The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is urging the U.S. and Europe to back off the production of biofuels, as it could potentially cause roughly 200,000 deaths in underdeveloped nations. They claim that, since most biofuels are made using food crops, the increased demand would lead to higher food cost. Producing more corn to use in biofuel production, for instance, would cause the price of corn to skyrocket. To boot, it would also lead to more corn crops being planted which, in turn, would leave less space…

Experts agree that agave, a plant used in the production of tequila, can be a sustainable biofuel source because it would not compete with food crops or threaten water supply. According to research papers published last month in an issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy, this plant can not only sustain high yields, but can easily…

Waste Management Inc., a U.S.-based garbage and recycling company, recently announced that it has been using “green” fuel for around 500 trucks in their California fleet. The environmentally-friendly alternative is much cleaner than standard diesel — and is actually made using old, rotting trash from a 240-acre landfill in the San Fransisco and Oakland area. In November, the company began sending the refuse out to a facility that purifies the waste and converts it into liquefied natural gas. “We’ve built the largest landfill-to-LNG…

After much talk for decades, more urgent impetus is now being put into the development of technology to allow vehicles to run on alternate fuels. These fuels are namely those other than petrol and diesel. Changes to designs of cars may require further training by mechanics, but hopefully this will be for the benefit of the planet. Biodiesel can be produced from oil seeds. While diesel engines may be able to run on biodiesel, fuel efficiency is not quite as good as regular diesel, unless fuel injection systems are adjusted. Biodiesel has lower emissions than regular fuels, but is currently more…

According to a new study of NASA satellite data, global plant productivity that had once been flourishing with warming temperatures and an extended growing season is now declining due to regional drought. Plant productivity is a measure of the photosynthesis process that green plants use to convert solar energy, carbon dioxide and water into sugar, oxygen and ultimately plant tissue. During the 1980s and 90s…