The Bache Commodity Green IndexSM (BCGISM) was launched earlier this week (30th June) by Bache Commodities Group, part of Prudential Financial. The new Index, says the company, gives investors a tool to invest in commodities with an environmental focus.

"Bache's Green Index will allow investors to participate in the markets for these commodities, which are of growing importance in the global economy," said Stephen Ilnitzki, senior vice president, Bache Commodities Group.

Plans to build and operate a pilot-scale algae-based integrated biorefinery that will convert CO2 into ethanol, were announced yesterday (29th June) by Algenol Biofuels, Inc and the Dow Chemical Company. The announcement follows Algenol's submission, last week, of a formal request  to obtain a grant from the US Department of Energy for financial support to conduct the pilot programme.

Pike Research's 'Biofuels Markets and Technologies' report

Fuels based on waste greases will hit the market first in 2010, says the report.  Jatropha-based fuels will begin having a significant impact on the market in 2014.  The third big wave will be algae-based biodiesel, which will achieve commercial availability in 2012 and will have a deeper effect on the market beginning in 2016.

The US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has ordered an Avantium Flowrence™ parallel fixed bed reactor system to accelerate its catalyst research for infrastructure compatible biofuels and bioproducts. The new system will be housed in the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL). BSEL is a multipurpose research and development facility that includes operating space for all activities required to advance the science and engineering of processes for bio-based product manufacture.

The Anheuser-Busch brewery in Houston is to be supplied with biogas, for use as an alternative fuel source, by Republic Services it was announced today (24th June). The project, developed in partnership with Ameresco, will see the brewery supplied with biogas from the McCarty Road landfill site six miles away. The biogas will be used to generate steam for the brewery's poerplant and will, says the company, provide over 55% of its fuel needs.

A new Biofuels Research Laboratory, has been officially opened at Cornell University, which is set up to be an educational and economic development facility rolled into one. The facility is an important addition to the campus, providing educational opportunities to students, valuable research and potential for economic development in the state, explained Cornell President David Skorton. The university hopes that the new facility will catapult it to the forefront of biofuels research.

Annual results released by D1 Oils plc today (23rd June) show the company making a loss of £33.6 million for the year ending 31st December 2008. While down on last years loss of £46.1m, the loss is, nevertheless, significant coming as the comapny tries to negotiate a restructuring in it joint ventrue with BP. Despite the loss the company says it will remain cash positive until the end of 2010, however, it warns that if it is to progress beyond the it will need further investment.

Contradictory mandates covering the biofuels sector, "could slow or halt the growth of some parts of the biofuels industry", according to Iowa State University Biofuels Economist Dr. Robert Wisner.  Wisner's comments, made in a recent article on the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center website, specifically focussed on the actions of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) which, he said, are moving too fast in relying on unproven "indirect land use emissions impacts." He writes that instead of downgrading the environmental benefits of US corn-based ethanol based on possible conversion of pasture and forests to cropland in other countries, "Much more research is needed on these issues to accurately measure indirect land use impacts."