Seven plants currently being considered as promising biofuel crops banned as noxious weeds in parts of Australia

The Queensland-based Invasive Species Council has assessed weed risks posed by 18 biofuel crops currently proposed as solutions to cutting greenhouse emissions, wrote science and environment reporter Rosslyn Beeby in The Canberra Times (4/10/2007, p.11).

Turnbull’s tangle: palm oil grown to earn Australian subsidies clears SE Asia forests and creates greenhouse effect, Australia to pay Indonesia to replant

The death of Indonesia’s forests was ahead in 20 years, aided by Australiabn subsidies for imported Palm oil. The managing director of Australian Renewable Fuels, John Lillywhite, said the government should not be subsidising biodiesel made from imported palm oil as it did little to help development of the local industry. According to Angus Grigg in Jakarta, environment minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged during last month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co­operation group meeting to put forests at the “top of the climate-change agenda”.

Air New Zealand partners with Boeing, Rolls-Royce to test biofuel blend in 747

Air New Zealand would start ground-breaking aircraft testing of biofuels as early as next year and believed the technology could become commercially viable for airlines sooner than expected, wrote aviation writer Steve Creedy in The Australian (29/9/2007, p.35).

New lobby group emerges at Brisbane conference: ethanol needs to get much cheaper than petrol, says Biofuels Association of Australia

A new lobby group emerged at the Australian Ethanol and Biodiesel Conference in Brisbane, wrote Graham Fuller in Queensland Country Life (27/9/2007, p.13).