Wednesday-Night

Credit Crisis May Delay Biofuels Development
(Reuters/Planet Ark) LONDON - A global pull-back from bank lending may dent the commercialisation of biofuel technologies to replace conventional gasoline, said the chief executive of US cellulosic ethanol firm BlueFire Ethanol. 
A credit crisis which claimed more bank victims on Monday has raised project finance costs and made ambitious targets to replace replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources look less achievable.
July 22
Brazilian ethanol plants to get $260m loan
The Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America’s biggest development institution, is prepared to defy growing environmental concern about biofuels by lending money to a $1bn-plus Brazilian ethanol project.
July 16
Shell boosts second generation biofuels
Royal Dutch Shell is stepping up investment in research into “second generation” biofuels, putting more money into its joint venture with Iogen, a Canadian biotech company, in spite of having made only slow progress so far.
Iogen is a specialist in the attempt to develop commercial production of cellulosic ethanol … road fuel made not from food crops such as corn and sugar, as with conventional ethanol, but from plant waste such as straw.
Doubts about biofuels mounting in Europe
The European Commission appears ready to back down from previous pledges to ensure by 2020 that 10% of the fuel used on the road be biofuel. The criticism of biofuel as offering only marginal environmental benefits while incentivizing worst practices among farmers seems to have culminated in official concerns about biofuels, in particular given that some evidence shows that biofuels contribute to food shortages and higher food prices. Spiegel Online (7/8)
July 4
Ethanol policies misguided: report
Would boost food costs by $424 million, CD Howe says
The C. D. Howe Institute study said current ethanol policies are having unforeseen consequences in terms of food costs and income distribution. Moreover, the report suggests the evidence is “inconclusive” over the impact corn-and wheat-based ethanol can have in cutting greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, once the entire ethanol production cycle is taken into account.
Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis
Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive
(The Guardian) Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.
[It] emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.
President Bush has linked higher food prices to higher demand from India and China, but the leaked World Bank study disputes that: “Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases.”
Even successive droughts in Australia, calculates the report, have had a marginal impact. Instead, it argues that the EU and US drive for biofuels has had by far the biggest impact on food supply and prices.
Global fuel crisis influenced by weather
The recent floods in the Midwest wreaked havoc with corn crops, which in turn helped drive up ethanol prices by 21% in the past month. The impact of weather on the U.S. biofuels industry is largely felt in the corn belt and Gulf of Mexico. However, only two of the 160 ethanol refineries in the U.S. shut down during the storms. International Herald Tribune (7/1)