In Australia, Aurora Algae opened its demonstration facility in Karratha, Western Australia, where the Company’s algae-based biomass is being harvested for products in the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, aquaculture and renewable energy markets.
“This would not have been possible with a U.S.-based production facility,” said Greg Bafalis, CEO of Aurora Algae, “where we believe the climatic conditions are not economically viable to produce large-scale, cost-competitive algae products.” The company’s open-pond production method, and proprietary pale green cultivar algae strains, utilize dry, arid climates with large amounts of CO2 and seawater as feed stocks.
Aevia — Consider the Source

World food prices rose to a record in December 2010 on higher sugar, grain and oilseed costs. In the coming decades, there are going to be many more hungry mouths to feed, and as food crop prices rise dramatically, agriculture will become a more lucrative business, encouraging countries to switch economic focus.
Kurdistan has the two primary ingredients to form a successful agricultural economy: Plentiful water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and hectares upon hectares of fertile land that can produce crops. These natural resources have yet to be used efficiently. The water is largely not used; much of it is wasted instead of being dammed and channeled to irrigate agricultural land. With the lack of proper statistics it’s difficult to be accurate, but it’s a fair estimate to say that only around 20 percent of the land is being used for farming. There are many incentives for Kurdistan to make use of its abundant water and fertile land.
Biofuel is going to be only one aspect of a Kurdish agricultural economy. FAO has estimated that global food production will have to rise 70 percent by 2050 as the world population expands by 2 billion.
Aevia — Consider the Source

With projects like Sapphire Energy’s drive to put a huge algae-fuel production facility in the Mexican desert, you’re seeing the first building blocks of world-scale capability for these fuels.
Margaret McCormick, the co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Matrix Genetics said, “I think that microorganisms can solve most of the problems of the world. If you go back, it was alcohol or it was cheese. There’s so much potential that can be harnessed out of these microorganisms and the DNA that’s in them, and we can look at them to solve all kinds of problems.”
McCormick said the latest phase of alternative fuels work is not purely driven by an economic need to reduce spending on oil, but is also by the need to address climate change and national security issues.
Aevia — Consider the Source

Oil and gas industry executives testified on ending tax breaks for the largest multinational oil and gas companies. Senate Democrats and the Obama administration had proposed ending $21 billion in subsidies for oil companies as a budget deficit reduction measure. The executives said the plan would do little to reduce gas prices and hurt their exploration efforts.

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland (MarketWatch) — BP PLC’s (BP.LN) plans to invest $1.5 billion in biofuels in 2011 but won’t do so at the expense of food security in the countries where it does invest, Chief Executive Robert Dudley said Friday.
“It is our policy…We will not invest in biofuel, in corn-based ethanol, on lands used for food, it will be in the Brazilian grasslands” which are used specifically for fuel crops, Dudley told an audience at a business conference here.
Ascension University — Source Material

DURING the World Food Summit held in Rome ten years ago, representatives of 185 nations and the European community set a goal of cutting the number of hungry people by half by the year 2015. Although some countries have reduced hunger since then, the latest report from the Food and Agricultural Organization shows a setback in the overall war against hunger.
A new coalition against hunger will have the primary role of being a pathway of nonfood factors like livelihood opportunities, which should be at the base of each nation’s economic and trade policies. There is also an urgent proposal to generate more on farm and non-farm livelihood in the rural areas, with emphasis on a transition from unskilled to skilled jobs. A unique feature of the Alliance for Nutritional Security is its approach to the problems of hunger and malnutrition, which sees the availability of food as a function of production; in turn access to food is a function of purchasing power, and the quality of drinking water, environmental hygiene, health care, and education as influencing the absorption of food in the body. The sustainability of the food production process depends on such factors as soil health, ground water management, and crop rotation. Ultimately, however, the vulnerability to transient hunger caused by natural calamities cannot be avoided. Each country has its strengths and weaknesses in the matter of working towards freedom from hunger. The challenge lies in maximizing the strengths and removing the weaknesses on the basis of a food security balance sheet on the national level.
The success of eliminating endemic and transient hunger will depend upon a nation’s success in ending both unsustainable lifestyles and unacceptable poverty. With the help of the guidance of government, civil society organizations, and other social movements which have always been the last strongholds to ease the gnawing pangs of nutritional insecurity, the commitment, capacity, and legitimacy of the United Nations supported Alliance for Nutritional Security will allow the world to realize its vision of a hunger-free world.
Point Source

Price Charles spoke at a food conference hosted by the Washington Post. on May 4, 2011 at Georgetown University. In his speech, he criticized government subsidies for large-scale agriculture, and spoke against industrial pollution and global dependence on oil.  ✂ Transcript

Journey to Forever has established an online biofuels library with a wide variety of books and articles available at no charge.
Consider the Source: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library.html

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend shifts in food consumption patterns, encouraging people to eat more of some foods and nutrients and less of others. The Dietary Guidelines encourage Americans to eat more:
· Whole grains
· Vegetables
· Fruits
· Low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt and cheese or fortified soy beverages
· Vegetable oils such as canola, corn, olive, peanut and soybean.
· Seafood
And the 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend eating less:
· Added sugars
· Solid fats, including trans fats
· Refined grains
· Sodium
Consider the Source: http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Food_and_Nutrition_690/American_Dietetic_Association_Offers_Consumers_Help_in_Applying_2010_Dietary_Guidelines_to_Everyday_Living.shtml

OSLO Feb 3 (Reuters) – Norwegian solar energy firm REC  said on Thursday it is building a 24-megawatt plant in Italy.
Construction of the facility in Lazio has already begun and would use 100,000 REC solar modules.
“The plant will produce around 37 million kilowatt-hours, equal to the energy consumption of around 14,000 families,” the company said in a statement.
Consider the Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71212Y20110203