University of Northern Iowa
Posted in Bioenergy on Apr 26th, 2008
A photosynthetic cyanobacterium with chlorophyll (red) and the cellulose material (blue) it produced. A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be [...]
Posted in Bioenergy on Apr 26th, 2008
Biofuels seem to be reaching the headlines on an almost daily basis, with some activist groups touting their benefits as part of a planet-saving strategy for fossil fuel alternatives. Other groups, of course, point out that you don’t get something for nothing and that ravaging ecosystems in order to plant crops for conversion does not [...]
Posted in Bioenergy, Plant Biotechnology on Mar 6th, 2008
Following up on a net-energy study published in the January Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) scientists today reports the on-farm economic costs of producing switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol.
Scientists Determine Farm Costs of Producing Switchgrass for Ethanol | Science Blog
Blogged with [...]
Posted in Bioenergy on Mar 1st, 2008
It should be obvious by now that I think today’s is one of the best issues of Science in recent memory. This will be my last post out of this issue, but even these three posts don’t come close to covering everything in there that I think is cool. If you don’t work at an [...]
Posted in Bioenergy on Mar 1st, 2008
A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.
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Blogged with Flock
Posted in Bioenergy on Feb 17th, 2008
Plants trees and algae do it. Even some bacteria and moss do it, but scientists have had a difficult time developing methods to turn sunlight into useful fuel. Now, Penn State researchers have a proof-of-concept device that can split water and produce recoverable hydrogen.
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Blogged with Flock
Posted in Bioenergy on Feb 11th, 2008
Turning native ecosystems into “farms” for biofuel crops causes major carbon emissions that worsen the global warming that biofuels are meant to mitigate, according to a new study by the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy.
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Blogged with Flock
Posted in Bioenergy on Feb 8th, 2008
A new study finds that converting land for biofuel crops results in major carbon emissions, actually worsening the problem of global warming instead of mitigating it. The first-of-its-kind study will be published in Science later this month and was posted online today.
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Blogged with Flock
Posted in Bioenergy on Feb 7th, 2008
Forest waste can be converted into bio-crude oil. CSIRO and Monash University have developed a chemical process that turns green waste into a stable bio-crude oil.
Blogged with Flock
Posted in Bioenergy, Plant Biotechnology on Jan 31st, 2008
This illustration shows the structure of an endoglucanase enzyme. The arrows indicate straight beta-strands. You can also see the twisted alpha-helices. Peter Reilly’s lab discovered the enzyme’s structure by producing and crystallizing the enzyme, shooting X-rays through it and analyzing the resulting diffraction pattern. This particular enzyme breaks down cellulose by attacking bonds in the [...]