By Ian Palmer, PhD, former BP petroleum engineer Special to The Digest Fossil fuel causes 73% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an escape hatch, or an offset, to be used if there are “leftover” GHG emissions. If a country is on a pathway to reduce GHG to zero […]
Australian rock band AC/DC was on a roll with several record hits like ‘Back in Black’ and ‘For Those About to Rock We Salute You’ in the early 1980s, until that is, the ‘Flick of the Switch’ in 1983 that some rock critics say was the beginning of the end for them and a “commercial […]
In Canada, research into how poor-quality, marginal land can be used to produce biomass as a potential revenue stream for farmers underway at Saint Mary’s University received C$1.2 million in funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriScience program and the Nova Scotia Innovation Hub Fund. The project receiving funding is called “Purpose-Grown Biomass Crops: Efficient […]
The pace of bioeconomy invention and change continues at a frenetic pace. Here are the top innovations for the week of October 17th In today’s Digest, edible barcodes, DARPA’s modifying crops, insects, Pivit Bio raises $70M, rice straw ethanol, renewable concrete, automated indoor farming, biobased hairstyling, silkworms making spider silk — these and more, ready […]
In Australia, bacteria that turn sugar into hydrogen are being engineered by Macquarie University researchers who received a A$1.1 million grant from ARENA, the Australian government’s renewable energy agency. “There’s global interest in using hydrogen gas to produce electricity in hydrogen fuel cells, for example to power vehicles, heat buildings or provide electricity for industry,” […]
You might be wondering what the heck this map signifies — enthroned as it is on the website of the National Insitute of Food & Agriculture, the USDA’s primary intersection with the academic community — and also visible in an updated form at ABLC Next when USDA Energy Policy director Harry Baumes took the floor. […]
Four simple questions and such a variety of response as you might expect from the unusual collection of engineers, biologists, marketeers, customers, financiers, policy leaders, advanced R&D specialists, mathematicians, advocates and watchful critics that make up the advanced bioeconomy. Where were you on July 27, 2007? Where are you now? What inspires you? What do […]
In the UK, a new report from the UK government encourages biofuel production from waste and not crops or plants in order to reduce carbon emissions. The report brings up the age old question of which biofuels produce lower emissions than fossil fuels and which ones are actually worse. It focuses on ensuring use of […]
In Norway, the BALI demonstration plant operated by the BIOFOREVER project reports that the successful scale-up from lab by a factor of 1000 and several years of operation in a semi-commercial scale suggests that the BALI technology is at TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 6-7. In September 2016 a consortium of 14 European companies started the […]
In Austria, researchers led by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna are coordinating the EU-funded project GREENLAND that in part aims to use trees such as poplars and willow to clean up superfund sites. Not only do the trees’ roots suck up polluted water but bacteria can also be added to […]
