Polysaccharide molecules such as cellulose, seen here, are long chains of sugars that are very hard to break apart. Enzymes – proteins that can degrade polysaccharides – have many industrial uses.
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Bio-prospecting is the search for useful materials from natural sources. A biologist explains what we can learn from bacteria about breaking down plant material, and how we can use that knowledge.
Papyrus can alleviate pressures on native forest ecosystems.
Author supplied
The capacity of woody biomass to provide the energy requirements for sub-Saharan Africa is declining. Papyrus wetlands are a sustainable source of biomass that holds potential to substitute for wood.
Soybeans and corn are two of the most widely planted crops in the United States and the main feedstocks used to make biofuels.
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A new study challenges the longstanding view that biofuels are carbon-neutral, and asserts that in the U.S. to date, they have done more harm to the climate than gasoline.
Ethanol made from corn goes into our gas tanks. Now refiners who pay for the subsidy are complaining of rising costs.
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Tristan R. Brown, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Obama's proposal to add $10 tax to crude oil raises the thorny question of whether the U.S. can continue to fund its highway infrastructure with a fuel tax that hasn't changed since 1993.
Before there was E10, in the 1970s there was ‘gasohol,’ another name for gasoline that had been blended with ethanol.
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Tristan R. Brown, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Ted Cruz opposes subsidies for biofuels and still managed to win in ethanol-friendly Iowa. Is corn ethanol starting to lose its political clout?
An excavator clears land for a palm oil plantation in southern Sierra Leone for a Lichtenstein-based a company. Such projects are criticised by some as ‘land grabs’.
Reuters/Simon Akam
International development banks are supposed to ensure adherence to human rights in the projects they fund. Instead, their practices provide fertile ground for human rights abuses.
Outdoor air pollution causes 3.3 million premature deaths a year, mainly in Asia. And without policies to cut particulate pollution from traffic, industry and home biofuels, the deaths could double by 2050.
An ancient form of energy: a wood pellet manufacturing facility in upstate New York.
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Tim Baye, University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin-Extension
The future of two key energy policies – the EPA's Clean Power Plan and Renewable Fuel Standard – will decide whether bioenergy will continue to grow in US or not.
A law signed into effect last week seeks to reduce fertilizer runoff that causes toxic algae blooms. But to really address the problem requires taking a hard look at how America farms.
Plants use photosynthesis to build molecules and energy they can use. By copying plants, humans can make cleaner fuels.
Ranjit Bhatnagar/Flickr
Most of the energy that fuels our lives comes from plants. Whether it is a fossil fuel that was formed hundreds of millions of years ago or the food we eat, all carbon-borne energy has its ultimate origins…
