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 […]
In Illinois, the handling of agricultural crop residues appears to have a large impact on soil’s ability to retain carbon, making land management practices increasingly important, especially under a scenario where cellulosic materials become more heavily used as a feedstock for ethanol production, according to a recently published study led by researchers at the U.S. […]
In Denmark, researchers at the University of Southern Denmark are developing a bacteria that can eat surplus electricity produced from solar and wind or other renewable energy sources to convert CO2 into biomaterials and biofuels. Currently the bacteria can only turn CO2 into methane and acetate but the researchers believe with some small genetic mutations […]
In France, Deinove and Avril announced that they would screen a 6,000-bacteria bank of Deinococci and other genera to identify 20 strains capable of producing useful molecules in terms of animal nutrition and health, and AVRIL Group would characterize the molecules produced and to perform application tests. The goal of this new stage is to confirm each […]
In Switzerland, researchers from ETH Zurich say they’ve developed a cheaper and cleaner way to produce PLA using glycerol. This waste substance is becoming more and more abundant, with 3 megatons in 2014 expected to increase to over 4 megatons by 2020. Because of its impurity, glycerol is not suitable for the chemical or pharmaceutical […]
In Spain, researchers from the University of Granada teamed with the University of Campinas in Brazil to determine the ideal blend of fish oil and cooking oil to produce a new kind of biodiesel. The project looked at 13 different blends of oils in the biodiesel as well as biodiesel produced from pure oils as […]
In the Netherlands, corn, wheat and rapeseed can be used to produce biofuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel. According to recent findings by environmental scientists at Radboud University, the location of the agricultural lands used to grow these biofuel crops has a major impact on the greenhouse gas emission they ultimately produce. The study that […]
In Washington, the Dept. of Energy announced an open meeting on May 20-22 of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee under Section 9008(d) of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 amended by the Agricultural Act of 2014. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that agencies […]
