Obama Promotes [Biofuels]


(B. Wingfield, 2/24, Bloomberg) The Energy Department is investing in biofuel technology made from algae as a substitute for gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. Faced with the highest oil prices in nine months, President Barack Obama is backing [algae-based biofuel] as a path to energy independence, pitting the nascent algae-based biofuels industry against critics of his energy plan. The administration yesterday announced as much as $14.3 million to support the development of biofuels from algae, as crude oil for April delivery rose to $107.83 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest settlement price since May. “We could replace up to 17 percent of the oil we import for transportation with this fuel that we can grow right here in the United States,” Obama said in Miami during a speech on energy policy. The Energy Department is seeking proposals from small businesses, national laboratories and universities to create research “test beds” for algal biofuels research at existing facilities, according to a statement from the agency. The award money will be part of a $30 million investment in similar research this year, it said. Algae, a plant-like organism, can be harvested from ponds near industrial sites, where it can grow from power-plant carbon emissions or wastewater substances, the White House said in a fact sheet. The Energy Department is backing more than 30 projects representing about $85 million in public and private investment to develop biofuels from algae, it said...

China Makes Aviation Biofuel Use Predictions.

(China Daily, 2/29, Zhou) reports, "China is expected to use 12 million metric tons of aviation biofuels by 2020, accounting for 30 percent of the country's total use of jet fuel, according to Li Jian, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China." Li "said China now has the technology needed to produce jet biofuels and only needs to produce the substances more cheaply to sell them commercially." Meanwhile, China Petrochemical Corp also announced it has produced its own biofuel.

Officials Seek To "Jump-Start" Aviation Biofuel Industry.

The Seattle Times (3/18, Song) reported on efforts to help "jump-start the nascent [aviation biofuel] industry and to bring prices of jet biofuel down to earth." On Thursday, for example, Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire "signed a bill that would let private aviation biofuel plants in the state tap financing through lower-interest revenue bonds." Meanwhile, US Sen. Maria Cantwell, "who chairs the Senate subcommittee on aviation, is pushing the Federal Aviation Administration to create an aviation biofuel research hub, ideally in the Tri-Cities near Washington State University's branch campus and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory."