biofuels

A new study in Nature Climate Change finds that forest thinning to prevent fires and large-scale bioenergy harvest in West Coast forests leads to 2-14% higher carbon emissions over the next 20 years compared with current management practices.

Among several types of plants being used for biofuel production, algae is well-suited for the Southwest because it requires abundant sunshine but no soil, and it does not require high-quality water. In addition, algae is fast-growing and some strains are especially oil-rich, allowing highly efficient fuel production.

large amounts of forested areas in the Southwest are in need of thinning to reduce the risk of intense wildfires that destroy all trees, large and small. Southwestern state climate action plans recommended increasing the use of small trees and other woody biomass produced from forest thinning projects as a source of energy for home heating and biomass-to-energy facilities.

April 20, 2009 - April 21, 2009 | Washington, DC | Event Web site

This premier CHI Advanced Biofuels Development Summit creates a unique forum bringing together, in one place, the leaders in scientific innovations in advanced biofuels development, from feedstock alternatives to processing technologies and methods, with key corporate executives who are leading the commercial scale-up, financing, business development, alliances and public-private partnerships curr

April 4, 2009 - April 8, 2009 | Snowbird, Utah | Event Web site

The goal of this meeting is to share a broad perspective defining the critical needs for biofuels and to highlight cutting edge research and development efforts that are defining the next generation of biofuel product and process advances. One major deficiency in the advancement of biofuels is the need to do more integrated and cross-disciplinary research.

April 17, 2009 | Chicago, IL | Event Web site

Attend this day of in-depth discussions about the future prospects of the US bioenergy market in light of the economic stimulus package.