Other News

Oil giant BP has announced that it will buy Clean Energy Fuels Corp.’s biomethane business for $155 million (€147m). Clean Energy Fuels is a US provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America.  In a statement, BP said that the deal enables both companies to accelerate the growth in renewable natural gas supply and meet the growing demand of the natural gas vehicle…
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There has been excessive use of land for bioenergy crops in Germany which has led to a loss of species, according to the German environment minister Barbara Hendricks. Hendricks, speaking to the magazine Mehrwert, included energy as part of general comments on how she planned to reverse some policy in a bid to assist nature conservation, Power Engineering International reported. With reference…
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Following the merger of UK waste management firm Shanks Group and Dutch waste services provider Van Gansewinkel, the company has announced it will rebrand as Renewi.  Following the completion of the merger with Van Gansewinkel Groep B.V, Shanks has announced that it will be re-launching the combined business under a new brand, which will include re-naming the company from Shanks Group plc to…
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US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has said that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the…
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There have been at least four major power outages in several states in Australia over the last 5 months impacting millions of customers due the country’s switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources, according to UK-based union GMB. GMB, the union for workers in the energy sector in the UK, is calling on the UK and devolved governments as well as Ofgem and National Grid as well as the…
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In a rare landmark case on the validity of patents covering biotech innovations, the Supreme People’s Court of China has decided in Novozymes’ favour in a trial against two competitors accused of infringing its enzyme patent. The patent dispute began in 2011, when Novozymes found evidence that Shandong Longda Bio-Products Co.and Jiangsu Boli Bioproducts Co., were producing and selling…
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The development of large-scale energy projects, including the Site C hydroelectric dam, threatens to drive bioenergy and biofuel production away from British Columbia (B.C.), experts warn. Jack Saddler, a researcher at the University of B.C. and part of a project to convert forest residues to biojet fuel, told CBC News that big energy projects could drive out innovation in the industry. The Site…
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The UK should vary the pace at which it reduces carbon emissions by 2050 in order to prioritise energy policies that “keep the lights on”, according to a House or Lords committee. The Economic Affairs Committee examined the impact of the policies of successive governments on the electricity market.  In its report, "The Price of Power: Reforming the Electricity Market", published…
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Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp, renewable energy provider Eneco and Groningen Seaports has opened a facility which will supply steam from biomass to the chemical park at Delfzijl in the Netherlands – primarily for AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals site.  Netherlands-based Eneco has converted its biomass plant into a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, which provides…
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Vega Biofuels announced that it has expanded its manufacturing capabilities to include multiple sizes of its biocoal product to meet recent demand. Biocoal is a renewable, green energy product made from timber waste using a technology called torrefaction.   Torrefaction is the treatment of biomass at high temperatures under low oxygen conditions.   Vega Biofuels recently announced that…
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Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, has unveiled proposals to go carbon-neutral by 2045. Last week (2 February, 2017) Löfven set a statutory target to go carbon neutral will be trigged by 1 January, 2018. Under the proposed Climate Act, the government will be required by law to include a climate report in the country's annual budget and to produce a climate action…
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Iran plans to invest $3 billion (€2.8bn) on constructing renewable energy power plants, said Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian. “Iran intends to launch a large-scale project to construct renewable energy power plants over the sixth Five-Year Development Plan to generate five thousand megawatt of energy in the country,” Chitchian said, as quoted in local news agency Irna.…
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CNG Fuels, a UK-based supplier of renewable biomethane fuel, and Waitrose, today announced that the supermarket group has introduced Europe’s most advanced fleet of CNG (compressed natural gas)-powered trucks with a range of up to 500 miles. They will use technology developed jointly with Scania and Agility Fuel Solutions, the leading CNG fuel systems and cylinders company in North…
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Sequential cropping can be a promising model to produce additional biomass without negative impacts on land use change or food production, a new study has found. In a research study for the Italian Biogas Consortium (CIB), climate and energy consultancy Ecofys found that agricultural crop yields can increase dramatically in a sustainable manner if sequential cropping is introduced. In Europe,…
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