The Brazilian government wants to increase the share of biodiesel in diesel for the country to hit its greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Ricardo Dornelles, head of the Energy Ministry's biofuels department, announced the plan during the International Biodiesel Conference in Sao Paulo. The Ministry of the Environment is now working to determine what the new blending requirement would be.

Aside from increasing the biodiesel blend, there are also plans to increase the use of bioenergy sources such as second-generation ethanol for vehicles, and biomass to generate electricity. Dornelles also said that the policy will also reduce Brazil's healthcare bill due to fewer people developing health conditions from air pollution.

Austria's largest state, Lower Austria, recently announced that 100% of its electricity is now generated using renewable sources of energy.

"We have invested heavily to boost energy efficiency and to expand renewables," said Erwin Proell, premier of Lower Austria. "Since 2002, we have invested 2.8 billion euros ($3.0 billion) in eco-electricity, from solar parks to renewing (hydroelectric) stations on the Danube."

The state now gets 63% of its electricity from hydroelectric power, 26% from wind energy, 9% from biomass and 2% from solar. Austria as a whole gets 75% of its electricity from renewable sources. Lower Austria has also created 38,000 "green jobs", which they aim to increase by 2030.

Hero BX (Hero), one the largest biodiesel producers in the US, is exploring the possibility of building the Caribbean's first commercial-scale biodiesel plant in Jamaica. Hero is in talks with the Jamaican government and private stakeholders to confirm the plans.

Jamaica was chosen as the prime site for the new plant due to the island nation's strategic location, among other factors. The plant would boost Jamaica's renewable energy program and have a multi-industry impact from sourcing feedstock from local hospitals and agricultural industry.

The country's strong national energy policy and renewable energy subpolicy were also seen as favorable and increased the company's interest in Jamaica.

Camelina sativa, an oilseed crop is potential feedstock for biofuel. However, low yield makes its farming less profitable. Researchers form the North Carolina State University, led by Jyoti Dalal, aimed to increase camelina seed yield by reducing carbon loss from photorespiration.

Genes encoding enzymes of the Escherichia coli glycolate catabolic pathway, glycolate dehydrogenase (GDH), glyoxylate carboxyligase (GCL) and tartronic semialdehyde reductase (TSR), were introduced into camelina. Plants were transformed with either partial bypass (GDH) or full bypass (GDH, GCL and TSR) genes.

Both partial and full bypass transgenics exhibited reduced photorespiration and increased photosynthesis, with no loss in seed quality. The transgenics also showed increased vegetative biomass and faster development. However, the increase in growth of the transgenics was only observed under low CO₂ conditions.

Results suggest that photorespiratory bypass is effective in increasing photosynthetic productivity in camelina.

Fungal-assisted bioflocculation is gaining increasing attention due to its efficiency and low energy inputs in harvesting microalgae for biofuel production.

The work of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University researchers, led by Ana F. Miranda, demonstrates that the filamentous fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus can efficiently flocculate the cyanobacteria Synechocystis PCC 6803 and its genetically modified derivatives that secrete free fatty acids into the growth media.

The free fatty acids secreted by genetically modified Synechocystis are used by the A. fumigatus cells as a carbon source for growth and production of lipids. For most of the genetically modified strains, the total lipid yields extracted from the fungi-cyanobacteria pellets were higher than the combined lipid yields produced by A. fumigatus and Synechocystis when grown separately.

Fungi-assisted flocculation can complement and assist in large scale production from wild-type and genetically modified Synechocystis PCC 6803 strains.

Woody biomass has gained popularity as a renewable resource for liquid fuel production. Hyung-Woo Jeon of the Kyung Hee University in South Korea, together with colleagues, present the improvement of woody biomass through developing xylem (DX)-preferential production of gibberellin (GA), a hormone that regulates stem growth.

The team produced transgenic Arabidopsis expressing GA20-oxidase, a key enzyme in the production of GA, from Pinus densiflora (PdGA20ox1) under two different promoters, one from Pinus densiflora and another from Poplar. Both transgenic plants exhibited accelerated stem growth and an increase in biomass compared to control plants.

Transgenic poplar trees were then developed using the same genes. The transgenics also showed increases in biomass and accelerated stem growth and xylem differentiation. However, transgenic plants with the PdGA20ox1 gene under the promoter from poplar had undesirable phenotypes including poor root growth and leaf development.

The results indicate that the controlled production of GA through a tissue-specific promoter can be used as a tool for enhancing plant biomass.