Image: http://www.planetfuels.co.uk

As U.S. crude oil futures hit another all-time record on Monday at $59.52 a barrel, major consumers world-wide are getting encouraged to increase their use of "green" biofuels, made from sugar cane, vegetable or grain oils.

"Biofuels are getting more competitive due to the surge in oil prices but these would need to be somewhere between $60 and $100 a barrel for biofuels to be competitive without subsidies," IEA biofuel specialist Lew Fulton said after a seminar on biofuel options. The IEA renewed its estimate that all biofuels -- ethanol and biodiesel -- had the potential to reach 10 percent of world fuel use for transport by 2025.

The beauty of biofuels is that these are all coming from renewable resources. If biofuels gain a larger slice of the fuel market, can you imagine the range of its socio-political as well as environmental implications?

See Reuters' report here.