News from the 2nd Annual Africa Bioenergies Conference & Expo:
New chance for Africa to turn to bio-energy: expert
Jun 18, 2009 ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The global economic crisis is an opportunity for Africa to venture into previously ignored bio-energy production, experts suggested on Thursday.
Meghan Sapp, secretary-general of a Brussels-based international green energy advocacy group Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA) said the crisis will pressure Africa to be more innovative.
"Bio-energy is so important if we are going to be able to get out of this economic cycle," she said.
Energy experts from Africa, Europe and Brazil -- one of the world's leading biofuel producers -- are gathered in the Ethiopian capital to push for bio-energy production and use.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose country has one of Africa's largest ethanol schemes producing roughly 35 million litres a year, joined the chorus calling for a boost in green energy output to reduce reliance on expensive fossil energy.
"The current global and African environment requires ...that we change the negative interaction between agriculture and bio-energy into a positive one," Meles said.
Concerns over the conflict between producing bio-fuels against food production has forced some countries to ditch the green energy plans for food.
The United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol, followed by Brazil, which is the leading exporter of biofuels.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gG0yepJHuDOjII1fzNvZLb4_r23Q
Ethiopian PM underlines biofuels as crucial for combating climate change
Africa Bioenergy Conference and Expo: Meles Zenawi insists that Africa needs to generate necessary technologies
http://en.afrik.com/article15830.html
Older News
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From Meghan Sapp in Sugaronline.com: “ILUC is one of the unluckiest words around. And it’s looking to get unluckier. ILUC, or Indirect Land Use Change, is the latest fad to hit the biofuels scene and has become more controversial than Sharon Stone’s famous leg-crossing scene in Basic Instinct. The basic (no pun intended) idea is that land used for maize ethanol production in the US could potentially cause the Amazon to be deforested for soybean production. Or biodiesel production in Italy could force deforestation in Finland. Or any number of hundreds of hypothetical land use change situations.”
http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/04/02/today-in-biofuels-opinion-federal-support-of-the-ethanol-industry-1-god-0/ |
