UK 'lacks ambition' on bioenergy
(BBC News) Barley is used to produce ethanol Biofuels' next generation British policies on bioenergy from plants and other natural materials lack ambition and clarity, MPs have said. The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efracom) says the UK is lagging behind other countries. It urges the government to look beyond its existing 5% target for biofuels in road transport, and promote bioenergy for heating homes and aviation.

Renewables Becoming Cost-Competitive With Fossil Fuels in the US
(Worldwatch Institute) Renewable resources currently provide just over 6 percent of total U.S. energy, but that figure could increase rapidly in the years ahead, according to a joint report released today by the Worldwatch Institute and the Center for American Progress, "American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security." Many of the new technologies that harness renewables are, or soon will be, economically competitive with fossil fuels.

Food, fuel, feed or price
(Lincoln Journal Star) Drop a pebble in the ag policy pond and the resulting ripples seem to rush over many farmers’ self-interest.Drop a rock in the deepest ag policy lake, Washington, D.C., and the non-farming wonks there begin searching for solutions to problems that don’t exist.The latest illustration of this curious phenomenon is ethanol, the biggest rock to drop in the U.S. farm pond since the Soviet Union’s 1970s grain-buying spree.

Alternative fuel vehicles giving gas guzzlers some competition
(Salt Lake Tribune) At first glance, Tom Tilton's 1985 Mercedes-Benz hardly seemed the poster car for environment friendly Alternative Transportation Day. Indeed, parked Saturday on the grass at downtown Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park next to a sleek, gasoline-electric Toyota Prius hybrid and a natural gas-burning Honda, the big, four-door diesel sedan seemed sorely out of place. Its owner, Tilton, begs to differ: "The Beast," he says, runs on B-100, or 100 percent biodiesel - a clean-burning alternative fuel that can be processed from vegetable or animal fats, including used cooking oil from restaurants.

Turning up the heat on recycled fuel
(The State) Those clever guys who run their cars on fuel made from old French-fry oil are out of luck if they try to gas up at Ed Rich's restaurant. He's come up with his own way of turning grease into gold. Last month, in an experiment some experts believe could become an industry standard, Rich began heating the hot water at his Culver's franchise with a boiler that burns vegetable oil no longer good for giving a golden crunchiness to fries, onion rings and chicken tenders. "My mother's from Germany, so I've seen how they recycle in Europe, and I think we need to do more of that here," said Rich, who has been serving up ButterBurgers and frozen custard for five years in this town just across the Illinois line.