Germany is the leading country within the European Union in many respects. It not only bailed out Greece in 2011, but was the first country to abandon nuclear energy in the same year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The replacement costs in Germany are estimated to be around €30 billion. Soon afterwards,

Second Generation Biofuels and Biomass: Essential Guide for Investors, Scientists and Decision Makers, First Edition. Roland A. Jansen. r 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Published 2013 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Switzerland, Italy, and Belgium canceled nuclear energy as well. This all means that governments are stimulating and subsiding investments in renewable ener­gies, from solar to wind, from biofuels to biomass. The “climate” is extremely favorable to invest in renewables. Let me underscore this with a few facts.

The biggest investors in renewables are not in the United States or Europe. They are the developing countries. Global investments in green energy in 2010 were up nearly a third compared to 2009, totaling $211 billion. For the first time, devel­oping economies overtook developed economies in terms of “financial new investment” — spending on utility-scale renewable energy projects and provision of equity capital for renewable energy companies.

Biodiesel feedstock markets worldwide are in transition from increasingly expensive first-generation feedstocks like soybeans, rapeseed, and palm oil to alternative, lower-cost, non-food feedstocks. As a result, a surge in demand for alternative feedstocks from plants, algae, and biomass is driving new growth opportunities in the sector.

China has set aside an area the size of England to produce Jatropha and other non-food plants for biodiesel. India has up to 60 million hectares of marginal, non-arable land available to produce Jatropha, and intends to replace 20% of diesel fuels with Jatropha-based biodiesel. In Brazil and Africa, there are significant programs underway dedicated to producing non-food crops like Jatropha and castor for biodiesel.

In the United States and the European Union, algae-based biodiesel ventures are growing in response to demands for clean fuels. Each of these endeavors clearly demonstrates increased public — and private-sector interest in non-food, second — generation markets.

An increasing number of second-generation biodiesel projects are now emer­ging in anticipation of growing sustainability concerns by governments, and in response to market demands for improved process efficiencies and greater feed­stock production yields.

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