Clean manure may sound like an oxymoron, but Dr. Brent Auvermann is working with feedyard owners to help them get the most "spark" from it as a fuel source.

A team of University of Georgia researchers has developed a new biofuel derived from wood chips. Unlike previous fuels derived from wood, the new and still unnamed fuel can be blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel to power conventional engines.

A new variety of corn developed and patented by Michigan State University scientists could turn corn leaves and stalks into products that are just as valuable as the golden kernels.

"Put a tree in your tank." Fuel companies aren't touting that slogan. At least not yet.
But thanks to research done in part by Bruce Dale, Michigan State University professor of chemical engineering and materials science, making fuels from poplar trees and corn stalks is becoming more efficient and cost-effective.

In a breakthrough that could make the production of cellulosic ethanol less expensive, Cornell researchers have discovered a class of plant enzymes that potentially could allow plant materials used to make ethanol to be broken down more efficiently than is possible using current technologies.

It's the new climate change dilemma: finding alternatives for oil and gas without doing more harm than good. In the rush to develop biofuels, forests are burned in Asia to clear land for palm oil, and swaths of the Amazon are stripped of diverse vegetation for soya and sugar plantations for ethanol.

Termites and fungi already know how to digest cellulose, but the human process of producing ethanol from cellulose remains slow and expensive. The central bottleneck is the sluggish rate at which the cellulose enzyme complex breaks down tightly bound cellulose into sugars, which are then fermented into ethanol.

The ethanol craze squeezes corn supplies and causes food prices to rise. Mexicans took to the streets last year to protest increased tortilla prices. The cost of chicken and beef in the United States ticked up because feed is more expensive. That's where biotechnology comes in.

Brazil defended its ethanol agreement with the United States despite efforts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to undermine the deal using his country's vast reserves of oil and natural gas.

ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the world, is taking steps to address the problem of global warming, the first major US oil company to do so. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, the company is implementing programs to develop alternative fuels and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Farmers in Latin America's largest county increased the land devoted to sugarcane by 7 percent last year owing to Brazil's booming ethanol business and the fuel's growing international appeal.

The leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, are criticizing President Bush's recent call to increase biofuel production, because of what they say is the potential impact on food supplies beyond U.S. borders. VOA's Brian Wagner in Miami looks at how the drive for biofuels is changing agriculture in several countries that have embraced the trend, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.