Ethanol production topped 20 million barrels in May, but stocks were down by more than 6%, indicating an increase in blending activity in the run up to the busy summer driving season, statistics released last week by the Energy Information Administration indicated.

Along with its investigation of the speculation in the energy marketplace, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission should look at speculation in the grains markets, which may have caused the dramatic run up in prices in the spring of 2008, according to representatives with the Renewable Fuels Association.

The U.S. Senate is set to join with the House of Representatives to strip US$2 billion from funds allocated for renewable energy loan guarantees and apply those funds to the wildly successful “cash for clunkers” program, which burned through its budgeted $1 billion in just the first week.

A technology that could convert renewable algae-oil into all-hydrocarbon, high-quality kero-jet fuel just won research funding from the U.S. Air Force.

While fourth quarter earnings and sales declined significantly, Archer Daniels Midland’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Woertz said, “we concluded a year of good performance overall.”

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) removed his objection to Thomas Shannon becoming ambassador to Brazil after the Barack Obama Administration confirmed its support to keeping a 54¢-per-gallon duty on imported ethanol.

China still rejects a U.S. call for it to agree to a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions. However, the two leading carbon dioxide emitters worldwide signed a pact July 28 calling for them to work together on policies leading up to the Copenhagen climate change conference in December and promising to cooperate on clean energy technology.

U.S. and China representatives recently ended talks about combating climate change with a non-binding agreement to work together on the issue. But U.S. Sen. John Kerry said the sides should have done more to set timetables and goals to reduce carbon emissions.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Congress can’t see eye-to-eye on where to target research and development funding when it comes to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and other farther-out technologies.

The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission wound up two days of hearings July 29 about what rules and regulations should be applied to purely financial investors in the energy markets including swap funds, exchange traded funds and index funds.

Just days after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission held similar hearings, the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority has called energy market participants to a meeting to assess whether current regulations are “appropriate.”

Oregon’s governor has signed a bill calling for the creation of a statewide low-carbon fuel standard starting in January 2011. He also signed additional legislation aimed at promoting energy efficiency.

Europe continues to stumble in efforts to achieve a 5.75% biofuels target in transport fuels by 2010, according to an official report.