Fatty acid-derived biofuels can be a better solution than bioethanol to replace petroleum fuel, since they have similar energy content and combustion properties as current transportation fuels. The environmentally friendly microbial fermentation process has been used to synthesize advanced biofuels from renewable feedstock. Due to their robustness as well as the high tolerance to fermentation i...

The biofuels debate in the European Union has long been seen as a battle between politicians intent on finding a viable alternative to fossil fuels and campaign groups that claim the creation of biofuels creates potential environment damage, cuts into food production, and may be of limited effect in tackling climate change. But in a move to acknowledge concerns about the increasing complexity s...

In the early 2000s high expectations existed regarding the potential contribution of biofuels to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and substitution of fossil fuels in transport. In recent years sobering judgments prevailed. The major barriers for a further expansion of biofuels are their high costs (compared to fossil fuels), moderate ecological performances, limited feedstocks for biof...

Various policy instruments along with increasing oil prices have contributed to a sixfold increase in global biofuels production over the last decade (2000-2010). This rapid growth has proved controversial, however, and has raised concerns over potential conflicts with global food security and climate change mitigation. To address these concerns, policy support is now focused on advanced or sec...

Microalgae are receiving much interest as a possible biofuels feedstock, resulting in increasing research and development efforts. Biofuels from microalgae are potentially important sources of liquid renewable energy carriers, replacing petrol. Algae are not produced on a large-scale yet, but research shows promising results. Biofuel production needs water, an increasingly scarce resource. The ...

III LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF FIGURES VIII ACRONYMS AND INITIALISMS IX RACIAL CLASSIFICATIONS AND NOMENCLATURE XI PREFACE XIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS XVII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND THESIS OUTLINE 1 SETTING THE SCENE: BIOFUELS (POLICIES) AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN BIOFUELS STRATEGY 3 Hype, Mobilising Metaphors and the Meta-narrative of Biofuels to the Rescue 7 Confronting Complexities: Policy Perspecti...

We use a gendered computable general equilibrium model to assess the implications of biofuels expansion in Mozambique. We compare scenarios with different gender employment intensities in producing jatropha for biodiesel. Under all scenarios, biofuels accelerate GDP growth and reduce poverty. However, a stronger tradeoff between biofuels and food availability emerges when female labour is used ...

Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics • University of California Much attention has been given to the introduction of biofuels assuming competitive oil markets. This paper argues that OPEC behaves as a cartel of nations and that this suggests different outcomes than those derived under the competitive or the standard cartel models. In particular, the paper shows that the competitive mod...

The world continues to increase its energy use, brought about by an expanding population and a desire for a greater standard of living. This energy use coupled with the realization of the impact of carbon dioxide on the climate, has led us to reanalyze the potential of plant-based biofuels. Of the potential sources of biofuels the most efficient producers of biomass are the photosynthetic micro...