TRADE:  Following Oil Boom, Biofuel Eyed In Africa
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PARIS, Jul 13 (IPS) - While oil profits have flooded into countries such  as Angola and Nigeria in recent decades, some African observers  see new potential for the continent in the form of increasingly  in-demand biofuels.
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Converting corn and soybeans into fuels is contributing to higher food prices. The dispute is how much.
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The Christian Science Monitor - Oil futures hit a record $100 a barrel in futures trading this week, after attacks in Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer. But most analysts expect that prices will decline from the current spike. A Reuters poll of 37 energy analysts' expectations yielded an average prediction of $74 a barrel for this year, compared with about $70 a barrel this past year.
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Here's a way to benefit from an increase in the global demand for oil.
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Brazil aims to double its production of ethanol in 10 years as the high price of oil and growing concerns over climate change spark a demand for biofuels.
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Our South American neighbor expands its production of ethanol and biodiesel. Partnering with Brazil would benefit the economy of a democracy and clean our skies. In Autopia.
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Using a technology that could save the lives of millions of the poor, Amyris Biotechnologies wants to create new biofuels that may help save the planet.
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(InfoWorld) - Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and the development fund of the GSM Association (GSMA), which represents the interests of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operators, have started a pilot project to develop biofuels to power rural India's wireless networks. A similar pilotÂ to the one in India is currently being run by Ericsson and GSMA in Lagos, Nigeria, with the MTN Group, a service provider with operations in Africa and the Middle East. In India, Ericsson and GSMA are partnering with a large local operator, Idea Cellular. India has large rural areas that lack electricity connections or have an inadequate power supply, which is likely to be a bottleneck for mobile operators planning to expand their coverage to the countryside, said P. Balaji, head of marketing and strategy at Ericsson India, on Thursday. Instead, users in rural areas in India and elsewhere in the world have to choose between using biofuel or fossil fuels to power their generators. Using biofuels is environmentally friendly as it reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by between 70 percent to 80 percent, Balaji said. Biomass for biofuel can be locally produced, providing employment in rural areas, he added. Ericsson and GSMA are aiming to create an ecosystem consisting of mobile services operators, local farmers who will grow the crops for biofuel and local entrepreneurs who will generate the biofuel for the wireless base stations, using converter technology developed by Ericsson and the GSMA. Biofuel will currently provide only marginal savings to an operator, but the benefit is likely to increase as biofuel is more widely adopted, while the cost of fossil fuels rises, Balaji said. Using biofuel will also translate into savings on logistics and transportation of diesel, he added. India has been adding over 6 million mobile subscribers each month, and many operators are targeting the countryâs underserved rural markets as the next big revenue opportunity. In India, Ericsson and the GSMA have identified nonedible plant-based fuels such as cotton seeds and jatropha, a plant grown in the region. In the second phase of the pilot in Pune in Maharashtra state, the two organizations and Idea Cellular are setting up a supplyÂ chainÂ usingÂ locallyÂ grown crops to produce biofuel to power betweenÂ five and 10 base stations in the region. The goal is to have these base stations powered by cotton or jatropha by the middle of this year.
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Life & style: We burn fossil fuel in the developed world - and plant trees in Africa. It sounds like a win-win situation. But is it? Mark Honigsbaum reports.
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A U.N. expert on Friday called the growing practice of converting food crops into biofuel "a crime against humanity," saying it is creating food shortages and price jumps that cause millions of poor people to go hungry.
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Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since the Depression. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price.
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How an isolated African region became a barometer of tastes and trends in other parts of the world.
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Sequencing of the poplar tree may lead to cheaper, more plentiful biofuels.
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By Ian Johnston Environment Correspondent  WILD flowers grown on some of the world's least fertile land could provide huge amounts of environmentally friendly biofuel, according to US scientists.
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The rapid growth of the world's biofuel industry is likely to keep farm commodity prices at high levels in the next decade as it will boost demand for grains, oilseeds and sugar, a major study said on Wednesday.
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The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a spike in the price of corn and other crops and could worsen water shortages and force poor communities off their land, a U.N. official said Wednesday.
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Cuba has the potential to make 3.2 billion gallons of ethanol a year, a figure that would make it the world's third-biggest producer. Reaching that target would require a massive infusion of foreign capital, but with Cuba quietly modernizing its ethanol infrastructure, is the country preparing to jump into the ethanol game?