Developing bio-based products and chemicals that can enable biofuel production is an emerging research and development area for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Carbon dioxide removal encompasses a wide array of approaches that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) that is already in the atmosphere or ocean. The CO2can then be stored in geological, biobased, and ocean reservoirs or in value-added products. For example, it can be stored in low-carbon concrete and natural sinks such as forests, soils, wetlands, and oceans to create negative emissions (i.e., when more carbon is removed from the atmosphere or ocean than is generated by its removal).
The climate crisis calls for a different kind of moonshot. Energy Earthshots™ will accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. They will drive the major innovation breakthroughs that we know we must achieve to solve the climate crisis, reach our 2050 net-zero carbon goals, and create the jobs of the new clean energy economy. The Energy Earthshots target the remaining solution points of the most challenging technical problems across our energy economy.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will host the Clean Fuels & Products Shot™ Summit on April 8, 2024, from 11am – 2pm ET, and April 9, 2024, from 11am - 4pm ET. Register today for the virtual event that will gather stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations to engage on the objectives, progress, priorities, and future plans for the seventh DOE Energy Earthshot™.
When worn, washed, and dried, clothing sheds—dispersing tiny fibers throughout homes, soils, and waterways that can take centuries to degrade.
These fibers, often made of polyester and often too small to see, are a major—if invisible—source of microplastic pollution. By some estimates, fibers from polyester clothing account for nearly half of all microplastics in the natural environment, exacerbating a growing environmental and public health hazard.
Kat Knauer enjoyed science classes as a young girl but her understanding that science could be used as an instrument for good was solidified when a beloved family member grew ill.
Her childhood dog, Penny, was having a severe reaction to the pesticides her mother applied to fire ant mounds dotting the landscape around their south Florida home. Knauer became concerned for Penny’s health and turned to the scientific method for potential solutions
NREL develops laboratory analytical procedures (LAPs) for standard biomass analysis. These procedures help scientists and analysts understand more about the chemical composition of raw biomass feedstocks and process intermediates for conversion to biofuels.
Eva Wolfe could not see the flames, but she knew they were out there.
It was early September 2020, a hot end to a hot summer, and Wolfe and her husband were living in Oregon's backwoods. The state was experiencing its worst drought in 10 years. Trees went thirsty and died. Scrub brush crinkled into kindling. And pandemic lockdowns drove Oregonions into one of their few escapes: the woods.
Four scientists affiliated with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were named Battelle Distinguished Inventors during the lab’s annual Innovation Awards on Dec. 1 in recognition of being granted 14 or more United States patents.
An ongoing study dedicated to identifying and accessing renewable energy source options suggested switchgrass could be a contender.
“Switchgrass is a grass that is native to the United States,” said Katrien Devos, research professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Georgia. “It's a component of the tall grass prairies. Since the 1950s, it’s been grown as a forage for animal feed. Around the 1990s, the (U.S.) Department of Energy looked into potential grasses for bioenergy production.”
