Biomass Week - January 4, 2013

Pellet Fuels Institute earns fiscal cliff win The Pellet Fuels Institute held a December 2012 fly-in trip to Washington, D.C., to fight for a biomass heating tax incentive, and those efforts have paid off. Included in the fiscal cliff tax deal was the stove tax credit. READ MORE SHARE
Maine college wins EPA grant for food waste-to-fuel research The Maine-based College of the Atlantic received a $15,000 grant from the U.S. EPA to explore the possibility of turning food waste into a resource for liquid fuel or biogas by fermenting the sugars in the waste. READ MORE SHARE
	Sweetwater Energy, Ace Ethanol partner for cellulosic production Ace Ethanol, will partner with Sweetwater Energy Inc., a Rochester, N.Y.-based cellulosic sugar producer to generate cellulosic ethanol at Ace's plant for up to 16 years. Sweetwater will place a cellulosic sugar facility adjacent to the plant. READ MORE SHARE
Germany helps Ukraine develop biofuel projects Germany intends to assist Ukraine in establishing its own biofuel production in 2013. The statement was made by the representative of the German Federal Ministry of Environment Jurgen Keinhorst at the joint Ukraine-Germany council. READ MORE SHARE
USDA's senior energy advisor explains BCAP after cliff deal The Biomass Crop Assistance Program may have been extended through 2013 with the passing of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, but the program's usefulness in the coming year is still uncertain. READ MORE SHARE
DOE awards $10 million to develop biofuels, biobased products The U.S. DOE has announced more than $10 million to five projects in California, Washington, Maryland, and Texas that will develop new technologies to convert biomass into advanced biofuels and bioproducts like plastics and chemical intermediates. READ MORE SHARE
Renewable energy production tax credit renewed in tax bill The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 includes provisions that will allow biomass facilities to continue to qualify for renewable energy production tax credits (PTC), and and changes the way in which new facilities can become eligible for the PTC. READ MORE SHARE
AFPM petitions EPA to waive 2012 cellulosic mandate The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers has petitioned the U.S. EPA to waive the 2012 cellulosic biofuel mandate provided in the renewable fuel standard (RFS), citing a lack of domestic supply available for domestic use. READ MORE SHARE
Farm bill contains no mandatory funding for energy title programs Legislators have passed the "fiscal cliff bill," which extended the farm bill through Sept. 30 and several biofuel-related tax incentives through 2013. However, all mandatory funding for energy title programs was eliminated at the last moment. READ MORE SHARE
Gevo announces stock repurchase program Gevo Inc. has announced that its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase program that authorizes Gevo to repurchase up to $15 million of its common stock over a one-year period. READ MORE SHARE
Fiscal cliff bill extends biofuel tax incentives through 2013 President Obama is expected to sign the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 into law today. The legislation, also known as the "fiscal cliff bill," includes language to extend several biofuel-related tax incentives. READ MORE SHARE
Biojet flight makes Popular Science big events of 2012 list The first ever 100 percent biojet-fueled flight has earned recognition from Popular Science magazine as one of "The Big Science Stories of 2012." The flight used Brassica carinata, a member of the mustard seed family. READ MORE SHARE
Dutch wood-to-methanol facility scores $264 million grant A consortium consisting of BioMCN, Siemens, Linde, and Visser & Smit Hanab, have received EUR199 ($264 million) in NER300 grants. With these funds, a large-scale biomass refinery will be constructed. READ MORE SHARE