The good, the bad, the ugly 2008/2009
The best piece of work on Biofuels 2008? For me that was the The Gallagher Review
of the indirect effects of biofuels production. If you're a serious player in this market, you should read that report.
Worst technology to make biofuels:
Fermentation from corn. It reduces the size of the corn crop, creates carbon dioxide and its yield is around 30% of input.
Only meaningful technology we have at the moment:
Fermentation from corn.
Best technology for the future
Algae, wood, biomass, cellulose, switch grass, prairie, jatropha, non-food crops, catalysis others..
Ugly things to avoid in 2009
Turning dependency on foreign oil into dependency on foreign grown foods.
Palm oil that does not meet ethical standards.
Anything sold without the prior informed consent of the local people in the land where it is produced.
Good things to be encouraged in 2009
More work like/wider adoption of recommendations of the Gallagher report
Generating a network of support between the south that can grow biofuels and the north which can pay for and use them.
Plants that grow on land which is not good enough to be used for food crops.