Dominique de Villepin on 15 May announced new measures to boost the use of biofuels in vehicles and reduce the country's rising oil bill on its way to a "post-oil" era.Villepin's key measure is to increase the blending of biofuels with conventional oil to 10% per volume by 2015, an objective which is "twice as much as European objectives," according to the French PM. Public procurements to build 16 new biomass-based factories were launched in 2005, representing a total investment of 2 billion euros, he announced.

 

De Villepin's objective is to ensure that, "by the end of the decade" every French citizen can buy a vehicle able to run on high biofuels blends. He said the vehicles would either be petrol cars which can run on "nearly pure" ethanol or diesel cars which can integrate "high blends" of biofuels.
In this context, Villepin said he wanted to see a genuine network of "green refuelling stations", saying these are already a reality in Brazil and Sweden.

URBANDALE, Iowa - The Washington biodiesel plant will soon be under construction. After only one week of fundraising, Iowa Renewable Energy (IRE) has raised over $19.5 million from investors. The money will be used to build the 30 million gallon-per-year biodiesel production facility.“We are very excited and pleased that the drive has been completed,” says Mike Bohannan of Washington, Iowa, president of IRE. “We are happy to be able to bring an opportunity like this to southeast Iowa.”

TexCom, Inc. today announced that it has received a $6 million project finance equity commitment to expand its Biodiesel operations into the state of Oklahoma. A group led by former University of Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys Coach Barry Switzer has committed $6 million as the equity component for a Biodiesel plant to be constructed for purposes of serving the diesel fuel needs for the State of Oklahoma.

A $40 million plant in Wall Lake, Iowa, has started producing biodiesel. Western Iowa Energy made its first batch of the soybean-based fuel additive last week.

Davao City (2 June) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also ordered the immediate release of P500-million to the Philippine National Oil
Company for the planting of Jatropha Curcas.  The country could save as much as $2-billion annually if it shifts from imported diesel to locallyproduced biodiesel, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said. Secretary Neri said the country imports about $7-billion worth ofoil and petroleum products, 25 percent of which is diesel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May, 2006) -- The U.S. Department of Energy last week reported that gasoline prices had topped $3.00 per gallon in some regions of the United States. Reacting to the announcement, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President & CEO Jim Greenwood said, “American drivers today face record-high fuel prices as worldwide demand for oil continues to outpace petroleum production and refining capacity. Even higher gasoline prices are possible this year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. If America is to deal with the problem of high fuel prices, we must develop and scale up a less expensive domestic fuel supply, and ethanol is the best, most readily available solution. Most people are not aware that biotechnology now offers ways to dramatically increase ethanol production and bring down fuel prices.”

Private vehicles, particularly fish dealers on long-distance trips, travel trucks, and cargo forwarding have been using coco-biodiesel more than government service vehicles, according to Joel Pilapil, Assistant Regional Director of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) today applauded Governor Tom Vilsack for signing into law legislation designed to boost the availability and use of renewable fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol. A 25% Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) is the centerpiece of the comprehensive renewable fuels bill.

 

“With the Governor’s signature, Iowa is on the path to be the number one renewable fuels consuming state,” stated IRFA’s Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Iowa is already the ethanol and biodiesel production leader. Now we have the most aggressive renewable fuels usage policy of any state as well. IRFA has already been contacted by several states who want to follow in Iowa’s footsteps.”