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Biodiesel production, distribution, and use, as with many emerging alternative energies, has been aided in large part by recent government incentives making biodiesel fuel production and distribution more attractive. These tax incentives put money back in the pockets of biodiesel producers who, presumably, pass the benefits on to you, the consumer, with lower biodiesel prices.

Not just any biodiesel is eligible for tax incentives. The definition of biodiesel fuel, as its used for tax purposes, is 'monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids'. Biodiesel production companies seeking any of these credits must ensure that they are making biodiesel fuel that meets the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for registration of fuels and fuel additives as described in the Clean Air Act, as well as requirements put forth by the American Society of Testing and Materials.

All companies, whether a biodiesel production company or not, that are selling or using biodiesel may qualify for the Biodiesel and Ethanol (VEETC) Tax Credit, on their income taxes. There are two such types of credit.

* the Straight Biodiesel Credit (considered a 'general business credit' by the IRS) - the biodiesel in question must not have been mixed with any petroleum-based diesel fuel, and the company itself must be the biodiesel production company making it;

* the Biodiesel Mixture Credit - the biodiesel in question must contain only biodiesel fuel and petroleum-based diesel, with absolutely no kerosene added, and the company itself must be the biodiesel production company making it.

Additionally, for either tax credit on biodiesel cost, one of the following criteria must also be met;

othe biodiesel production company actually uses the biodiesel itself as a fuel;

othe biodiesel production company sells the biodiesel retail which is then used in the fuel tank of the buyer.

The tax credits on Straight Biodiesel are equal to $1 per gallon of agri-biodiesel and $0.50 per gallon of waste grease biodiesel. The tax credits on Biodiesel Mixtures are $0.01 (a penny) per percentage point of agri-biodiesel and $0.005 (half-a-cent) per percentage point of waste grease biodiesel.

That is, unless the amount of credit approved to taxpaying biodiesel companies applying for the credit in a given year exceeds the annual cap of $1.5 million, in which case the Department of Revenue will prorate credits to biodiesel production companies accordingly.

These tax credits, however, are currently temporary, and set to expire in 2008 - an added incentive to get started now on that biodiesel production company of your own that youve been dreaming about. Theres literally no time to waste.

Another Federal Tax Credit, the Small Agri-Biodiesel Producer Credit (Section 1345: Energy Policy Act of 2005), grants $0.10 per gallon on up to 15 million gallons to small agri-biodiesel production facilities producing less than 60 million gallons per year.

Incidentally, there are local and state tax credits all over the country available on biodiesel cost and costs on other alternative fuels. Visit: www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/laws/incen_laws.html to find out what your locality offers.

According to recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study, demand for biodiesel production is set to increase by at least 124 million gallons per year, however fears about the rapidly rising prices of crude oil suggest that facilities might be making biodiesel fuel in even larger amounts and at an even faster rate.

Mike Cubert

Biodisel is clean, renewable, cheap and popular. The best part is that its very easy to make it at home. Visit our biodiesel making section for how to information.

With rising oil costs and environmental concerns has come increased pressure on the motor industry to develop an alternative and greener fuel to power the world's vehicles. But would ethanol be a viable alternative to petrol (gas)?

Ethanol is largely seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol. It is made from crops such as sugarcane in Brazil and soyabean in the US, and it is significantly less polluting than petrol because it doesn't produce sulphur dioxide or lead emissions and, importantly, any carbon dioxide produced can be offset by growing more sugarcane. Cars in the UK, for instance, can currently run on about 10 per cent of ethanol in petrol, but the corrosive effect of ethanol means increasing levels above this can damage the engine if the necessary changes have not been made. Recent moves by Brazil to export biofuels to the European market on a bigger scale have increased interest in ethanol as a possible replacement for petrol. Since signing agreements with Sweden and Japan, Brazil is now interested in developing partnerships with British and European companies. In Brazil ethanol is widely available and it makes up around 40 per cent of fuel consumption and powers over 50 per cent of vehicles. Having spent the last 30 years refining the production of ethanol from sugarcane, Brazil has now become the largest producer and exporter of ethanol in the world.

The technology for creating ethanol has been around since the 1920s, but production only took off in Brazil in the 1980s when the government looked around for alternative sources in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and rising oil prices. During the 1980s more than 75 per cent of all motor vehicles and around 90 per cent of cars were run on ethanol. But a drop in oil prices and an end to government subsidies meant that ethanol lost it's popularity for a while. However, rising oil prices caused the popularity of ethanol to rise again a couple of years ago, and now over 50 per cent of new cars in Brazil are FFVs (Flexible Fuel Vehicles) that can be run on either pure petrol, pure ethanol or a mixture of the two.

Brazilian production of ethanol is set to rise over the next few years. In 2005 they produced 282,000 barrels of ethanol per day and the expectations are for production to rise to 442,000 barrels per day by 2010. Brazil currently exports 7,200 barrels per day to the US (who also produce their own ethanol from soyabeans). This, of course, is still a drop in the ocean compared to overall US gasoline consumption. And the question is whether or not Europe and, particularly, the UK will become a new customer for Brazil's growing biofuels industry.

We wait to see if becomes the true green alternative and, of course, how much governments - particularly in the UK - squeeze out of us by way of tax!!

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Kaye Scholer Announces Watershed Legal Victory for Wind Power … Yahoo! News (press release) - USA … and its conservation director, Peter Galvin ("CBD"), against the wind power operators in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area ("APWRA"). … Another hidden subsidy for wind power The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK MR Dekker and Mr Morton in their letters referred to subsidies for the wind industry. Here is another one that they may not know about. … Venture capital group gambles on wind power Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA … Its latest gamble is wind power, specifically Southwest Windpower Inc. of Flagstaff, Ariz., which assembles and installs micro wind turbines. …

Everyone knows we need to clean the air and move towards alternative energy. One very well-known realtor in sunny Southern California asks a very tough question with regards to alternative energy; Do you know how many people would be out of jobs or how much tax revenue would be lost if we didn't have to pay the electric company or the gas company or the water company? Well these of course are Utility Companies regulated by the government and are not actually government agencies at all as you know.

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Global Oil and Gas Marketing companies have shown concern to the Indian government about possible gas price regulations. Global oil exploration firms do not want to see their dollars flow down the drain! They have asked the Indian government to stay away from gas pricing. Chevron, Niko, British Gas and Hardy Oil have expressed concerns on the government's move to regulate gas pricing.

The oil firms have written that exploration is a very risky business and highly capital intensive. Therefore, they say, a market determined price for gas would ensure that fiscal terms are internationally competitive. By this, they say will encourage companies to invest in India.

British Gas Company, which has invested a billion dollars in India so far, has told the Indian government that it is planning on investing another billion in the next four years. But it says, if changes are made to the production sharing contract which is in practice in KG Basin Gas Pricing, and critical provisions such as market pricing for gas amended, the confidence of international companies would be eroded.

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