Biofuels

ISSUES

Agrofuels

Three types of agrofuel
Agrofuels (also called biofuels) are agriculture-based fuels. There are three main types: alcohol-based agrofuels which are used in petrol engines; oil-based agrofuels which are used in diesel engines; and agrofuels made of gas.
Alcohol-based agrofuels are produced from plants rich in sugar such as sugarcane or sugar beet, or from plants rich in starch, such as wheat. These agrofuels include bioethanol and its derivative ETBE (Ethyl tert-butyl ether).
The oils are extracted from oleaginous plants such as rapeseed, palm, sunflower or soybean. They can be pure vegetable oils, referred to as "raw oils" (these are sometimes cooking oils), or processed products. In the latter case, one speaks of diester, biodiesel or VOME (vegetable oil methyl esters). Both are made from 90% oil and 10% methanol, a petroleum derivative.
The gases are produced by fermenting organic matter. The r...

NEWS

Sumatran orangutans' rainforest home faces new threat

Marginal land can help meet US biofuel target: study

Lithuanians recycle Christmas trees into biofuel

Univers GoodPlanet par Netvibes

DEBATES

Biofuels for transportation: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century.

Worldwatch Institute

Biofuels: is Jatropha a counter-example?

...

Woodstock revisited: Could new techniques for producing ethanol make old-fashioned trees the biofuel of the future?

...

FOCUS

Nobel Price of ecology

Designed to recognize grassroots environmental heroes, the Goldman Environmental Prize, founded by Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989 In San Francisco, is awarded annually to individuals from the six inhabited continental regions for sustained and significant efforts to...

VIDEOS

27/11/2012	Since 1860, geologists have discovered over 2 trillion barrels of oil....	12/04/2011	John Moavenzadeh, Senior Director and Head of Mobility Industries, reveals...
17/08/2010	A video about biofuel in Brazil.

GREEN TIPS

Agroecology

Since the 1980s, the engineer Pierre Rabhi has been developing agroecology in very poor rural areas in...

INDICATORS

Arable land
Carbon dioxide emissions
Renewable energy in the energy mix

CHECK OUT THE STATE OF THE WORLD ON OUR 3D GLOBE