Purdue University chemical engineers have proposed a new environmentally friendly process for producing liquid fuels from plant matter - or biomass - potentially available from agricultural and forest waste, providing all of the fuel needed for "the entire U.S. transportation sector."

The United States and Brazil have signed an accord to expand production of sugar cane-based ethanol fuel in Central America and the Caribbean.

Biofuels have been an increasingly hot topic on the discussion table in the last few years. In 2003 the European Union introduced a Directive suggesting that Member states should increase the share of biofuels in the energy used for transport to 2% by 2005 and 5.75% by 2010.

A collaborative research project between the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) and the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute has advanced the quest for efficient conversion of plant biomass to fuels and chemicals.

On the road to making biofuels more economically competitive with fossil fuels, there are significant potholes to negotiate. For cellulosic ethanol production, one major detour has being addressed with the characterization of the genetic blueprint of the fungus Pichia stipitis, by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) and collaborators at the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL).

The United States, Brazil, India, China and the European Union have created a forum to promote the use of renewable energy sources known as biofuels. Senior diplomats from participating countries gathered to launch the project at the United Nations Friday, where VOA correspondent Peter Heinlein picks up the story.

As the search for alternative fuel sources intensifies, more and more attention has been focused on ethanol--a fuel many see as desirable because it burns cleanly and can be produced from plants.