New investments totalling more than $5 million are to be made by the state of Pennsylvania, according to an announcement made by Governor Edward G. Rendell today (31st March). The projects are in six counties across the state and include three geothermal system installations, two biofuel projects, and one study that will examine the feasibility of mixed-income housing in Pittsburgh that would reduce utility consumption by up to 90 percent for its occupants.

A Memorandum of Understanding covering the research and development on a range of biofuels technologies and projects in India has been signed between the Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL) and UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, it was announced today (31st March). As part of the MoU the companies would evaluate installation of a demonstration-scale unit to produce green transportation fuels at an existing IOCL site using non-food feedstocks available within India. They would also evaluate the viability of pyrolysis oil technology to convert lignocellulosic materials, or plant biomass, into renewable power and heat.

A group of 11 UK institutions has come together with the aim of developing a commercial algae biofuel process capable of producing 70 billion litres of algae biofuel a year by 2030. The plan, unveiled by the Carbon Trust today (19th March), sees the group looking to develop an algae biofuels process which will bring the cost of the finished fuel down to less than $1 a litre.

A consortium of British businesses has been brought together by the Carbon Trust to develop a commercially viable process to turn municipal and wood waste into transport biofuel. The consortium, which will be led by Axion Energy, will work on the enhancement of the pyrolysis process to convert waste biomass into biofuel on a mass scale, to blend with fossil fuels.

A key advantage of developing a process which will use existing organic waste, rather than plant crops, is that it overcomes many of the issues associated with some current biofuels, and can lead to even greater carbon savings by avoiding methane emissions from landfill. Carbon Trust analysis shows that the carbon footprint of this new pyrolysis biofuel could potentially achieve a carbon saving of 95% when compared to fossil fuels. This is a significantly higher carbon saving than some existing biofuels1 , which also do not currently factor in the impacts of land use change when calculating the carbon saving.

Researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) have calculated that urban solid waste in Spain could be used to generate between 8.13 and 20.95 TWh (terawatt hours) or 7.2% of the country's electricity demand in 2008. The residues, from water treatment plants and livestock slurry, are, they say, alternative sources of renewable energy, which are more environmentally friendly and, in the case of solid urban waste, more cost effective.

Reed canary grass is an excellent fuel for biomass power stations according to research published this week by a team at Teesside University’s Contaminated Land and Water Centre. The project, started in 2004 by the BioReGen (Biomass, Remediation, re-Generation) project team, sought to see which plants could best be grown on brownfield sites as a way of improving unsightly blots on the landscape.

An agreement to establish a major aviation bioenergy research institution and demonstration project in Abu Dhabi was unveilled today (18th January) by Boeing, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Etihad Airways and Honeywell's UOP. The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project (SBRP) will, says the compaies, use integrated saltwater agricultural systems to support the development and commercialization of biofuel sources for aviation and coproducts.

The policy paper released by Rice University recently (see previous story ) is set to continue the orchestrated campaign to limit, and ultimately eliminate, the use of biofuels, according to a statement issued by the US Renewable Fuels Association. The RFA statement continues by suggesting that in its commentary, researchers from Rice rely upon out-of-date information and questionable assumptions to denigrate Congress, farmers, and ethanol producers for their support of domestically-based renewable fuels.