In a move sure to gain the appreciation of at least some hunger activists, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger announced that The European Commission will be limiting crop-based biofuels to just 5 percent of transport fuel until at least the year 2020. Activists have been railing against the use of crops and other food sources for fuel as millions go hungry around the world.

“Finally the European commissioners have come to their senses,” said Clare Coffey, policy adviser at ActionAid. “They are firmly acknowledging that using precious food and agricultural land to fuel our cars is bad for people and bad for the environment. In a world where a billion go to bed hungry every night, that is immoral.”

While the limits will be put in place for crop-based fuels once passed by EU governments and lawmakers, development of other biofuels will move forward towards a goal of having at least 10 percent of the fuel mix be from renewable sources by 2020. According to a statement by Oettinger at a recent meeting of EU energy ministers, the difficulty in that will be finding sources that are as cheap to produce as crop-based ones currently used.

The United Nation’s food agency recently called for the U.S. to change its policies on crop-based biofuels because of the danger of a worldwide food crisis, but it seems the European Union is the only one taking that advice to heart. “We cannot continue to burn food in our petrol tanks while poor families go hungry,” said Natalia Alonso from Oxfam. Truer words aren’t spoken too often and we definitely need to speed up the development and production of non-food-based biofuel sources.

[via The Guardian]

Image Credit: Frapestaartje/Flickr

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The Iceni Grand Tourer will be introduced September 5 at Salon Privé 2012 in London and it is sure to garner much attention from auto and green enthusiasts alike. The Tourer has a biodiesel, palm oil, linseed oil, or regular diesel fuel-powered 6.6-litre twin-turbo diesel engine which capable of powering the car from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 3.7 seconds. Put the pedal to the metal and you would see the speedometer top out at nearly 200 MPH. Prices start at £75 000, about US $118,000.

As for some eco-friendly details, Trident states that the engine turns at only 980 RPM at regular highway speeds and averages 70 miles per gallon while doing so, hardily beating the 50 MPG average of the fuel-efficient Toyota Prius.

Just for comparison sake, a 2013 petroleum-powered Ferrari California which also reaches 60 in 3.7 seconds and tops out at 193 MPH costs over $200,000 – and averages just 15 MPG.

The Iceni Grand Tourer is named after the ancient British tribe Iceni, which fought against the Romans around 60 A.D.

The sports car of the future may be arriving as soon as September of this year should the Iceni Grand Tourer meet expectations. Trident, we here at Revmodo would be more than happy to test the car and make sure it does all you say it can do!

[via iol Motoring]

Image Credit: Trident

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Located next to a sugarcane factory owned by Bunge, the biofuel factory will create oil by feeding Bunge’s sugar stock to algae, and then extracting oil from the algae. The plant will begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2013, and will produce 30 million gallons of oil each year. The oil will be used both for specialty chemicals and biofuels.

In the past, algae producers like Solazyme have been hesitant to produce biofuels because of the challenge of competing with the price of oil; biofuels will need to be produced on massive scales to bring cost down. Oils for the specialty chemical market — like the polymers used in plastics or pharmaceuticals — can be sold at a higher price, and have been more common. One of Solazyme’s customers has been Unilever, which purchases algal oil as a replacement for palm oil, a source of deforestation.

Now, Solazyme is changing industry trends by scaling up biofuel production. Solazyme raised $198 million last year in its IPO, and used the proceeds to invest in the new factory. By partnering with Bunge, the sugarcane factory, they’ve helped mitigate risk. The company is aiming for a production cost of $60 to $80 a barrel.

Image credit Flickr user jurvetson 

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