Activists Disrupt Biofuels Conference

as well as the used veg oil many small consumers who can bothered to filter it properly etc, are already using.
Safe Hydrogen fuel cells & truelly sustainable biofuels are great, but we cant stop climate change without more public transport.

Heres to the next stage of NET,nottms tram, most people in west bridgford want it, theres tonnes of greenspace in Wilford & the footpath "Enivornment not trams" group is against is mainly used by afew dog walkers in ENT.
The path smells horrible in summer & the fruit is now full of maggots, dogs scare wildlife more than the occasional tram especially birds, the train track is more than wide enough to one or 2 lanes whilst keeping a footpath. As one of the many locals who grew up in Silverdale & wilford area who loved the footpath before it became a smelly alley, Iam still willing to support a dog walkers path next to the tram as a compromise. Wilford has 10x the greenspace of any other city council area.

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 halt 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.

Surely if livestock farming stopped, masses of land would be freed up and biofuels would not be an issue? Is the opposition to biofuels mostly spearheaded by people who can't be bothered being vegan, or am I missing the point?

I'm concerned that this campaign will divert attention away from far more pressing issues that people can actually do something about, such as opposition to new road building, and promoting a locally-grown, minimally processed vegan diet.