Biofuels moves from Dark Ages to Renaissance; voices from World Biofuels Markets

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane March 15, 2012
By Nadim Chaudhry, CEO of Green Power Conferences

Representatives from up and down the value chain of the biofuels industry took stage this week at World Biofuels Markets to discuss issues regarding the state of the industry and several key issues impacting its growth.

Having been involved in this space since 2003, I’ve seen a series of phases. The first – what I’ll call Euphoria – was in the 2006-2008 timeframe, where a series of events, from high oil prices to feedstock surplus (and consequent low cost) and mostly supportive government policy around the world. Biofuels were “in.”

This quickly gave way to the Dark Ages, the period from 2008 until about midway through 2011. Crashing oil prices, soaring feedstock costs, controversial claims about food vs. fuel, Indirect Land Use, “Splash & Dash”, and expired tax credits all combined to hammer the industry.

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