which tequila is distilled – could also help quench Australia’s thirst for a low-emission biofuel.

A new study, published last week in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, shows that the agave plant (Agave tequilana) produces five times the amount of energy that’s put into growing it. This makes the ethanol derived from agave – which pr…

A divisive debate over the green credentials of biofuels has stalled investment and threatens the future of some producers, but could also create lucrative opportunities, according to European companies.

Background
‘Indirect land-use change’ means that if you take a field of grain and switch the crop to biofuel, somebody somewhere will go hungry unless those missing tonnes of grain are grown elsewhere.

Economics often dictates that the crops to make up the shortfall come from tropical zones, and so encourage farmers to carve out new…

India ranks 6 th in the world in terms of energy demand. However, a large part of India’s population, living mostly in rural areas and including the poorest people, does not have access to fossil fuel, oil-dependent sources of energy.

The increasing gap between demand and domestically produced petroleum is a matter of serious concern. It is estimated that the import of crude oil will increase from 85 mmtpa to 151 mmtpa by the end of 2006- 2007, correspondingly increas…