Associated Press
06-26-07
Grants announced for bioenergy centers
By KEN THOMAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- New research centers in Tennessee, Wisconsin and California
will try to develop new ways of turning switchgrass, poplar trees and other plants
into fuel under a $375 million plan announced Tuesday by the Energy
Department.
The three centers, partnering with universities, national laboratories and private
companies, will each receive $125 million to research new biofuel technologies
over five years. The centers will be located in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Madison, Wis.,
and near Berkeley, Calif.
"Where energy is concerned, we simply must find ways to do more with less,"
said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. "We can develop fundamentally new
sources of energy, but only by inventing radical new technology will we be
successful."
The new research centers are part of the Bush administration's plan to reduce
gasoline consumption by 20 percent during the next decade. The centers will
study biomass plants such as switchgrass, poplar trees and corn stalks used for
cellulosic ethanol.
Bodman said the research projects would bring together scientists from 18
universities, seven Energy Department national laboratories, one nonprofit
organization and several private companies.
The collaborations are aimed at improving the process of developing fuel from
the cellulose in plant materials such as stalks and leaves while making the
process more cost-effective.
Ethanol is produced mainly from corn in the U.S., but scientists have been trying
to develop alternatives that use nonfood sources for energy.
"If we understand how plants are made we'll be able to develop new plants for
the future that will be dedicated for energy use," said Jay Keasling, who will direct
the Joint BioEnergy Institute at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Past studies have suggested that cellulosic ethanol could yield four to six times
the energy expended to produce it and produce less greenhouse gas emissions
than corn-based ethanol.
The three research centers include:
- BioEnergy Science Center led by the Energy Department's Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in Tennessee. Collaborators include: Georgia Institute of Technology
in Atlanta, the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Golden, Colo., University of Georgia, and the University of Tennessee.
- Great Lakes BioEnergy Research Center will be led by the University of
Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., in collaboration with Michigan State University.
Other collaborators include: the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Richland, Wash., Lucigen Corp. in Middleton, Wis., University of
Florida, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Illinois State University and Iowa State
University.
- Joint BioEnergy Institute led by the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory near Berkeley, Calif. Collaborators include: Sandia National
Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of CaliforniaBerkeley, University of California-Davis and Stanford University.