Agriculture

ethanol plant/shutterstock

This year is shaping up to be decisive for ‘cellulosic’ ethanol made from corn stalks and other agricultural waste, as oil companies and the ethanol industry clash over government mandates for the automotive fuel.[read more]

In the case of Greenpeace, their organizational wealth has helped institutionalize an ideological bias that threatens progress on issues like climate change and food security.[read more]

biofuels production

Nearly 10 percent of US ethanol plants have stopped production over the past year, the drought having pushed commodity prices so high that ethanol has become too expensive to produce.[read more]

In October 2012, the European Commission published a proposal to limit global land conversion for biofuel production.[read more]

The impact that animal food production has on the planet’s climate has become a staple of any conversation related to the environment.[read more]

Together with the food we waste, we throw away the energy and the water that goes into the process of producing food.[read more]

image via shutterstock

No amount of genetic engineering can overcome the fundamental limitations of trying to grow fuel for vehicle propulsion and why adding biofuels into our fuel supply makes us less secure.[read more]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released “two comprehensive reports that synthesize the scientific literature on climate change effects and adaptation strategies for U.S. agriculture and forests.”[read more]

image via shutterstock

While the production of sustainable biofuels is fertile ground for scientific innovation, the industry itself isn’t solely high-tech. For every scientist who figures out how to squeeze fuel out of plant waste, there’s a farmer who’s suddenly got a market for his leftover corn stalks or wheat straw;[read more]

By 2050, demand for resources is set to increase significantly as the global population grows to nine billion and becomes more prosperous. Global economic growth is being driven largely by emerging markets. Over the medium term, the World Bank estimates economic growth of 6% in developing countries, compared to 2.7% in higher-income countries.[read more]

ethanol plant/shutterstock

Instead of attacking research it doesn’t like, the ethanol industry should welcome information that could help more and more auto manufacturers adapt future vehicles to accommodate higher levels of ethanol.[read more]

Water Dam via Shutterstock

In India, the confrontation over rising demand for energy and food, and diminished water resources is, like a powerful political and cultural undertow. India is pushed forward by the forces of modernization to expand its energy production, electrical transmission, and water supply and transport sectors. But the nation is tugged backwards by inefficiency and corruption in its operating and governing practices. India’s hybrid democracy generates a continuous full boil of political opposition and civic distrust at all times.[read more]

Clean Energy via Shutterstock

Every year around this time since 2007, as executive editor of a leading global cleantech research and news service, I’ve contributed to predictions on what to expect in the year ahead in cleantech.We’ve kept that tradition alive here at Kachan & Co. We don’t claim a perfect track record, but we’ve been eerily prescient and nailed...[read more]

An expanding world population, coupled with increasing concerns about resource scarcity, land availability, biodiversity conservation and global warming is fostering interest in sustainable agriculture technologies.Large companies and clean technology investors are focused on energy, and some are following water. Yet very few are...[read more]

Thanksgiving is a time of plenty – or, maybe more accurately, of vast over-consumption — from the meal to the midnight shopping rampage afterward.But across the United States this year, “plenty” has not been enjoyed by many farmers. A historic drought devastated crops over the summer, causing a spike in grain prices that led to farmers...[read more]