mandatory blending of biodiesel, page-2

This is huge news!!!!

500000 tonnes is what Malaysia currently produce in total, i.e. including exports. This basically guarantees MBT production will be fully purchased and INSENTIVE to palm oil prices. Basically, Malaysia's drivers will be subsidising the likes of MBT once the price of palm increases to the point where it raises the prices of mixed diesel in general.

Am i getting too excited. And here's another one talking about promoting Jatropa...and who has the lead in this area too...MBT!!!



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Friday August 8, 2008 MYT 4:20:13 PM
'Speed up bio-fuel development'
By STEPHEN THEN


MIRI: The Prime Minister is getting impatient with the "slow" pace of development of alternative fuel from non-food source in the country, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Maximus Ongkili.

Ongkili said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has directed his ministry and the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry to speed up the creation of a sustainable source of alternative bio-fuel, especially from the jatropha crop.

"The Prime Minister is pushing us very hard on this issue. The Prime Minister wants to know why we are so slow in coming up with this alternative fuel.

"Pak Lah wants me and Datuk Peter Chin (Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities) to speed up projects to plant non-food crops that can produce high yields of bio-fuel.

"The Prime Minister said he wants the jatropha crop to be given greater emphasis. It is true that we have spoken a lot about wanting to create more sources of bio-fuel, but not really much has materialised.

"So far, we have created bio-fuel from palm oil, but because palm oil is a source of food, there is only so much we can use to produce bio-fuel.

"We must do more to tap bio-fuel from non-food sources, and the jatropha is the most viable crop for this. It can grow in soil with marginal quality, it can be grown in poverty-stricken rural areas and it can be grown in small-scale or large-scale farms," he said Friday at the first national workshop on renewable energy from jatropha being held here.

Ongkili said the Prime Minister will, during the tabling of the 2009 Budget at the end of this month, give priority to the issue of renewable and alternative fuel.

"Fossil fuel prices are very volatile and unstable now. We must have alternative fuels in place in case prices of fossil fuel continue to remain unpredictable for the long-term," he said.

Ongkili said that not many state governments had committed themselves to large-scale planting of crops that can produce bio-fuel even though most had tried to encourage the private sectors to venture into these projects.

"We (his ministry) want both the Government and private sector to be actively involved in the bio-fuel sector.

"They can start from small-scale village levels. It does not cost much to set up small-scale bio-fuel refineries or bio-diesel reactors that can be operated by a small cluster of rural villages.

"Every hectare of jatropha can produce up to four tonnes of oil if the soil is good. Even with poor soil, a hectare can produce at least a tonne of oil, so this is a very viable crop not only for business, but also for rural development," he said.

Ongkili said he had recently visited California, India, Philippines and Indonesia to study their jatropha industries and to find out which species of jatropha can be best planted in Malaysia.

During the national workshop, Malaysia signed agreements with several foreign agencies, including Bogor University of Indonesia, for joint ventures on the alternative fuel projects.

The workshop here was attended by agriculture experts from several countries.