Energy & Environment

Biobased products cover a wide range of materials.  One new such product is biobased insulation made from mushrooms named Greensulate.

The blog Greenline says that Greensulate,

This week in Energy Business Daily “Jet Biofuels Take Off.” Jet fuel is expensive and makes up a large part of an airline’s budget. However, now biofuels are starting to pick up interest among the airlines.  According to Energy Business Daily,

When we look at the challenges affecting our world today, many come to mind - energy demand, food security and climate change, just to name a few.   Biotechnology provides tools to meet all of these challenges.  The sustainable farming practices afforded to today’s modern farmers allow us to produce more food, fuel and fiber on less land with less environmental impact.

Danny Levine of the Burrill Report conducted a podcast with BIO President & CEO Jim Greenwood today on BIO's public priorities for 2010. Discussion topics include what happens next with national health care reform, biosimilars, patent reform, and biofuels. You can listen to the podcast on the Burrill Report website at http://www.burrillreport.com/article-2090.html.

Biofuels is big in Iowa. So big in fact, that according to domesticfuel.com

“Iowa State University will get $8 million of a $78 million U.S.

Can you make fuel out of tobacco? Apparently you can if they’re genetically engineered tobacco plants.

According to Alternative Energy,

“Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have developed a new method to increase the quantity of oil in tobacco leaves. So that oil in tobacco leaves can be utilized as biofuels in future.

Novozymes is an international corporation that is creating industrial biosolutions through over 700 products designed to improve industrial performance and safeguard the world's resources.  During a trip to their Franklinton, North Carolina-based facility, we learned about their work to create more efficient and environmentally friendly laundry detergents through the use of industrial enzymes.

Download to listen or view the podcast.

On day two of BIO's Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, attendees heard some fascinating presentations at the plenary lunch session, appropriately titled "Novel Applications of Industrial Biotechnology."

Phil Hendry from CSIRO in Australia spoke about the opportunities for carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas benefits offered by coal bed methane production (coal seam gas, CBM, CSG). Coal bed methane is a type of natural gas extracted from coal beds through a natural biological process.