Agriculture

climate change future?

Terrorism seems to be the only actionable trigger in our leaders' minds. Perhaps we need to brand Mother Nature a terrorist to provoke action on climate change?[read more]

ethanol/shutterstock

Texas Rep. Pete Olson, along with more than a dozen cosponsors reintroduced legislation this week that would permit natural gas-based ethanol to compete with corn-based ethanol for a federal biofuels mandate.[read more]

desertification

Drought and desertification have become increasingly pressing problems for a growing number of countries. The UN estimates land degradation costs between 3-5 percent of global agricultural Gross Domestic Production.[read more]

Gas vs. Ethanol

While it’s true that on a gallon-to-gallon basis ethanol historically has been cheaper than gasoline, ethanol contains far less energy than gasoline and therefore has cost consumers more to travel the same distance.[read more]

fuel diversity/shutterstock

Alternative fuels have lost some of their luster in the US, lately. With this in mind, I spoke with former Shell Oil Company President John Hofmeister, who recently joined a group dedicated to expanding fuel diversity.[read more]

groundwater depletion

Depletion of groundwater reserves has more than doubled in recent decades as a result of population growth and the increased demand on groundwater reservoirs for drinking water and the irrigation of croplands.[read more]

corn & ethanol/shutterstock

If RFA’s goal is to reduce oil consumption through use of home-grown fuels, as it claims, it should support cellulosic and other advanced biofuels. But RFA’s clear intent is to increase the market share of corn ethanol.[read more]

fuel price breakdown

The mission of Fuels America and the Renewable Fuels Association is a no-holds-barred defense of the corn ethanol industry and the defective federal biofuels standard, not the interests of U.S. consumers.[read more]

The "Green Wall"

In Africa, climate change is exacerbating the desertification of the continent. The Sahara Desert, which covers the majority of northern Africa, is spreading southward at a rate of 30 miles per year.[read more]

carbon neutral fuel?

A research team at the University of Georgia has discovered a way to create carbon-neutral biofuels using a microorganism that normally feeds on CO2, bypassing the inefficiencies associated with cellulosic ethanol.[read more]

California farmland/shutterstock

Last week a federal court ruled that fracking proposals there need to look at the air and water impacts of fracking more thoroughly. This is just the latest powerful reminder of why "NEPA" is so important.[read more]

ethanol/shutterstock

Two members of the University of Illinois’ agricultural and consumer economics department have an article out this month that raises some important concerns about the Renewable Fuel Standard.[read more]

biofuels/shutterstock

By capping the production of these fuels, the European Union is hoping to create a larger production capacity for "second generation" biofuels, which are hoped to provide a more environmental friendly long-term solution.[read more]

exporting oil/shutterstock

In general, oil exporters with declining production face worrisome situations. If oil prices do not keep rising rapidly, oil exporters will need to cut back on social programs–something that will not be well-accepted by citizens.[read more]

wildfires

Wildfires in the U.S. will be at least twice as destructive by 2050, burning around 20 million acres nationwide each year, according to a federal report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[read more]