The Nepalese government has formed a committee to study the possibility of making biodiesel from jatropha, locally known as sajiban or kadam. The plant can yield large amounts of oil which can be converted into high quality biodiesel.

The Ministry of Supplies has formed a six-member panel to examine the possibility of producing biodiesel from jatropha seeds to mix with regular diesel. The team includes representatives from the Science and Technology, Population and Environment ministries and the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre.

Over 500,000 hectares of unused land in Nepal can be used to grow jatropha to produce biodiesel and reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels. Jatropha produces oil-bearing seeds which contain oil which can be easily expelled and extracted. The fuel produced from jatropha is less polluting compared to fossil fuels, experts said.

Japanese car giant Nissan Motor Co. will be developing a solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC)-powered system that runs on bioethanol electric power. Fuel-cell systems use chemicals that react with oxygen, generating power without release of harmful byproducts. This new system can offer eco-friendly transportation and create opportunities in regional energy production.

The new system, called e-Bio Fuel Cell, will generate electricity through the SOFC using bioethanol stored in the vehicle. It uses hydrogen transformed from fuel via a reformer and atmospheric oxygen, with the subsequent electrochemical reaction producing electricity to power the vehicle. Bioethanol fuels are widely available in countries in North and South America and Asia.

In the future, the company aims to make the e-Bio Fuel-Cell even more user-friendly by making use of ethanol-blended water, which is easier and safer to handle than most other fuels.

Gabriel Luna-Sandoval, an engineer from the University of Sonora State in Mexico, has invented a machine that can transform urine into a biogas to serve as a household heater to take hot showers or cook.

His prototype has a clear acrylic container where urine is poured. This contains stainless steel electrodes to send electricity into to separate oxygen and hydrogen, with the latter becoming a biogas. The container would be connected to a home's pipes through which the biogas would travel to heat the water in the kitchen and bathrooms.

The invention requires just 13 to 21 milliliters of urine for a 15-minute hot shower and cooking beans for one hour demands only 70 to 130 milliliters of the liquid. His invention caught the attention of the governmental National Science and Technology Council, which featured Luna-Sandoval in an article for its official publication.

Luna-Sandoval also claims that the extracted oxygen from urine could be useful to astronauts, as they could take the device in space to create O2 with their own bodily fluid. The idea has been taken seriously by the Mexican Space Agency.

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD) can be used as a liquid fuel additive to replace petroleum oil, and is important in the pharmaceutical and plastic industries. Microbial production of 2,3-BD by Bacillus licheniformis presents potential advantages, but previous attempts have resulted in the production of a mix of D-2,3-BD and meso-2,3-BD isomers.

Scientists from Hubei University and Huazhong Agricultural University in China wanted to develop a strain of B. licheniformis that produces high titers of the pure meso-2,3-BD isomer. Researchers then deleted the gdh gene, a catalyst for D-2,3-BD biosynthesis, from the wild-type strain WX-02. The acoR gene, involved in acetoin degradation, was also deleted to divert acetoin, a precursor, towards meso-2,3-BD.

The double-deletion mutant produced 28.2 g/L of meso-2,3-BD isomer with >99 % purity. The concentration was 50 % higher than that of the wide type. The results of this study showed the potential of producing meso-2,3-BD with high titer and purity through metabolic engineering.

In Washington, a report by a team of experts from 10 institutions states that energy and food security can be simultaneously improved through well-designed biofuel and bioenergy development programs.

The report, entitled Reconciling Food Security and Bioenergy: Priorities for Action, was generated by an international and multidisciplinary collaboration initiated at an international conference on Biofuels and Food Security, hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in November 2014.

The report describes some of the public's misconceptions about the impacts of biofuels on food security and offers clarity on the source of these perceptions. The report also points out that food and energy security are complementary goals, as embodied in the United Nations-led 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and as also reflected in the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The report outlines a number of ways in which efforts to promote food security and secure clean and reliable sources of energy for local populations can align in a synergistic way. Science-based steps to ensure that biofuels, food crops and natural resources can be managed sustainably together were also tackled in the report.

In South Korea, a brand new outdoor laboratory has been launched at UNIST and it is expected to convert human waste into renewable energy sources.

Situated in the center of UNIST campus, the Science Walden Pavilion is now open to the public. The pavilion houses two major research facilities: "Waterless Energy-producing Toilet System" and "Microbial Energy Production System".

The waterless toilet system, located on the first floor of the pavilion, treats human excrement without using water. The system uses a natural biological process to break down human waste into a dehydrated odorless compost-like material.

When the grinding system inside the toilet has converted the feces into a compost-like material, it will be transferred to the microbial energy production system. In a digestion tank containing thousands of different microbes, the compost-like material is degraded to generate carbon dioxide and methane.

Carbon dioxide is extracted to culture green algae for biofuel while methane is stored for later use as a heating fuel. If successful, the team plans to expand its use of the waterless toilet system and microbial energy production system in real life.