Researchers create genetic map of promising biofuel candidate.
- SCHOOLS
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Athens, Ga -- By creating a “road map” of the genome of a hybrid grass in the genus Miscanthus (known as “Miscanthus x giganteus“), researchers at the University of Georgia have made a new contribution to the effort to find sources of clean, renewable energy. The plant is a natural candidate for biomass farming with promise as a source of ethanol and bio-energy. It requires very little fertilizer, has sugarcane-like stalks that grow more than 12 feet high in soil of marginal quality, and grows well across much of the United States, Europe and Asia. Changsoo Kim, a post-doc in the UGA Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, created the map. It can now serve as a diagnostic tool for making the plant an even better biofuel crop. UGA professor Andrew…
Georgia researchers have teamed up with the University of Puerto Rico to create a renewable energy center.
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Algae has many advantages for the production of biofuel. It grows fast, can make a home in almost any watery environment--including wastewater--and doesn't compete for resources with food crops--making it one of the most promising fuel sources for renewable energy. To help realize this promise, the University of Georgia and the University of Puerto Rico are launching a center in San Juan, aiming to provide power to Puerto Rico and reduce fossil fuel dependence in the U.S. The Defense Department is funding the $4 million project. "As an island completely dependent on imported energy, Puerto Rico and its entire industrial base is keenly interested in a renewable domestically produced energy source," says UGA engineering professor Ryan …
Linda Chafin
3:02 pm on Monday, February 13, 2012
I need to moderate the concerns I expressed above. This particular hybrid, Miscanthus x giganteus, is reputed to be sterile, in which case it would not be an ecological threat. However, both of its parents are invasive and there is always the possibility that hybrid plants will revert to the traits of one of the parents. Caution is needed! more ›