This report published by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) emphasises many of the downsides of biofuels. These include: Land use conflicts between growing crops for fuel and crops for food Environmental damage particularly in tropical areas (where biofuels can most readily be grown) Poor CO2 and other credentials for many biofuels when compared with fossil fuels Little potential for reducing oil dependence and improving national fuel security. Lack of cost effectiveness

Planting crops for biofuel could improve biodiversity in the British countryside as well as helping soften the impact of human carbon dioxide emissions, according to new research. The paper, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, suggests that crops like coppiced willow or miscanthus grass can support more wild species than traditional arable crops, particularly in the uncultivated margins around the edges of fields.

Researchers at the University of Nevada have developed a new process for producing biodiesel from commercial feather meal. The process is described in their paper published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Kondamudi N, Strull J, Misra M and Mohapatra S. (2009). A Green Process for Producing Biodiesel from Feather Meal. Agric. Food Chem., 2009, 57 (14), pp 6163 - 6166.