A strain of tobacco holds the promise of biofuel for South African Airways’s fleet of planes, but raises issues of feasibility and economic viability.
Science Minister Derek Hanekom has launched a road map on how to develop South Africa’s natural biological resources into commercial products.
The Young Designers: Individuals Award is for school-goers with a creative idea, programme, design or prototype for the efficient use of energy.
South Africa’s move to foster bioethanol is self-defeating and unneighbourly.
A new biofuels plant near Hull will be the United Kingdom’s biggest buyer of wheat, and the biggest supplier of animal feed.
The announcement of the construction of two factories producing bioethanol from sorghum, costing about R1.6-billion each, appears to be imminent.
It started out with a bang, but land deals went sour and farms lie barren as the project stalls, writes Sipho Kings.
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/ 20 February 2012
R2-billion has been set aside for an ethanol plant to help South Africa’s budding biofuels sector, which could reduce its reliance on imported fuel.
Villagers vow to resist as wildlife vanishes and they are driven from their land to make way for water-thirsty crops.
The current frank discussions internationally and in South Africa on the role of biofuels are both timely and welcome, writes <b>Emile van Zyl</b>.
A project to produce clean energy for The Netherlands and Belgium has degenerated into a controversial abuse of natural resources in Africa.
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/ 30 November 2010
SA’s maize prices, which have largely been depressed this year, will remain under pressure in 2011 unless the country secures new export markets.
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/ 15 October 2010
South Africa should not review its biofuels policy to include maize as this would fuel food prices hikes, an industry body on biofuels said on Friday.
SA needs to re-examine its current policy on biofuels which would see the country use its excess maize without threatening food security.
Electric cars are riding high, as incentives and new models make them a realistic option, but the fresh attention may highlight flaws.
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/ 23 January 2010
One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people.
The initial euphoria over the potential of biofuels to replace fossil fuels has died down.
South Africa’s unique fynbos vegetation could be threatened if canola is introduced as a source of biofuel.
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/ 19 November 2008
The German government has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown over its plans to lead a worldwide biofuels revolution on the roads.
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/ 10 September 2008
A key panel of European Union lawmakers voted on Thursday to lower a target for using traditional biofuels produced from crops in road transport fuel.
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/ 10 September 2008
The boom in biofuel production in Latin America, particularly Brazil, is benefiting corporations but not local people, said environmentalists.
We do have the policies, reports Kevin Davie, but there doesn’t seem to be an implementation plan.
Even for climate change optimists, it sounds too good to be true: a liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil.
China is the world’s leading producer of energy from renewable sources and is on the way to overtaking developed countries.
Climate change is driving a new scramble for resources, but there are fears adaptation could divert money from development, writes Nicole Johnston.
”No farmers, no future.” So says the bumper sticker on farmer Bully Botma’s white bakkie, parked in Bothaville, South Africa’s mealie capital.
Kenya will regret its failure to protect the environment, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai said on Sunday.
Ministers say they have been labouring under the false impression that an EU plan to fight global warming included an obligation to develop biofuels.
Biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75%, according to the findings of an unpublished World Bank report.
With oil prices near a barrel, motorists are starting to look seriously at both alternative fuels and electric vehicles.
World leaders will seek on Thursday to agree an action plan to tackle the global food crisis after three days of wrangling.