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Biofuels production will create an estimated total of 123,000 jobs by 2012, according to a report released last week titled U.S. Economic Impact of Advanced Biofuels Production by Bio Economic Research Associates. The report estimated that advanced biofuels production will create 383,000 jobs by 2016 and 807,000 jobs by 2022.

Raw materials and utilities cost Biodiesel is the product obtained when a vegetable oil or an animal fat reacts chemically with an alcohol to produce fatty acid alkyl esters. A catalyst such as sodium or potassium hydroxide is required. Glycerol is produced as a co-product (Van Gerpen et al., 2004). The most common stoichiometries description of the reaction is: 1000 kg of oil þ 110 kg of methanol/1000 kg of biodiesel þ 110 kg of glycerol

"The objective of this study is to:  compile the available recent literature on ILUC emissions;  compare these emissions with the assumed gains of biofuels;  assess how ILUC changes the carbon balance of using biofuels;  formulate policies to avoid these extra emissions associated with ILUC. Trends in land use, with and without biofuels All the studies on global agricultural markets reviewed predict that new arable land will be required to meet future global demand for food and feed. Although there will be increased productivity on current arable land (intensification), food and feed demand will probably grow faster, which means that mobilization of new land is likely to occur. Biofuels produced from crops (the current mainstream practice) will add extra demand for crops like wheat, rice, maize, rapeseed and palm oil. This will increase prices for these crops (as well as for land) and lead to two impacts: intensification of agricultural production and conversion of forests and grasslands to arable land. In this report we consider the issue of indirect land use change initiated by EU biofuels policy and seek to answer the following questions:  What is the probability of biofuels policies initiating land use changes?  What greenhouse gas emissions may result from indirect land use change, expressed as a factor in the mathematical relation given above?  What technical measures can be applied and what policy measures adopted to limit or entirely mitigate indirect land use change and the associated greenhouse gas emissions? We first (Chapter 2) broadly discuss the mechanism of indirect land use change. We next discuss why there is a perception among stakeholders that there is a serious risk that EU biofuels policy will initiate indirect land use change (Chapter 3) and consider the figures cited by other studies as an indication of the magnitude the associated greenhouse gas emissions  (Chapter 4). We then broadly consid

An update on the latest production numbers from the EIA along with graphs/charts of different oil production forecasts.

The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust commissioned a study last year to review electricity output from 21 small wind turbines in the state and the results were surprising: the data showed that the estimated production was about three times higher than the turbines' actual production.

Various departments at a car manufacturing plant are suffering from regular process outages due to voltage dips. These dips are causing production losses in the Metal Operation, Spray Coating, and Assembly departments that directly affect the productivity of the plant. The cost of those losses is directly related to the profile of the voltage dip (duration and depth). Various options to reduce these costs are investigated, with particular emphasis upon the Spray Coating and Assembly departments. The following conclusions can be drawn: 1. The number and type of dips occurring at the point of connection of the plant is regular. It is similar to what is monitored at other medium voltage stations that have the same grid structure. 2. A detailed analysis of the spray coating process reveals that installing a 'restart on the fly' system on the large conditioning fans substantially reduces the related voltage dip losses. 3. A detailed analysis of the Assembly department shows that there are two main bottlenecks that determine the restart time after a dip (the 'Drive' sub-process and the 'Cockpit', 'Marking', and 'Transport chain' users). These bottlenecks can be removed by installing a Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), which results in a payback time of 1.4 years. * 1 Introduction

The IBM survey found that only 30 per cent of respondents' firms are collecting data frequently enough to make strategic decisions that address inefficiencies across eight major categories: carbon dioxide, water, waste, energy, sustainable procurement, labor standards, product composition and product lifecycle. Twenty-four percent collect this information monthly, while another 32 per cent do so no more than quarterly.

Most people tend to think of renewable energy as a clear break with our energy history, jettisoning all of the trappings associated with a dirty industry. It thus may come as a surprise to discover that, in fact, certain conventional technologies and infrastructure, including those associated with fossil fuel production, increasingly are being adapted to facilitate renewable energy production.

"Business calls for urgent action on "oil crunch" threat to UK economy Taskforce warns Britain is unprepared for significant risk to companies and consumers Poorest to be hit hardest by price rises for travel, food, heating and consumer goods New policies must be priority for whoever wins the General Election Recommended packages include legislation, new technologies and behaviour-change incentives Fundamental change in demand patterns triggered by emerging economy countries London, 10 February, 2010: A group of leading business people today call for urgent action to prepare the UK for Peak Oil. The second report of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) finds that oil shortages, insecurity of supply and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity potentially by 2015. Peak Oil refers to the point where the highest practicable rate of global oil production has been achieved and from which future levels of production will either plateau, or begin to diminish. This means an end to the era of cheap oil."

"We use a translog cost function to model production in the Irish manufacturing sector over the period from 1991 to 2009. We estimate both own- and cross-price elasticities and Morishima elasticities of substitution between capital, labour, materials and energy. We find that capital and energy are substitutes in the production process. Across all firms we find that a 1% rise in the price of energy is associated with an increase of 0.04% in the demand for capital. The Morishima elasticities, which reflect the technological substitution potential, indicate that a 1% increase in the price of energy causes the capital/energy input ratio to increase by 1.5%. The demand for capital in energy-intensive firms is more responsive to increases in energy prices, while it is less responsive in foreign-owned firms. We also observe a sharp decline in firms' responsiveness in the first half of the sample period."

All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil A range of oil analysts are expecting global oil production to peak and then begin its decline within the next 10 years. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil seeks to discuss and investigate the debate regarding the date of global peak oil production, and also look at the range of impacts, mitigations and solutions."