One of the highlights of the international biomass energy conference held in Mexico City on October 7th was a leafy green plant of which most people have never even heard of. The plant is called Giant King Grass (GKG), and its remarkable properties make it a potential solution to the search for clean renewable energy.

In a recently released summary of a presentation given by Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CEO of VIASPACE, Inc. (VSPC.OB), GKG was shown to be one of the best potential biomass energy resources on the planet, with a range of other applications as well.

If anyone should know about GKG, it’s Carl Kukkonen, and his enthusiasm carries a lot of weight. Holding his PhD in Physics from Cornell, Dr. Kukkonen spent a number of years at Caltech as Director of the Center for Space Microelectronics Technology and Manager

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VIASPACE is a clean energy company focused on providing products and technology that reduce or eliminate dependence on fossil fuels and other high-pollutant energy sources. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides raw material for cellulosic biofuels; develops and markets fuel cartridges, products and technology for methanol fuel cells; markets rechargeable lithium-ion batteries; and develops security-related monitoring and detection technology and systems for military/defense and commercial applications.

Through its renewable energy subsidiary, VIASPACE Green Energy, the company grows a fast-growing non-food grass that can be harvested four times a year. This proprietary grass is used for producing low carbon liquid biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol, methanol and green gasoline for transportation, as well as partially or completely replacing coal to reduce carbon emissions from electric power plants. Cellulosic biofuels made from non-food sources offer environmental and economic advantages over food crops, like corn, and

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Some commodities are due a strong rebound, says Manraaj Singh. The underlying fundamentals are largely unchanged from July, when many resources were posting record highs. Manraaj says crude oil prices could double by the end of 2009, while agricultural prices will also soar.

This from Fleet Street Invest:

Just a few months ago it seemed like the whole investment world was jumping onto the commodities bandwagon. Now it seems that they can’t jump off fast enough.

The benchmark Reuters/Jefferies Commodity Index has now fallen by 51% from its peak in July (see chart below).

But as I’ll explain in a moment, commodity prices are set for a rebound. And if you are willing to take a longer term view, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Commodity prices reflect future expectations about the global economy. Less business activity and infrastructure spending means less demand for commodities.

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Dynamotive Energy Systems Corp. (OTCBB: DYMTF) provides energy solutions through its offices in the United States and Argentina. The company’s pyrolysis technology turns biomass into BioOil for power and heat generation. Dynamotive Energy today announced a commercial agreement centralized on its pyrolysis technology, which will allow for the construction of the company’s first plant outside Canada.

“The first project in China marks an important milestone for our company,” Dynamotive Energy’s Chairman Richard Lin stated in the press release. “China’s economic development is in the world’s spotlight, and energy security and environmental protection are two major global concerns. As a leader in the bio-fuel industry, Dynamotive uses its patented technology to convert agricultural residues into valuable and clean renewable energy. The process makes use of non-food resources and creates no competition for land with food crops.”

The agreement will support the development of Dynamotive’s pyrolysis plant in the Henan province in

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In an attempt to ensure it can feed India's 600 million poor, the government banned rice exports on April 1, contributing to a shortage on world markets that drove the price of the grain to a record last month and sparked food riots from Haiti to Egypt. The curb caused local prices to lag behind the international increase, encouraging some Indian farmers to switch to more lucrative crops thus further reducing supply.Kerala offers us one example of what has been happening in this context, since the area growing rice in Kerala has fallen to 276,000 hectares (682,000 acres) in 2006 from 801,700 hectares in 1980, according to the state's Planning Board. Production almost halved to 630,000 tons from 1.27 million during the same period.The price of rough rice has almost tripled in the past two years, reaching a record $25.07 a 100 pounds on April 24 ...

Everybody knows there is some kind of food crisis. Grocery prices are painful. Wal-Mart has rationed rice purchases. Mexico has had tortilla riots due to corn prices. Rice riots have occurred Asia. China introduced laws prohibiting conversion of human food crops to fuel.

However, who would have predicted a 5 standard deviation price move for an index of 60 foods, or a 16 standard deviation move in rice prices. No, that is not a typo. Bloomberg today reported a UN Food Crisis study and related price charts revealing this food Black Swan.

At the core of the definition of Black Swan is an unpredictable and unexpected price move that is way off the chart in terms of standard deviations from the mean.

Since 3 standard deviations theoretically encompasses 99.7% of all observations, 5 to 16 standard deviations is a shocker.

We’ll have to rely on businesses and

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