Hawaii's last sugar plantation to be biofuel 'lab'

Hawaii's last sugar plantation could start producing jet fuel for the US navy. Federal agencies in the region have announced that they would spend millions of dollars to study the how to produce advanced biofuels from sugarcane grown in the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar's fields on Maui. The Office of Naval Research is budgeting $2 million annually for the project through 2015, with a focus on producing diesel and jet fuel from sugar. The Department of Energy is spending $2 million a year to have the University of Hawaii conduct studies in energy crop development and energy conversion technologies. HC&S is also going to install a "working laboratory" to test the potential of biofuel production. The research could benefit biofuel development efforts not just in Hawaii but also across the country.

French study says land use may cut biofuel benefits

According to an official French study changes in land use linked to the growing of crops like soybeans and palm oil may cancel out the benefits of biofuels in terms of emissions savings. The study also states that the biofuels may even have a worse emissions profile than traditional fossil fuels. Factors such as the clearing of forests to grow crops could cut the emissions benefits of both non-European biofuel production, and output in Europe through the indirect effect of importing biofuel components. Critics of the current generation of biofuels, made by using grains, sugar or oilseeds, say they encourage environmentally damaging land clearance. This issue has also been raised by the European Commission in its own analysis. The significance of these effects warrants further work in order to establish how to take into account land use changes in the (emissions) balances of products made with agricultural raw materials. In an updated version of a study first released in October, the authors reiterated substantial emissions savings from biofuels versus standard fuels when land-use changes are not measured, with savings ranging from 24 percent to 91 percent.

More fish killed near Kandal ethanol plant

An investigation after several tonnes of farmed fish were found dead near a Kandal province village roughly one kilometre away from a bioethanol plant that was briefly shut last year over environmental concerns. The villagers in Ponhea Leu district’s Prek Phnov commune estimate that roughly 26 tonnes of farmed fish were found dead. The die-off came less than a month after 54 tonnes of fish were reported lost in a mass kill that some blamed on the plant, which is owned by the Korean group MH Bio-Energy. Officials, however, have yet to point fingers in the most recent case, saying tests must be done on water samples first. At this stage, villagers are also proceeding with caution. The chief of the village says that the villagers have seen no visual signs of a chemical spill in the water. Many people are also not yet complaining. However if they find that the fish deaths were caused by the factory, then they will demand compensation. Previously, authorities declared that the bioethanol plant was not responsible for the estimated 54 tonnes of fish that villagers had found dead. Instead, an Environment Ministry spokesman blamed the deaths on climate change. In the last year, the factory was closed for 11 days after villagers reported losing roughly 60 tonnes of fish.