Renewable Energy

(Worldwatch Biofuels Project) - (Renewables 2004—Bonn) - (Other Resources)

Worldwatch Biofuels Project

Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century

For more on the report, read the complete press release, view selected trends and facts from the report, register (free) or log in to our site to download PDF files of the short and extended summaries, view a transcript from the morning session of the conference, and view the conference schedule with PDF versions of the presentations. The full report will be available later in the year.

Recently, Worldwatch, in conjunction with the German Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture, in collaboration with the German Agencies for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Renewable Resources (FNR), initiated a global biofuels project. The primary aim of the project is to explore the global potential and implications of the large-scale use of biofuels for transportation.

Specifically the project attempted to quantify global biofuel production potential and analyze the various policy instruments available for global biofuel development promotion. The project will assess the broad ramifications of the rapid and large-scale development of biofuels, focusing particularly on the implications for the structure and size of farms, the health of rural communities, the energy and chemical requirements of agriculture, impacts on rural landscapes and biodiversity, levels of oil dependency, air and water quality, climate change, and the strength of developing country economies and social structures. In-depth country studies of Brazil, China, Germany, India, Tanzania, and the U.S will also be included.

The project is intended to inform policy makers and the public in both the North and South about the opportunities and risks of biofuels. It will then go on to propose concrete policies that will minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of biofuels development—seeking to develop a vision and policy agenda that are consistent with a transition to sustainable energy and agricultural systems. In addition to extensive global research, the project will rely on input from several regional workshops.

For more information about the Worldwatch Biofuels Project, contact Suzanne Hunt, Biofuels Project Manager, at shunt@worldwatch.org.

Biofuels Resources and Links

GTZ (http://www.gtz.de/en/)
GTZ provides viable, forward-looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world.

Alternative Fuels Data Center (http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/index.html)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept of Energy

EERE Biomass Program (http://www.eere.energy.gov/biomass/)
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Dept of Energy

IEA Bioenergy (http://www.ieabioenergy.com/)
International Energy Agency

CENBIO, Brazilian Reference Center on Biomass (http://www.cenbio.org.br/in/index.html)

UNICA, São Paulo Sugar Cane Agroindustry Union (http://www.unica.com.br/i_pages/alcool_combustivel.asp)

Biofuels Reports

Christoph Berg, World Fuel Ethanol Analysis and Outlook (Ratzeburg, Germany: F.O. Licht, April 2004).
http://www.distill.com/World-Fuel-Ethanol-A&O-2004.html

Nathanael Greene, Growing Energy: How Biofuels Can Help End America's Oil Dependence (Washington, DC: Natural Resources Defense Council, December 2004).
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/biofuels/contents.asp

Robert Perlack et al., Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (Oak Ridge, TN: DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Biomass Program, and USDA, April 2005).
http://feedstockreview.ornl.gov/pdf/billion_ton_vision.pdf

Edward Smeets, André Faaij, Iris Lewandowski, A quickscan of global bio-energy potentials to 2050 (March 2004)
http://www.chem.uu.nl/nws/www/publica/e2004-109.pdf

Renewables 2004—Bonn

The International Conference for Renewable Energies—Renewables 2004

On June 1, 2004, government ministers, technology experts, business executives, and non-governmental leaders from around the world gathered in Bonn, Germany for The International Conference for Renewable Energies—Renewables 2004. The conference goals were to chart a path for actively transitioning the world to a sustainable global energy system in a timely manner.

More on the Conference

Conference Overview
Official Conference Website: www.renewables2004.de

Worldwatch in Bonn

Four Worldwatch representatives traveled to Bonn for Renewables 2004. Read more about why they attended, what they hoped to accomplish, and their analysis of the conference's achievements.

re·new, v. t. 1. To make new again; to restore to freshness; to give new life to.

en·er·gy, n 1: (physics) the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs.

What is Renewable Energy?

Renewable Energy is energy obtained from sources that are virtually inexhaustible, such as biomass, the wind, and the sun (unlike, for example, petroleum and other fossil fuels, of which there is a finite supply.) Renewable energy also tends to emit fewer pollutants than non-renewable sources, leaving our environment cleaner and healthier.