AbstractFood vs fuel: EconomicsLenk et al. Biotechnol. J. 2007, 2, 1497–1504.Bioenergies are promoted across the globe as the answer for global warming and the chance to reduce dependency from fossil energy sources. Despite the fact that renewable energy sources offer the opportunity to reduce CO2 emission and present a chance to increase agricultural incomes, they also come along with some drawbacks that have been mostly neglected in the current discussion. This paper seeks to build a basis for discussing the impacts of the growing subsidization of bioenergy and the resulting usage competition of agricultural raw materials between foods and energy. This will help to foster the discussion on the further subsidization of bioenergy, where funding for R&D on new ways of using non‐food raw materials ought to play a significant role.Food vs fuel: CompetitionThrän et al. Biotechnol. J. 2007, 2, 1514–1524.In recent years framework conditions for European climate protection policies have been created, to allow for a wider use of biomass within the energy system, especially for a provision of electricity and fuels. However, due to high energy prices, the use of biomass for heating purposes and as a renewable raw material have increased at the same time. As the demand for biomass is expected to continue to increase strongly, it is feared that an increasing competition for the use of biomaterials for food and fodder as well as a raw material will occur in the years to come. Against this background researchers from Leipzig and Hamburg (Germany) have analyzed the competitions that can be expected, and the influence they may have on the further expansion of the use of biomass for energy production.Food vs fuel: BiobutanolDürre et al. Biotechnol. J. 2007, 2, 1525‒1534.In currently developed biofuels gasoline is blended with ethanol at various percentages. However, butanol has several advantages over ethanol, such as higher energy content, lower water absorption, better blending ability, and use in conventional combustion engines without modification. Like ethanol, it can be produced fermentatively or petrochemically. Current crude oil prices render the biotechnological process economic again. The best‐studied bacterium to perform butanol fermentation is Clostridium acetobutylicum which opens the possibility to engineer recombinant strains with superior biobutanol‐producing ability.