Research Funding to University of California Scientists Supports Search for Better Biofuels

Hundreds of UC scientists are investigating how toimprove the
conversion of plant cellulose into ethanol, the
conversion of oilseed into biodiesel, and the conversion of
plant and animal waste into liquid, gas or solid
energy. They are also engineering faster-growing,
higher-yielding crops and algae for biofuel feedstock.

The October-December 2009 issue of UC's California
Agriculture journal includes six peer-reviewed research and
review articles on the promise of this biofuel research, as
well as the challenge of insuring that food security and
natural lands are not adversely affected by a vast expansion
of new biofuel crop acreage.

The articles, and related editorial and news coverage on
biofuel regulation and research initiatives, are available
online at http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org.

Bryan Jenkins, director of the UC Davis Energy Institute,
notes that California could readily produce 30 million tons
of renewable biomass for electricity generation, biofuels
and industrial processing, the equivalent of 2 billion
gallons of gasoline annually.

"From the time humans first learned to control fire a
quarter of a million years ago, biomass has served as an
important energy resource," Jenkins and colleagues write in
California Agriculture journal. "Although traditional uses
are still widely practiced throughout the world and are
often associated with undesirable consequences to health and
the environment, more modern, sustainable approaches to
utilizing biomass offer significant promise for
environmental improvement and economic benefit."

Governor Schwarzenegger signed the state's Low Carbon
Fuel Standard in April 2009, which sets targets for
replacing an increasing proportion of the fossil fuels used
in California with bio-based fuels. Over the past few years,
research funding from state, federal and commercial sources
has flowed to UC scientists in order to help meet this
challenge.

Funding for biofuels research at UC includes:

- $25 million from Chevron to the Bioenergy Research
Group at UC Davis.

- $800,000 from the California Energy Commission to the
California Biomass Collaborative at UC Davis.

- $500 million from BP to UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Illinois.

- $135 million from the Department of Energy to the Joint
BioEnergy Institute, a collaboration of LBNL, Sandia
National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and the Carnegie
Institution for Science, based in the Bay Area.

- $750,000 from the Department of Energy for the San
Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, a partnership of UC
San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, The Scripps
Research Institute and private industry.

UC policy experts warn that despite billions of dollars
spent globally to support biofuels, they may have unintended
but real adverse impacts.

"As the world emerges from the first global food crisis
in three decades and controversy surrounds the
greenhouse-gas savings of biofuels, policymakers have begun
to question their promotion of a technology that takes land
away from two predominant uses - food production and
environmental preservation," writes lead author Steven
Sexton and UC Berkeley co-authors in California Agriculture
journal.

The October-December 2009 issue of California Agriculture
journal also includes the following peer-reviewed research
findings (http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org):

- A survey of teen driving behavior in the Central Valley
and Los Angeles found that parents are much less likely to
enforce a state law prohibiting teenagers from driving with
teen passengers than other driving rules.

- 4-H record books compiled by members can be used to
effectively evaluate county-based 4-H programs.

- Satellite imagery was used to identify nine Central
Valley crops with an overall accuracy of 75 percent or more,
early enough in the growing season to inform water-use
planning.

- California ranchers receive consistently lower prices
for cattle than their Midwestern counterparts, based on 11
years of video auction data.

California Agriculture is the University of California's
peer-reviewed journal of research in agricultural, human and
natural resources. For a free subscription, go to:
http://californiaagriculture.ucop.edu/ , write to
calag@ucop.edu or call 510-642-2431 x33.

- - - -

EDITORS: To request a hard copy of the journal, e-mail
jlbyron@ucdavis.edu.

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