Bio Diesels making a comeback?

Are bio diesels making a comeback? The recent initiatives around energy efficiency are leading to a renewed focus on rail transportation of goods (see Berkshire Hathaway's recent investment) and diesel in general.
At least one company thinks so: Valero has just made a big investment in jatropha. We had heard of this plant a few years ago when it was going to the solution to the world's fuel problems followed by a couple of years of silence and unkept promises.

This plant is also partly causing the issue of land grabbing in Africa for both cultivable land as well as waste lands. Other reasons being dearth of cultivable land in the Middle East, desperate measures to support burgeoning populations in developing countries and opportunism.

Wind and Corruption

A recent article from the NY Times explores the growing risk of corruption and fraud in the highly subsidized but lightly regulated wind business:

NY Times | With Wind Energy, Opportunity for Corruption

European Gas : End of the Summer-Winter Cycle ?

An interesting article on Platts.com talks about how there is a perception of a glut in supply in the European gas markets, which is leading to almost no difference between summer and winter gas prices for 2010. The low gas prices (coupled with the low carbon prices) also mean that owners of gas-fired power plants are laughing all the way to the bank.

A large contributor to the glut is the emergence of shale gas as a viable option in the US and ,in the future, in Europe.

Seems a far cry from last year's fears of European dependence on Russian gas and being held hostage by a great angry bear.

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