In a move that will benefit ethanol producers nationwide, the U.S. EPA announced Jan. 12 that it will defer greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting requirements for biogenic emissions for three years while it conducts scientific analysis and develops a rulemaking to specifically address emissions from those sources.

A new Australian company has been established to produce commercial quantities of clean, “green” fuels from algae.

Title: Ethanol Industry Overview Webinar
Host: DOE Clean Cities
Speaker: Robert White, Renewable Fuels Association
Date: January 19, 2011
Time: 3:00-4:00 PM EDT
Description: This Webinar will provide an opportunity for stakeholders, industry representatives, and program staff to hear about the latest developments in ethanol, including the volumetric ethanol excise and infrastructure tax credits.

Contact: Please contact Sandra Loi (sandra.loi@nrel.gov) if you are interested in attending.

For more information on Clean Cities and the Vehicle Technologies Program, please visit the Vehicle Technologies Program Web site and the Clean Cities Web site.

Dr. Tasios Melis of UC Berkeley, a pre-eminent researcher in the field of Photobiological Hydrogen Production, will be providing an overview of his invention disclosing methods and compositions to minimize the chlorophyll antenna size of photosynthesis by decreasing the expression of the novel TLA1 gene, thereby improving solar conversion efficiencies and photosynthetic productivity in plants and algae. This new invention and enabling technology, developed with DOE support through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has broad positive implications for mass culture productivity. The invention has already been successfully applied in the microalgae biofuels field to improve energy efficiency and product yield.

Learn more about the Webinar.

Australian airline Qantas will announce this month that they will be building the world’s second commercial-scale plant to produce biojet fuel completely made from waste for its aircraft.

President Obama on December 17 signed a bill that temporarily extends through 2011 various energy efficiency and renewable energy provisions, including Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides cash assistance to energy producers in place of tax credits. Under this program, the federal government provides a cash payment in lieu of a tax credit totaling 30% of the qualifying cost of the project. The measure, passed by the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and hailed by renewable energy industry associations, extends for one year the start-of-construction deadline for projects such as wind and solar power that are eligible under Section 1603.

Other provisions extended through 2011 include a $1-per-gallon production tax credit for biodiesel as well as diesel fuel created from biomass; credit for manufacturers of energy-efficient residential homes; a 50-cent-per gallon alternative fuel tax credit; the existing per-gallon tax credits and outlay payments for ethanol; credits for U.S.-based manufacture of energy-efficient washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators; certain credit for energy-efficient improvements to existing homes; and a 30% investment tax credit for alternative vehicle refueling property. See the President’s remarks upon the signing of the bill, the bill summary with energy provisions on pages 6-7, and statements on the passage by the American Wind Energy Association, and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The German Biomass Research Center has conducted a study on optimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rapeseed-based biodiesel. The goal of the study was to analyze the current default values for GHGs from rapeseed-based biodiesel, and to outline areas that would improve current GHG levels. Authored by Stefan Majer and Katja Oehmicen from the center, the study was conducted partially in response to the German Biofuel Sustainability Ordinance that calls for biofuels used by 2017 to reach a GHG reduction target of 50 percent when compared to fossil fuels, and 60 percent by 2018.

BP has a long way to go before it can redeem itself from last spring’s oil disaster, but helping to wean the planet off the sticky black stuff is a start. The oil giant recently teamed up with the University of Illinois, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California at Berkeley, and Seoul National University to engineer a new strain of yeast that can ferment two types of sugar at the same time to produce ethanol.

Translation: the scientists have created a supercharged yeast that can gobble up sugar faster and more efficiently than any other yeast.

After three years of extensive research, scientists at the U.S. DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory believe they have uncovered an important piece of the plant cell wall mystery that has previously stumped researchers worldwide and slowed progress in the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.