European Biofuels Expo and Conference

does have alot of potential though.

We would like to let you know that students at Leeds University are
organising a peaceful banner protest outside the Biofuels Conference and
Expo on Thursday, 16th October. They hope that as many people as possible
will join them.

People will be meeting outside the Newark Showground from 12 noon with
banners,placards

The Biofuels Expo is one of the largest biofuels conferences in Europe
( http://www.biodiesel-expo.co.uk/). There will be parallel conferences on
biogas and on wood energy, however the banner protest will be directed
exclusively at the biofuels conference.

16th October has been declared World Food Day by the United Nations.
Agrofuels(i.e. biofuels from trees and crops) are one of the major reasons
behind the steep rise in global food prices. According to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 75 million more people are
going hungry this year compared to last year.

If you would like more information about the planned banner protest you
can phone Beth on 07815697302.

Directions to the ground from nottingham to follow

I am the organiser of the Biofuels Exhibition & Conference that took palace at Newark on the 15th & 16th October 2008. The Newark Exo & Conference is mostly concerned with small to medium scale production of bioenergy from waste streams such as used cooking oil, waste wood and biogas from farm and food waste.

Contrary to reports, the protesters did not bring the exhibition to a haltl and were very much a side show. It was hard to understand exactly what the protest was about as they failed to engage with anyone in a meaningful way despite my best efforts to talk with all of them directly. I believe they were saying that the exhibition and Conference were helping to promote large scale agro-fuel crops and contributing to world hunger because of land use choices.

I invited all the protesters to put their point of view across in the conference sessions that were discussing land use and future fuel feedstock options. I had contacted biofuelswatch ahead of the conference and again on the day of the protests. They declined to take part despite genuine efforts on my behalf to encourage debate.

Land use is a complex subject and involves many many choices for land use around the globe. Non food based biofuels will be a reality in a few years such as jatropha and Algae. Biofuels is often tarnished because some palm oil makes its way into biodiesel (approx 3%) the other 97% goes into cosmetics and food. Tackling world hunger appears to me to be a political issue not a biofuel one.

If we are to complain about land use for fuel should we not also be thinking about other non food uses for land such as Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, cotton etc. and how about golf courses! In addition, a major source of income instead of large scale marijuna, poppy and cocaine cultivation could be Jatropha a promising non food based oil source for biodiesel that would be a great income source instead of narcotics. How about starting this in Afganistan to break the cycle of drug production?

Biofuels media is pro bioenergy, however, as an organisation we have always sought to engage with the greens on their issues and be inclusive, indeed our conferences last year and this have had Biofuelswatch, greenpeace and oxfam representing the green viewpoint.

Hysteria surrounding biofuels is miss-placed and over time will be shown to have been a miss understanding of the goals that governments (especially the UK) have set for the industry regarding sustainability.

Anyone wishing to contribute to next years conference is invited to contact me at biofuels media so that I can add their issues into the conference streams.

Next year we will see more Biogas and Wood energy growth in the UK, these are genuinely green choices that use waste streams for creating energy from items that would have made CO2 and methane anyway. Millions of tonnes of waste wood and food / organic waste go to landfill that are valuable sources of future energy. The UK governments decision to allow small scale production of biodiesel to be made tax free has had a good effect in making local collection of waste cooking oils very efficient. Instead of disposing at landfill or pouring down the drain this waste product now has a value.

The UK government is backing Biogas, farms, schools, community buildings etc will be powered in the future from watse that would have otherwise entered the atmosphere as CO2 and methane.

At the European Bioenergy Expo & Conference we are committed to encouraging the sustainable development of bioenergy.