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• How much stover to leave

  Iowa Farmer Today (I should take out a subscription I'm quoting the publication so much at the moment) has a good piece looking at how much stover should be left on the fields after corn harvesting. Stover could be good source of cellulose for cellulosic... Posted Sep 04 2008, 01:46 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: Agriculture, Corn, Today, farm, iowa, stover

• How to grow more corn: Plant it closer together

  You might have noticed that there are a couple of conversations chuntering on in earlier post s. Mostly these deal with the ability to plant enough corn to sustain the US ethanol business and keep people fed at a reasonable price. Here's breakthrough... Posted Sep 04 2008, 01:34 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, Corn, technology, farming, sustainability, iowa, seeds, planting

• Indian Sugar cane to ethanol: a study

  Thanks to Draka for this information on the state of ethanol production in India from Current Science . As Draka says, in a comment below, sugar cane takes a lot of water to grow. Read More... Posted Sep 04 2008, 01:09 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, India, Sugar, cane

• Miscanthus research in Iowa

  The Iowa State University is looking hard at Miscanthus as a potential biofuel feedstock , says the Des Moines Register. Miscanthus, on the other hand, holds the potential to make up to 2times as much ethanol per ton as corn. A University of Illinois... Posted Sep 03 2008, 04:04 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: America, USA, US, ethanol, Agriculture, Corn, iowa, University, state, miscanthus

• Desert greenhouses could harness the sea to grow bioufels

  Greenhouses in desert areas near the sea could be used to grow a range of plants including Jatropha according to Guardian Unlimited. The answer lies in using the sun's energy to evaporate sea water... Read More... Posted Sep 03 2008, 03:20 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: Water, Agriculture, technology, Guardian, Sun, plants, Unlimited, desert, greenhouse, sea

• Ethanol is a stepping stone

  This is interesting , and would be more interesting if there were a measure of how much diverting corn into ethanol (25% of the corn crop in 2007 produced 2.65% of the US total demand for gasoline in 2006) had an effect on prices of food. Northey is right... Posted Sep 02 2008, 12:54 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, biofuels, iowa, farmer, of, Northey, Secretary

• US ethanol replaced about 2.6% of gasoline demand

  US this year diverted 24.5% of its corn crop into ethanol production and replaced 2.65% of the total US demand for road transportation fuels -- assuming that the 2007 figures for fuel use will be around the same as 2006, according to figures from the... Posted Aug 29 2008, 12:48 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, Corn, Food, Plausability, gasoline, energy, vehicles, alternative, Production, Fuels, of, Center, Department, advanced, Transportation, Data

• A biofuels polemic from Huffington Post

  If you are interested in the e nvironmental impact of biofuels in the US check this polemic on the Huffington Post . Makes some good points about the end to end efficiency of biofuels in the automotive sector. You can't comment on it there, so perhaps... Posted Aug 29 2008, 12:16 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: America, USA, US, Water, Agriculture, Corn, biofuels, farming, farmers, crops, fertiliser, efficiency, enviornment

• 1000 entries and what have we learned?

  Put out the flags. I've reached the 1000 post mark. I started this in October 2006 with an open if sceptical mind. Its been a lot of fun so far. I've met a whole bunch of people who have commented on what I've written and offered suggestions... Posted Jul 16 2008, 12:50 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, wheat, Corn, biofuels, generation, Biodiesel, farming, Food, Jatropha, Oil, lobby, vehicles, automotive, farm, efficiency, Bioethanol, farmer, algae, sorghum, Gallagher, second, CAFE, subsidy, Blog roundup, Pongamia

• Ethanol subsidies could be safe for a while

  Ethanol subsidies could be safe for a while.There's a really nice explanation of why subsidies are hard to abolish in Price of Oil: Hidden Oil Subsidies from Tree Hugger.com and on Huffington Post . I couldn't put it any more clearly than in the... Posted Jul 16 2008, 10:43 AM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Policy, Agriculture, Corn, politics, farming, farmers, subsidies

• The high cost of corn in the US is choking off demand from ethanol producers

  The high cost of corn in the US is choking off demand from ethanol producers, according to a report in the Des Moines Registe r. The report goes on to add that around 1.6bn bushels of corn will be left from last year's harvest compared to earlier... Posted Jul 15 2008, 03:54 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: America, USA, US, ethanol, Economics, Agriculture, Corn, crop, choke

• Biofuels and the whole of non-meat farming

  Andy Posner, over on the Huffington Post raises some good questions about land use in a world where we're increasingly using biofuels. I suggest in a comment that perhaps a little high-fructose corn syrup should be fermented to ease the US obesity... Posted Jul 14 2008, 03:51 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: USA, US, ethanol, Agriculture, Corn, biofuels, farming, global

• Biofuels push 260m people in to hunger, ActionAid

  The charity Action Aid estimates that 260m people have been driven into fuel poverty by biofuels in a story reported in today's Guardian Unlimited. Dr Claire Melamed, ActionAid's head of trade policy says. "The world needs to start again... Posted Jul 03 2008, 11:00 AM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: ethanol, Agriculture, biofuels, Guardian, World, Bioethanol, Aid, Action, Hunger

• Is the price of corn related to the price of crude?

  Is the price of corn related to the price of crude? Many in the US ethanol business say that it isn't this chap isn't so sure... Read More... Posted Jul 02 2008, 05:47 PM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: America, USA, US, ethanol, Agriculture, Corn, video, farming, prices, farmer, distillers, grains

• Switching to switchgrass isn't easy

  Switching to switchgrass isn't going to be easy, according to this useful piece from redorbit. Worth reading. Read More... Posted Jul 02 2008, 11:24 AM by The Big Biofuels Blog Filed under: America, USA, US, biofuel, Agriculture, biofuels, technology, Science, power, switchgrass, cellulosic, plants, indianna, Panicum, gatum