| | | | | | Top Story
 Twitter and Biofuels
2.6 billion "tweets" in August; what do they say about Biofuels? The Digest tracks the key posts, people on Twitter to know and follow.
Biofuels Digest is inaugurating a new section today: Top Tweets.
If you haven't been following the growth of Twitter, its a short messaging service limited to 140-character "tweets", which will amuse, inform, and in some cases drive you completely crazy.
But Twitter has become big. Last month, according to Royal Pingdom, Twitter processed 2.64 billion "tweets" in August, up 33 percent from May.
What are they saying about Biofuels - and how is this changing perception? There are simply too many important voices on Twitter to ignore - but far too many for the busy professional to process.
Why does Khosla think American universities will go the way of car companies? If you stop using food crops for biofuels, will more poor people be able to afford cooking oil? More on the story, and today's Top Tweets, at biofuelsdigest.com.
| | Bioenergy Business Outlook Survey
 2010 Bioenergy Business Outlook Survey
What's your organization's outlook? The industry's? What drivers will spur growth?
In Florida, Biofuels Digest encourages you to respond to the 2010 Bioenergy Business Outlook survey. This 5-minute survey examines growth expectations and opportunities from a company, national and organizational point of view.
Summarized results will be published in Biofuels Digest, but the customized, in-depth summary will be available only to respondents. Tomorrow is the last day to respond and reserve your copy of the detailed results.
Click here to access the survey via biofuelsdigest.com.
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"Biomass energy doesn't hurt anyone. Not yet." Download the ARCADIS Health & Safety PDF here. To learn more about our Health and Safety experts contact: Ashly.Insco@arcadis-us.com
| | Producer News
In South Carolina, the Columbia City Council announced a new program to collect used cooking oil and have Midlands Biofuels convert it to biodiesel. The B-20 fuel blend will then be sold back to the city for use in its vehicle fleet. The program was developed as a means of preventing grease being poured into the city's sewer system. Columbia is spending $1.5 million a year to clean pipes or contain major sewer spills.
In Mississippi, two former partners in the failed Biodiesel of Mississippi project were sentenced to prison terms for defrauding the USDA out of $2.88 million in subsidy payments. H. Max Speight was sentenced to a 26-month term after testifying against William Tacker II, while Tacker landed a 60-month sentence. The Biodiesel of Mississippi project went bankrupt in 2006.
In California, an analysis of US energy usage shows gains in solar and wind, but flat usage in biomass-based energy. According to a Gerson Lehrman post, "The production of energy from biomass, however, stayed the same from 2008 to 2009, at 3.88 quads, with about half that amount in 2009 (2.0 quads) for industrial uses, a quarter (0.92 quads) going for transportation, and the remainder for commercial and residential buildings."
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Bioenergy International Canada Expo & Conference - details here.
| | Opinion
Geoff Cooper, RFA: "You may not have noticed, but hedge and index fund investors have quietly returned to the agricultural commodities market in droves over the past few weeks...If a speculative rally on corn does come to pass this fall, let's at least hope that the pundits recognize the role of speculators and avoid immediately jumping to the conclusion-as they did in 2008-that biofuels had anything to do with it."
Hypios.com: "There's a biomass competition hosted on hypios.com, a platform for open innovation and online problem-solving. The $5 million prize competition, sponsored by the owners of an underperforming biomass plant in Maine (USA), seeks specific proposals for transforming the plant from experts worldwide."
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| | Advanced Biofuels Markets Conference
 Biofuels Digest's Advanced Biofuels Markets conference & expo will be held November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco.
The premier biofuels C-level networking event on the West Coast.
Enerkem board member: Tim Cesarek, MD, Organic Growth Group, Waste Management
Confirmed speakers include:
Bill Haywood, CEO, LS9
Jim Imbler, CEO, ZeaChem
Alan Shaw, CEO, Codexis
Atul Thrakar, CEO, Segetis
Eric McAfee, CEO, AE Biofuels
John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros
Kirk Haney, CEO, SG Biofuels
Jack Oswald, CEO, SynGest
Hunt Ramsbottom, CEO Rentech
Richard Hamilton, CEO, Ceres
Wayne Simmons, CEO, Sundrop Fuels
Bill Sims, CEO, Joule Unlimited
John Scott, CEO, PetroAlgae
Rick Wilson, CEO, Cobalt Technologies
Tim Potter, CEO, Butamax
John Hamer, Managing Director, Burrill and Company
Tom Baruch, Founder, CMEA Capital
Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme
Bill Hagy, Director of Alternative Energy Policy, USDA
Tim Cesarek, MD, Organic Growth Group, Waste Management
Dan Adler, President, California Clean Energy Fund
Wes Bolsen, CMO, Coskata
Mike McAdams, President, Advanced Biofuels Association
Register:The conference agenda and registration information is here.
