Biofuels Could Supply 30% of Global Energy Demand, says report

Energy demand is projected to grow by 50% by 2025, with much of the increase in demand predicted to originate from developing countries with fast rates of economic growth. The vast majority of energy is currently derived from fossils fuels, a limited, nonrenewable and polluting resource. Biofuels produced from dedicated, tailored energy crops have the potential to play an important role in addressing future energy demands. “We can readily address, with research, 30 percent of current transportation fuel needs” said Dr. Arthur Ragauskas, from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Ragauskas and his colleagues highlight future challenges to converting biofuels into a practical, cost efficient alternative to petroleum in the review article “The Path Forward for Biofuels and Biomaterials”, published in the journal Science. The authors recommend a multidisciplinary approach, where the activities of biologists, agronomists, engineers, energy experts and policy specialists are integrated to achieve the transition from nonrenewable carbon resources to renewable bioresources. Source: A weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA) ,Issue from February 10, 2006 "Source":[http://www.isaaa.org/kc/].

---

Related articles

The Long-Run Impact of Corn-Based Ethanol on the Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Sectors with Implications for Biotech Crops - The ongoing growth of corn–based ethanol production raises some fundamental questions about what impact continued growth will have on US and world agriculture (22.5.2007)

New variety of corn makes ethanol production for cars more cost effective - Michigan State University researchers claim to have developed a new variety of corn that promises to make ethanol production for running cars, more cost-effective and efficient (9.5.2007)

New generation biofuels coming soon - The credentials of biofuels might have been dented by claims that current production methods are inefficient, lead to deforestation and drive up food prices, but a German firm hopes to change all this with new technology (24.4.2007)

A new biofuel: propane - While much of the attention on biofuels has focused on ethanol, the process developed by the MIT researchers produces propane, says Andrew Peterson, one of the graduate students who demonstrated the reactions (20.4.2007)

Scientists look to make biofuels more efficient - A new, more efficient method for manufacturing biofuels could generate enough fuel to supply the entire U (14.3.2007)