In Pennsylvania, researchers at the Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation headquartered at Penn State are working to break down the cell wall in plants for bioenergy by looking it how cell walls are made in the first place. The idea is that understanding how cell walls are made will make it easier for them to […]
In Finland, a 100% renewable energy matrix by 2050 would require doubling the current biofuel consumption, as well as investing heavily in solar and wind energy that would be stored as gas for use during winter months. A consortium of 20 researchers at the Lappeenranta University of Technology modeled 8 renewable energy options, some excluding […]
In California, researchers at the University of California’s Energy Biosciences Institute demonstrated that a sugarcane biorefinery could use natural synergies between various routes to produce a mixture of lubricant base oils and jet fuels that achieve net life-cycle greenhouse gas savings of up to 80%.
In South Carolina, Abengoa Energy Crops has committed more than $1 million annually to support a three-year research project in South Carolina on the use of different trees and grass-like species to produce sustainable biomass for energy. A new public-private partnership led by Clemson University and a worldwide biomass and bioenergy producer will research the […]
In Georgia, researchers at the University of Georgia have used a gene editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas to modify the genome of a tree species for the first time. Their research, published recently in the early online edition of the journal New Phytologist, opens the door to more rapid and reliable gene editing of plants. […]
In Tennessee, Mascoma LLC and the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center have developed a revolutionary strain of yeast that could help significantly accelerate the development of biofuels from nonfood plant matter. The approach could provide a pathway to eventual expansion of biofuels production beyond the current output limited to ethanol derived from corn. C5 […]
In Minnesota, federal mandates to produce more renewable fuels, especially biofuels, have led to a growing debate: Should fuel or food grow on arable land? Recent research shows farmers can successfully, and sustainably, grow both. Russ Gesch, a plant physiologist with the USDA Soil Conservation Research Lab in Morris, Minnesota, found encouraging results when growing Camelina […]
In Washington, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (www.eia.gov) latest “Today in Energy” brief looks at the growth of renewables as a share of U.S. energy consumption, and found that renewable energy accounted for 9.8% of total domestic energy consumption in 2014. “This marks the highest renewable energy share since the 1930s,” the agency noted, “when […]
In California, in a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, a team including researchers from the DOE JGI and the DOE-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center characterized the structure and function of a GH55 protein – SacteLam55A. The gene SACTE_4363 encodes this protein and was isolated from the microbe SirexAA-E in the gut […]
In California, Ceres has been awarded a U.S. patent for a genetic sequence derived from soybean, covering uses of the gene in areas such as research, product development and plant transformation. The company believes that its gene is useful in regulating key biosynthetic processes that are the target of a class of commercial herbicides. Ceres […]
