June 26, 2007

Energy Department Awards $125-Million in University Grants for Biofuel Research

Universities will play prominent roles in three new research centers on bioenergy, the U.S. Department of Energy said today. The consortia participating in each center will share $125-million over five years to study how to convert plant material other than corn starch into ethanol to fuel vehicles.

One new center will be led by the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Its academic partners will be Illinois State University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Florida.

Another center will be managed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, an Energy Department facility in Tennessee. Its academic partners will be Dartmouth College, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

A third center will be led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is managed by the University of California system. Its academic partners will be Stanford University and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis. —Jeffrey Brainard

Update: More details appear in a new Chronicle article.

Comments

1. With the Global Warming issues, I am extremely delighted to read that the Department of Energy has taken an important action to conduct research on Biofuels. The Bioenergy research will be with the collaboration from various universities in the States.

   — Doris Martin    Jun 27, 08:09 AM    #

2. This is such great news! Its about time we fund other alternative fuels. Our options right now are alot better then what we have. Depending on big oil companies isn’t good for our pockets or the environment. Our gasoline emissions play a big role in Global Warming.
   Rudolf Diesel invented his engine to RUN on peanut oil. Biodiesel can be made from almost any vegetable oil, including discarded fryer oils, along with a little methanol and lye. It burns efficiently, with very few pollutants. It even smells good (like french fries). There are no safety issues in storing it, and it has a very long shelf life, unlike gasoline.
   Hybrids are good, though there not completly gasoline free, can recharge overnight and run on battery packs. Natural gas propelled vehicles can be seen running around our major highways as buses and taxis. But did you know that Honda makes a Civic that you can fuel in your garage with a $2000 conversion kit? (It’s called the Phill station). And while natural gas is a petroleum product, supplies are stable, and prices somewhat less volatile than gasoline at present. Much of our gas comes from Canada, a partner much more docile than Saudi Arabia. Plus, I will always trust the utility company more than I do the oil company. Not only can you fuel your vehicle at home, the range of this vehicle is 200 miles, at a cost of half of what you would pay for gasoline at the present time.
   Flex fuel vehicles are cars and trucks that can run on both gasoline or ethanol. A blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline is standard, versus the 90% gasoline 10% ethanol we use today. I remember watching a show on the discovery channel on how these guys went across the country and in each state they used that product that was mainly produced and converted it into fuel. The one I watched was when they converted sugar into fuel.
   I’m glad these Universities are going to research a healthier, more cost efficient way to fuel our vehicles. I am proud that a university in my state is participating in the fight against Global warming as well as the oil companies! Our planet should be the most important thing to use, because once it goes, so do we.

   — Danielle Coleman    Jun 27, 09:27 PM    #

3. I also wanted to say that I think the federal government should also be contributing more of an effort in finding alternative fuels . I know the majority of the people want to help our environment and want to move ahead and push out the old way of doing things which is depend on oil. What will we do if the oil runs out? We can’t depend on other countries for oil, look whats happening with Iraq.
   I know the ceo of the Virgin franchaise is offering over a million dollars for anyone to come up with a way to counteract global warming, but what about doing something to prevent it from even happen anymore from this point? We can’t let nature work around us, we need to work around nature.
   Danielle Coleman

   — Danielle Coleman    Jun 29, 03:48 PM    #

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