Biofuels News Summary

Combustion engine doubles thermal efficiency

A British firm claims to have designed an internal combustion engine with more than double the thermal efficiency of current high-performance models.. More.

Biofuels Mandated for Canadian Gas Tanks

Canadians will be burning home-grown biofuels in their engines as early as this December.. More.

Borders Group loss widens

Borders Group Inc. reported a slightly larger loss in the second quarter and said it will sell more items besides books as it readies for the crucial holiday season. The company is also closing underperforming stores and introducing a paid loyalty program as it continues to battle tough competition from online retailers like Amazon.com and discount stores such as Walmart. H.J. Heinz Co.'s fiscal .... More.

The Biggest Green Market? Seven Reasons Why It's Green IT

Solar, wind and biofuels are all fantastic technologies, but to make money, stick to IOPS.. More.

Research and Markets: South Africa Agribusiness Report Q4 2010

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/993c0e/south_africa_agrib) has announced the addition of the "South Africa Agribusiness Report Q4 2010" report to their offering. South Africa Agribusiness service provides proprietary medium term price forecasts for key commodities, including corn, wheat, rice, sugar, cocoa .... More.

Sporadic gunfire continues in Mozambique; Police say 2 officers, 2 protesters dead in violence

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in Mozambique's capital Thursday, the morning after at least four people died in clashes between police and rioters angered by high prices.. More.

Municipal trash-to-ethanol plant opens in Canada

Enerkem breaks ground on facility that plans to convert 100,000 tons of household trash a year into ethanol, diverting landfill and reducing emissions.. More.

New Oil Rig Explosion in Gulf of Mexico - BREAKING NEWS

NEW ORLEANS - September 2, 2010: One person is missing after a rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard said.. More.

Mascoma Buys SunOpta BioProcess for $51 M

Ethanol manufacturer Mascoma announced that it has acquired Canada-based SunOpta BioProcess Inc. (SBI), a division of SunOpta Inc. The two companies will now combine SBI's fiber preparation and pretreatment technologies with the consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) technology of Mascoma bringing Mascoma a step closer towards its full commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.. More.

Gunfire continues in Mozambique; police say 4 dead

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) Sporadic gunfire could be heard in Mozambique's capital Thursday, the morning after at least four people died in clashes between police and rioters angered by high prices. Pedro Cossa, a spokesman for the police ministry, told The Associated Press Thursday two of his officers were beaten by mobs the day before. He said the death toll was four, including two protesters .... More.

Brunswick man on committee to select new DNR director

=Earlier this week, Gov. Jay Nixon selected a Chariton County man to serve on a nine-person committee to assist on a nationwide search for a new director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. =. More.

Frances Arnold: Synthetic Biology and the Race for New Biofuels

In an NRG lecture on November 2, Frances Arnold, Caltech's Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, discussed how new technology and new capabilities developed over the last few years have allowed scientists to consider how to design a microorganism to solve the fuel problem.. More.

USDA and DOE Partnership Seeks to Develop Better Plants for Bioenergy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2010 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced research awards under a joint DOE-USDA program aimed at improving and accelerating genetic breeding programs to create plants better suited for bioenergy production.. More.

Verenium Closes Sale of Cellulosic Biofuels Business to BP

Verenium Corporation , a pioneer in the development and commercialization of high-performance industrial enzyme solutions, today announced the closing of the sale of its cellulosic biofuels business to BP Biofuels North America for $98.3 million, subject to the additional financial terms of the transaction announced on July 15, 2010.. More.

Pennsylvania Landfill Project Switches Gears

Pennsylvania-based Resource Recovery has changed its original plans to build a municipal landfill in Rush Township, Pa., in favor of building an ethanol plant and smaller-scale landfill on the site, according to Biofuels International.. More.

Verenium Closes Sale of Cellulosic Biofuels Business to BP for $98.3M

-- Company to focus on growing commercial enzyme business --CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 2 -- Verenium Co.... More.

80 percent of agricultural expansion in tropics came at expense of forests

Tropical forests - and not previously cleared land, as some have contended - were the primary source of new agricultural land in the tropics from 1980 through 2000, according to a paper published online this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.. More.

Now meat price surge raises fear of food inflation

Freakish weather conditions and soaring demand from China, Brazil and other fast-emerging economies have pushed meat prices around the world to a 20-year high.. More.

Mozambique riots spotlight world food price spike

A few pennies' increase in the price of a loaf of bread can mean the difference between getting by and going hungry - and erupting in anger - in the world's poorest countries.. More.

Sec. Hilda Solis: Fighting for Workers This Labor Day

It's become a tradition for labor secretaries to use Labor Day to speak on the status of the American worker. Some have made remarks from podiums. Others have testified on Capitol Hill. I want to talk directly to you -- the American worker.. More.