Madison, Wisconsin
September 28, 2007
The
University of Wisconsin-Madison Great Lakes Bioenergy
Research Center (GLBRC) has received $6.67 million in start-up
funding from the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) that will allow researchers to get to work on
promising new sources of energy that may someday power our cars,
homes, and businesses.
This initial funding is part of a Cooperative Agreement that DOE
awarded to GLBRC, one of three new research centers DOE
announced earlier this year to advance basic research on
plant-derived sources of clean bioenergy. The work that will be
performed by GLRBC is estimated to cost $125 million in DOE
funding over five years. This award stands as one of the largest
research grants ever received by UW-Madison.
"Biofuels represent one of the most promising alternative energy
sources," DOE Under Secretary for Science Raymond L. Orbach
says. "Making them cost-effective will require transformational
breakthroughs in basic science. This early infusion of funds
will enable the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to get
under way immediately on the urgent quest for the breakthroughs
our nation needs to usher in a new biofuels economy."
"This is an investment that allows us to jump-start the work of
the center," says Timothy Donohue, scientific director of the
DOE GLBRC and a professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison. "We are
excited to get this program started more quickly than
anticipated. We need solutions to these problems today, and the
sooner we can get started, the sooner we will be able to bring
new technologies to the marketplace."
Based in Madison, the DOE GLBRC encompasses nearly 60
researchers at multiple institutions, including UW-Madison,
Michigan State University, the DOE's Pacific Northwest and Oak
Ridge National laboratories, and Middleton-area biotechnology
firm Lucigen, among others. Its researchers are aiming to find
efficient, economical ways to convert cellulose, a non-edible
material in plants, trees, and grasses, into fuels and other
energy products.
One of the most common organic materials on the planet,
cellulose represents a potential source of sustainable energy
that could help ease dependency on foreign oil and reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions associated with the burning of fossil
fuels such as coal and petroleum. The DOE Office of Science
program in Biological and Environmental Research has established
the three bioenergy research centers this year to overcome major
bottlenecks that currently make the conversion of cellulose
impractical on an industrial scale. In addition to the UW-based
GLBRC, the department is funding new bioenergy research centers
at its Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its Oak Ridge
National Laboratory.
Sitting squarely in the middle of the nation's agricultural
belt, the Midwest is a "perfect place to conduct such research,"
notes Donohue. Wisconsin is among 12 Midwestern states that have
nearly half of the nation's supply of excess biomass in the form
of trees, grasses and agricultural wastes that could be
harvested for fuel. GLBRC scientists are focused on making these
industries a reality by breeding new varieties of plants that
are more easily converted to energy, by improving the methods
for processing and converting plants into fuels such as ethanol
and by developing sustainable energy practices that would limit
the impact of a new biofuels economy on the environment.
"Through world-leading research in bio-energy, Wisconsin will
seize today's challenges, and turn them into tomorrow's
opportunity," says Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. "This center
will be the centerpiece of our state's efforts to lead the
country toward energy independence and will be an economic
engine that will translate new discoveries into high-paying
jobs."
For more information on the GLBRC and other bioenergy-related
projects in Wisconsin, see
www.wisconsinbioenergy.com. |
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