Latest Energy Census News
Denmark’s 2030 energy plan that was approved by the country’s parliament last week has earmarked DKK 4 billion (EUR550 million) for the delivery of biogas to the gas grid or the transport sector, but producers and consumers of renewable gas will have to wait for details on how the transport market can benefit.
The week brought only limited movement to the UK’s biofuel complex leaving little room, and limited incentive, for certificate...
Scott Pruitt, the controversial chief administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, has resigned from his position in a move broadly welcomed by environmental, biofuels and corn lobby groups.
SAS and advanced biofuels producer Preem have signed a tentative deal to produce renewable aviation fuel as part of the Scandinavian airline’s ambition to use biofuels in domestic flights by 2030.
Global production of biofuels is expected to grow at much slower pace in the coming decade than in the 10 years previously, mainly because of a slower rate of growth in blending mandates, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in an outlook this week.
One of the UK's biggest ethanol plants has re-opened after a planned 21-day maintenance, with the side-benefit of helping to alleviate a chronic shortage of industrial carbon dioxide that has threatened to halt production in the country's food and drinks sector.
A major study on the impact of palm oil on deforestation and biodiversity has warned a move away from its use would mean that other environmentally-damaging vegetable oils would need to fill the gap, with potentially serious environmental consequences for countries in Africa and Latin America.
RTFC prices saw modest moves in the week ending June 29, although trading remained elusive with little change in the positions of bids and offers, according to market sources, and much of the direction inherited from a sudden spike in RME and FAME 0 premiums.
Scientists at London’s Imperial College claim they have made a major advance in breaking down plant-based biomass 30 times faster than currently possible, which, on a larger scale, has the potential to drive down costs for biofuels.
The US aviation biofuels market has seen two major deals in the past few weeks as part of moves to make alternatives to regular jet fuel more widely available in the world’s biggest aviation market.
The Port of Gothenburg says it has hosted the world’s second-ever bunkering of liquefied biogas (LBG), as the shipping industry considers green alternatives to fossil fuels amid action at EU and UN level to curb carbon and particulate emissions from the sector.
Sweden’s new biofuels obligation comes into force on 1 July, which will require fuel suppliers to reduce emissions by 2.6% in gasoline and 19.3% in diesel, potentially paving the way for a substantial increase in biofuels.
The main US ethanol lobby has given a frosty response to a 3% increase in the US biofuels blending mandate, which it said was undermined by exemptions granted to small refiners.
Identifying the biofuels content of gasoline and diesel at the pump, and the ability of new vehicles to use these fuels, will become much easier as EU-wide labelling laws come into force later this year.
Week-on-week, the landscape surrounding RTFCs looked broadly unchanged, with underlying low sulphur diesel values reaching 1600 London time assessed at $644.75/mt – just 75 cents higher than their value at the same point of last week.
Czech chemicals company Chemoprojekt said on June 19 that it will soon start production of biofuels based on used cooking oil, the first company in the central European country to invest in second-generation biofuels.
Talks on the UN aviation agency ICAO’s greenhouse gas reduction scheme may fail to agree guidelines on the use of biofuels and carbon offsets next week, prolonging uncertainty for fuels suppliers who are looking for clearer investment signals to emerge.
Palm oil producers in south-east Asia will have limited scope to find replacement markets after the EU begins a likely phase-down of the commodity’s use in biofuels after 2023, mainly because China and India are keen to protect domestic farmers.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is to propose a biofuels blending mandate of 19.88-billion gallons for 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), an increase of 3% from the 2018 level, Reuters reported on 22 June.
The government of Argentina’s Santa Fe province has launched an initiative through which half of the bus fleet in the city of Rosario will use biodiesel.