Spring Break
Anticipated bioenergy center expected to turn plants to fuel
BRIAN MINK
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The University's new bioenergy center is planting seeds to decrease dependence on traditional energy sources.
The University received funds from the U.S. Department of Energy in June for a bioenergy research center that will specialize in developing more effective means of turning plants into fuel.
The center is slated to deliver a total of $125 million to several institutions over the next five years, with the University taking the lion's share of $20 million as lead partner. "I think it's a true measure of the level of research expertise here at UGA that we got the center," said Al Darvill, director of the University's Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.
Funding for the center likely will allow the University to hire 40 to 50 new employees on campus, and will add jobs at partner institutions as well Darvill said. Research at the University will occur in existing facilities and departments through cooperative efforts, he added.
"It also will provide labs working in the bioenergy field where undergraduates can do undergraduate research," he said.
The center, which will be a consortium of separate labs at several institutions, will be headquartered at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Research will focus mainly on using switchgrass and poplar to produce ethanol, a type of grain alcohol that can be blended with unleaded gasoline to fuel cars.
Jeff Bennetzen, a genetics professor, said finding more efficient and economic means of producing ethanol will have immediate benefits on the economy.
"These alternative energy productions ... set a maximum ceiling cost for oil," he said. "It doesn't cost the producers of oil nearly what they charge for it. They can't do that if we're producing ethanol" to compete with them.
Darvill said this is the first year DOE has given funding for bioenergy centers.
Four universities nationwide were selected as finalists for the centers, and three ultimately were selected to receive funding. The other universities receiving bioenergy centers are the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin.
The University received funds from the U.S. Department of Energy in June for a bioenergy research center that will specialize in developing more effective means of turning plants into fuel.
The center is slated to deliver a total of $125 million to several institutions over the next five years, with the University taking the lion's share of $20 million as lead partner. "I think it's a true measure of the level of research expertise here at UGA that we got the center," said Al Darvill, director of the University's Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.
Funding for the center likely will allow the University to hire 40 to 50 new employees on campus, and will add jobs at partner institutions as well Darvill said. Research at the University will occur in existing facilities and departments through cooperative efforts, he added.
"It also will provide labs working in the bioenergy field where undergraduates can do undergraduate research," he said.
The center, which will be a consortium of separate labs at several institutions, will be headquartered at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Research will focus mainly on using switchgrass and poplar to produce ethanol, a type of grain alcohol that can be blended with unleaded gasoline to fuel cars.
Jeff Bennetzen, a genetics professor, said finding more efficient and economic means of producing ethanol will have immediate benefits on the economy.
"These alternative energy productions ... set a maximum ceiling cost for oil," he said. "It doesn't cost the producers of oil nearly what they charge for it. They can't do that if we're producing ethanol" to compete with them.
Darvill said this is the first year DOE has given funding for bioenergy centers.
Four universities nationwide were selected as finalists for the centers, and three ultimately were selected to receive funding. The other universities receiving bioenergy centers are the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin.
Be the first to comment on this story