jatropha

Foreign energy companies have descended on Ghana, the West African nation that was once the center of the North American slave trade, as it engages in oil exploration and plans start drilling for crude this year, a move its government hopes will help to stamp out poverty.

Welcome to the end of the work week.  Congratulations, you have successfully navigated through the sticky web of work, yet again.  And, as a reward EnergyBoom has compiled all the best renewable energy and technology stories into one place, so you can ease on into relaxation mode much quicker.

Mozambique's latest political corruption scandals probably make more news, but the African nation largely known for civil strife and deplorable living conditions, also faces economical dilemmas as it decides on biofuel crop production.

Biofuels vs. Food Crops

The development of aviation biofuels using biomass sources such as jatropha, camelina and algae will be an important factor in the drive to drastically reduce aviation industry emissions, says a report this week from the Frost & Sullivan consulting firm. 

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has announced that only biofuels derived from waste feedstocks would qualify under the state's Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008.

Emami Biotech, a subsidiary of Emami Group (BOM:531162), will be launching a massive biofuel project in Ethiopia.

Oil and gas giant, BP (NYSE:BP) has not been winning a lot of hearts in the clean energy world, and the failure of its jatropha biofuel project will not help its image.

An infertile plot of land—strewn with unsightly weed-like plants—seems an odd place to tackle petroleum addiction.

But a tough and toxic tropical shrub being farmed in India produces an oil that is cheaper than crude, without the environmental drawbacks or ethanol's food versus fuel debate. 

Yet another cautionary example that biofuel production is far from being environmentally benign. Amidst the back and forth commentary, for and against their usage, a biofuel crop case study out of Hawaii suggests many introduced plants pose a serious threat to native biodiversity.

With newer biofuel technologies becoming available, a German biofuel company has big plans for a commercially-ready, second generation biofuel plant by 2010.