By diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to biofuels, world is confronting a dangerous new bubble called food inflation. (What Is Inflation? - explained here)

Rice, wheat and corn - the price of the world’s three main grains, have all more than doubled in the past year.

• The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year.
• By diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry.
• An explosion in demand for farm-grown fuels has raised global crop prices to record highs.
• Brazil now ranks fourth in the world in carbon emissions, and most of its emissions come from deforestation.
• Studies show the biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it’s dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it.

Full article at TIME - The Clean Energy Scam

South Korea announced plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels for the next five years, despite South Korea not required to make cuts under the Kyoto protocol.

In a policy report to President Lee Myung-bak, Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee presented the ministry’s initiative to contain emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, at 2005 levels.

The nation’s annual carbon dioxide emissions doubled between 1990 and 2005 to 591 million tonnes, among the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

According to UN agreement it is mandatory for industrialised nations to reduce emissions by an average of 5 per cent through 2012. South Korea is is classified as a developing country under Kyoto and therefore not required to make cuts.

The Boeing 747 operated by Virgin Atlantic Airways flew from London to Amsterdam with one of its four engines using fuel derived from plant-based oils.

The fuel used by the plane is a combination of regular kerosene-based jet fuel and a biodiesel from Imperium Renewables composed of babassu oil and coconut oil. Babassu comes from a tree in Brazil.The oils came from existing plantations.

Addressing the media before the flight took off, the President of Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard Branson, said no modifications were made to either the aircraft or the engines for the flight to be operated.

The results of the flight will be shared with other airlines seeking to cut carbon emissions in the rest of the industry.

Image: Most of the buildings at Google Inc.’s Mountain View headquarters are covered in solar panels( aerial photograph) :- Photo courtesy of Google

Search giant Google office lights and computers get their power partly from 9,200 solar panels that cover almost every rooftop at Googleplex in Mountain View, CA, the largest solar array ever installed by a U.S. corporation.

Google’s Green goals is beyond it’s Googleplex. The Internet search giant, said it will invest in researching green technologies and renewable-energy companies, to help drive the cost of alternative energy below the cost of coal.

Google and Google.org, are trying to change the way the world gets and uses energy.

• Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE)

• Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)– Make electric cars as primary mainstream.

• Predict and Prevent — Fund research for emerging threats, such as infectious disease and climate risk

Interested about Google’s green technologies initiatives.. visit http://google.org/