The first commercial offering of a new generation of biofuel crops, cuttings of Salix, a variety of willow, was launched on Monday (7thJuly) by the New Zealand company Pure Power. The company says it will have cuttings ready for foresters and farmers to commence commercial energy farming of Salix in 2009. The idea behind the launch is that the new crops will provide a secure supply of lignocellulosic feedstock from which Pure Power will produce biofuels and a range of bioproducts for use in the manufacture of paints, resins, adhesives and bioplastics.

An outline plan to create a woody biomass commodity exchange, the Biomass Commodity Exchange (BCEX), were announced today (9th July) by CleanTech Partners.

According to the company, the objective of BCEX is to increase the efficiency of the supply chain providing biomass to the existing forest products industry and the emerging forest biorefinery sector. The plan will examine facilitation of trading existing woody biomass markets, such as pulpwood, emerging open-loop biomass markets such as forest residue and the future trade of closed-loop energy crops, such as willow, poplar and switch grass.

Rising demand for palm oil will decimate biodiversity unless producers and politicians can work together to preserve as much remaining natural forest as possible, ecologists have warned. A new study of the potential ecological impact of various management strategies published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology found that very little can be done to make palm oil plantations more hospitable for local birds and butterflies. The findings have major implications for the booming market in biofuels and its impact on biodiversity.

Biofuels could provide as much as 10% of the world's fuel mix over the next couple of decades according to Rob Routs, Executive Director Oil Sands, Oil Products & Chemicals, Royal Dutch Shell. Routs's message was delivered in a major speech covering the potential of conventional and alternative fuels, presented at the Fifth Magdeburg Environmental Forum, Magdeburg, Germany, yesterday (4th July).

There should be no U-turn on the European Union's biofuels policy said Mariann Fischer Boel, the Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, speaking in Brussels today. Ms Fischer Boel was made her comments at the "Who will feed the World? The answers from the EU" event at the European Parliament.

TMO Renewables has licensed the ERGO™ bioinformatics software from Integrated Genomics. The company will use the tools for gene annotation, metabolic reconstruction and enzyme data-mining as well as for comparative genomics purposes.

Nick Goodall has been appointed as the Chief Executive of the UK's Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA). The appointment was announced today (2nd July) by Professor Ed Gallagher, Chair of the RFA. Commenting on the appointment Prof Gallacgher said, 'We are pleased to welcome Nick to the Agency. Nick will be leading a strong team at the RFA, and will be working to build a new consensus on the future of biofuels in the UK between Government, business and the environmental movement.' Nick said, 'I am delighted to be invited to lead the RFA. We will now build on the Gallagher Review, to ensure a truly sustainable future for biofuels in the UK.'

Nick is joining the RFA from the Energy Networks Association (ENA), where he was Chief Executive. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of 'Renewables East', the renewable energy agency for the East of England, and Chief Executive of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA). He is a member of Sustainability East.

A $5 million sponsored research agreement with the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2) has been announced today (1st July) by ConocoPhillips. The research programme is to concentrate on developing new ways to convert biomass into low-carbon transportation fuels. The new collaboration will build on a variety of active research projects being conducted by Colorado scientists and students to develop new sources of transportation biofuels. The first project will involve converting algae into renewable fuel.