Upping the biofuel ante.(Leader)

Biofuels are a hot topic, but not for the reasons that boosted their popularity in 2006/7. 'What a difference a year makes,' said Jacques Beaudry-Losique, program manager in the US Department of Energy's Office of Biomass. Commenting at the recent World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioproducts, organised by the US BioIndustry Organisation (BIO), he said: 'With biofuels being blamed for food prices, an artificial conflict has been constructed between food and fuel.'

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His view was echoed by Friedrich Wolf, managing director of E.ON Bioerdgas, at the SCI's European Conference on Bioenergy in Dusseldorf, Germany, in early May. Wolf …