Sponsor: Sponsorship & exhibition information is here.
| | International News
In Brazil, the national energy agency ANP is holding an auction this week to sell 615 million liters of biodiesel, divided into two lots. The first lot is for 492 million liters that was produced with the social seal, indicating the feedstock was produced by small farmers. The remaining lot of 123 million liters of biodiesel don't have a social seal. The floor price for the auction is $1.3 per liter.
In Canada, the national government released its final regulations for its 5 percent mandate for ethanol and biodiesel blended transportation fuels in Canada. The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association said that an assessment conducted by econometric firm Doyletech Corporation concluded that, "the grand total of the annual positive economic impact of renewable fuels is $2.013 billion."
In Azerbaijan, the Тural-110 consulting group released a comprehensive assessment of "Europe's dieselization", and the gasoline and ETBE and MTBE additive markets in Europe, Russia and Ukraine. According to Tural, consumption of gasoline in Europe decreased by 23.1 million tons as compared to 2003, while diesel consumption increased from 163M tons in 2003 to 200.8M tons in 2009. The Tural report is downloadable from biofuelsdigest.com.
| | Research News
Wood biomass costs fell in the 2Q/10 after having increased for 18 months, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. The global pulp industry benefited from lower wood fiber costs and higher product prices in the 2Q/10. Wood chip and pulpwood prices fell the most in the US, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Eastern Canada. Both the softwood and hardwood wood fiber price indices (SFPI and HFPI) fell for the first time since early 2009.
| | Policy and Policymakers
In Minnesota, Anoka-Ramsey Community College has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Minnesota Governor's Workforce Development Council to train approximately 44 participants, selected from a target population of military veterans, displaced workers and incumbent employees, in a 12-month program that concludes in certification as biofuel technicians.
| | 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy
 Registration for the Hot 50
Selection criteria, eligibility, voting, and scoring rules are available here. Also, deadline dates, downloadable nomination and registration forms for companies, and nomination forms for serving on the panel of international selectors.
| | Financial News
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, gained 1.26 percent to 66.01 as all biofuels sectors advanced. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was up 1.46 percent to $32.00, while in the oil sector BP recovered 2.35 percent to $37.43. Among smaller caps, SunOpta (STKL) jumped 1.56 percent in the wake of Mascoma's acquisition of SunOpta BioProcess. Overall, advances led declines by 6 to 1 for the day.
| | Camelina Aviation Biofuels Study
 1 billion gallons of Camelina biofuel are projected to be produced for the aviation and biodiesel sectors by 2025, creating 25,000 new jobs; producing over $5.5 billion in new revenues and $3.5 billion in new agricultural income for U.S. and Canadian farmers. The projections are contained in "Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," released today by Biomass Advisors, the research division of Biofuels Digest.
"Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," is 116 pages, and includes more than 60 figures, tables and charts, along with regional crop forecast maps for visualizing business opportunities and planning infrastructure needs. The report is available for a purchase price of $695. More information here.
| | These stories and more are available at BiofuelsDigest.com. Your comments and story requests are warmly welcome: email me at jlane@biofuelsdigest.com.
Digest Staff:
Editor & Publisher: Jim Lane
Senior editors: Joelle Brink, Meghan Sapp, Marc Favreau
Assistant Editor: Thomas Saidak
Editorial Assistant: Isabel Lane
Columnists: Will Thurmond, Dr. Rosalie Lober
Director of Sales: Steve North
Disclosure: I do not own any renewable energy securities; no payments or compensation of any kind is received in return for placing articles or favorable opinion in the Digest - Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher, Biofuels | | |
Why don't oil majors invest in biofuels at scale?