Biomass Week - June 28, 2013

Obama unveils climate change action plan On June 25, President Obama laid out his three-part plan to address climate change during a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "As a president, as a father, and as an American, I am here to say we need to act," he said. READ MORE SHARE
Biomass Magazine webinar addresses European demand for pellets With more than 500 registrants, Biomass Magazine successfully launched its new webinar series with the first session focusing on the growing European demand for American wood pellets. READ MORE SHARE
	U.S. added 6 MW of biomass capacity in May On June 18 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released the May edition of its Office of Energy Projects Energy Infrastructure Update, showing that the U.S. has added 116 MW of biomass power capacity since the beginning of the year. READ MORE SHARE
EPA releases RIN generation data for May The U.S. EPA has published renewable identification number (RIN) generation data for May. More than 34.23 million D5 advanced biofuel, 211.93 million D4 biomass-based diesel and 1.16 billion D6 renewable fuel RINs were generated in May. READ MORE SHARE
U.S. Forest Service funds 10 renewable energy projects U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has announced the award of nearly $2.5 million in grants to 10 small businesses and community groups for wood-to-energy projects that will help expand regional economies and create new jobs. READ MORE SHARE
Green Investment Bank publishes first annual report Roughly six months after the U.K. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills declared it open for business, the U.K. Green Investment Bank has released its first annual report, which details several biomass investments made to date. READ MORE SHARE
Department of Defense contract awarded to Red Rock Biofuels Red Rock Biofuels LLC, a subsidiary of IR1 Group, secured a $4.1 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense for drop-in jet fuel created from woody biomass. The funding will be used to get the company's sites "shovel ready." READ MORE SHARE
Emerson aims to improve performance on biomass power plants Missouri-based Emerson Process Management has integrated a biomass fuel moisture sensor with its Ovation Expert Control System to allow a biomass-fueled power plant to monitor feedstock moisture content and adjust combustion processes. READ MORE SHARE
Engineered bacteria could produce biobased gasoline By rerouting the metabolic pathway that makes fatty acids in E. coli bacteria, researchers have devised a new way to produce a gasoline-like biofuel. The same lines can also produce precursors of pharmaceuticals, bioplastics, herbicides and more. READ MORE SHARE
British university wins funding to develop biobased chemicals The University of Liverpool has been awarded funding to develop the next generation of renewable chemicals from biomass to use in the manufacture of materials, plastics, solvents and pharmaceuticals. READ MORE SHARE
Weltec biogas plant in Germany undergoes commissioning With four digesters of 4,900 cubic meters, six digestate storage units of 5,000 cubic meters and a liquid reservoir, a biogas plant built by Weltec Biopower in Lower Saxony, England, produces 1,650 standard cubic meters of raw biogas per hour. READ MORE SHARE
Minn., Sweden officials sign bioenergy agreement Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Daniel Johansson, an official with the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, have pledged to continue working together on research, technology and public policy related to the field of bioenergy. READ MORE SHARE
House committee hearing aims to perform "check-up" on RFS The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Power Subcommittee held a hearing June 26 on the renewable fuel standard (RFS), titled "Overview of the Renewable Fuel Standard: Government Perspectives." It featured testimony from government officials. READ MORE SHARE
Lanxess converts Genomatica's BDO into biobased PBT Lanxess AG and Genomatica Inc. have announced that Lanxess has run a production campaign of biobased polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) using 20 metric tons of biobased 1,4-butanediol (BDO) made with Genomatica's commercially-proven process. READ MORE SHARE
Haldor Topsoe and partners produce biobased gasoline Haldor Topsoe A/S and its project partners Andritz Carbona, Gas Technology Institute, Phillips 66 Co. and UPM-Kymmene have successfully completed the first production of gasoline from woody biomass in an integrated demonstration plant near Chicago. READ MORE SHARE
Industry hopeful Obama's climate change plan will address biomass President Obama is expected to speak about his plan to fight climate change during a speech at Georgetown University on June 25. Those in the biomass industry are hopefully the plan will recognize the benefits of biobased fuels, power and thermal. READ MORE SHARE
Americans tired of volatile gas prices, want more renewable fuel With summer driving season here, a new public opinion poll gauges the consumer impacts of constantly fluctuating gas prices and reveals what Americans think is the solution: renewable fuel. The survey was commissioned by Fuels America. READ MORE SHARE