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ACS Chem. Biol.,
3 (1),
17–20
10.1021/cb700267s
Web Release Date: January 18, 2008
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society
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Addressing the Need for Alternative Transportation
Fuels: The Joint BioEnergy Institute
Harvey W. Blanch†,‡,§, Paul D. Adams†,§,¶, Katherine M. Andrews-Cramer†,∥, Wolf B. Frommer†,§,**, Blake A. Simmons†,††, and Jay D. Keasling†,‡,§,¶,*
† Joint BioEnergy Institute, ‡ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley California 94720, § Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, ¶ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, ∥ Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, ** Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institute for Science, Stanford, California 94305, †† Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551
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*Corresponding author, keasling#berkeley.edu.
Today, carbon-rich fossil fuels, primarily oil, coal, and natural
gas, provide 85% of the energy consumed in the U.S. As world demand
increases, oil reserves may become rapidly depleted (1). Fossil fuel use increases CO2 emissions and
raises the risk of global warming. The high energy content of liquid
hydrocarbon fuels makes them the preferred energy source for all modes
of transportation. In the U.S. alone, transportation consumes ~13.8
million barrels of oil per day and generates >0.5 gigatons of carbon
per year (2). This release of greenhouse
gases has spurred research into alternative, nonfossil energy sources.
Among the options (nuclear, concentrated solar thermal, geothermal,
hydroelectric, wind, solar, and biomass), only biomass has the potential
to provide a high-energy-content transportation fuel. Biomass is a
renewable resource that can be converted into carbon-neutral transporation
fuels.
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