California company offers sustainable packaging for meat, fishit may be an obscure biblical reference, but I have to admit that the first thing
Another recent example of the products it distributes into the food service industry is the Ingeo biopolymer-lined clamshell containers that it is selling in conjunction with Primelink.
which could be used by cafeterias or restaurants to package food-togo, combine bagasse-based shells with a biopolymer coating.
but they can still biodegrade over time. Bagasse-based containers include a biopolymer coating so that they won't leak.
This is a great example of how the latest biomass technology can be used to solve a messy problem.
For restaurant patrons, this is also great news: the food served in these containers will be as good to eat as
Los alamos National Laboratory Bioscience Division. video=427650
Can designers fix America's suburban foreclosure problems? A rendering of an abandoned factory in Cicero, Illinous, re-made as a garden, by Studio Gang NEW YORK--On a brisk Saturday afternoon in late February, a small,
The agriculture biotechnology company has been testing out drought-resistant corn seeds. The genetically modified corn takes up water more gradually from the soil
though they claim their seeds are hybrids that take advantage of natural corn traits rather than genetic engineering.
The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wood as responsibly harvested using criteria that spans from indigenous rights to its impact on biodiversity.
which were getting bioplastics. Dr. Wool from the University Delaware said the industry is moving like gangbusters toward a time
which we want in some cases (we want the water bottle to biodegrade), but what about buildings?
We dont want those to biodegrade. We need to think about the time scale to design: So is this a 100-year building or 25-year building?
I would say its not just transiting from petroleum-based to bio-based. The first thing we have to do is make people aware that alternatives exist
That means it will biodegrade at an expected and acceptable rate when it it is added to a hot, active compost pile.
such as pulp made from sugar cane and those based on some rice bioproducts. Overall, the company's goal is to reduce packaging volume by 10 percent by 2012.
but others criticized it for ushering in an age of monoculture in which farmers turned their backs on biodiversity in the interest of maximizing food production per acre.
Cleanstar's plan to use ethanol to clean up cookingcleanstar  Mozambique has opened a biofuel plant to produce cassava-based ethanol fuel in an effort to replace charcoal,
New enzyme cuts cost of next-gen biofuels
Climateminder helps farms be smarter about water usagecalifornia start-up Climateminder, which is selling technology that its founder first put to the test in Turkish greenhouses,
He acknowledged the protection of biodiversity as a legitimate goal for public policy, but noted that the costs of saving species often fall on landowners and businesses,
but often with limited success. In 2009 Spanish biologists cloned the calf of an extinct subspecies of Pyrenean ibex from tissue samples preserved for that purpose,
Even if one assumes that future advances in biotechnology can overrule all those objections, however, problems remain
and freeze'em approach--was primarily a way to preserve the genome heritage of vanishing ecosystems, not the biodiversity itself.
Indeed, only by preserving in vivo a wide cross section of biota can we plausibly use much of the genetic library frozen in vitro...
to undertake salvaging operations weakens arguments for biodiversity preservation. To avoid this, the two parallel programs of preservation
The problem is that biodiversity and species-rich wild habitats are fast disappearing. Conservation cannot keep up.
Can biofuels make a comeback? To be sure, biofuels have been around a long time--almost a century. At the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, a clever engineer named Rudolf Diesel demonstrated his namesake engine with peanut oil.
The rest, they say, is history.)But in the age of cheap petroleum, biofuels could never really overtake gasoline as the fuel of choice.
And now, the popularity of solar and wind power suggest that the entire discussion is moot.
The CEO of Silicon valley startup Cobalt Technologies says ethanol fuel has given biofuels a bad rap
We are emerging to be one of the successes. The original concept was that we really need a better biofuel than ethanol.
So we're using cellulosic biomass waste streams--corn cobs, treetops and limbs, dead pine trees from pine beetles.
How did you convince them that biofuels could be done? RW: You put a slide pack together
You're keen on biofuels; that much is clear. What's the potential market? RW: It's huge.
Nobody's been successful in the biofuels business because it's really hard. From a volume perspective, the fuels market is much better than the chemicals market.
IBM and the U s. Department of agriculture said Wednesday that they are making the cacao genome sequence publicly available.
Data from the cacao genome will be available at the Cacao Genome Database without a patent.
Mars has a vested interest in the cacao genome given that it needs it for chocolate.
The cacao genome project was delivered three years early. In a statement, Mars said:(The project) marks a significant scientific milestone that is already starting to benefit millions of farmers,
and IBM supplied the computing power with its Blue Gene supercomputer. Meanwhile the USDA-ARS Subtropical Horticulture Research Station in Miami and researchers from UC Davis, Clemson, Indiana University, the Hudsonalpha Institute for Biotechnology and Washington state University participated.
From here, the group will analyze and characterize the cocoa genome for peer-reviewed publications
Coke vs. Pepsi: Beverage giants offer water footprint insightsin conjunction with last week's worldwide push to champion sustainable water consumption practices, Pepsico and the Coca-cola Company have published extensive
reports that detail their specific business practices around championing clean water. The Pepsico one, entitled Water Stewardship:
the plants absorb the gas during photosynthesis. Biomass will be utilized in the future, Lynn noted. The underlying building receives the added benefit of a 20 percent energy cost reduction,
Her company is Marrone Bio Innovations, and its focus is on using microorganisms and plants to control pests
A new drop in biofuel replacement for gasoline, backed by BP and Dupont, is set to begin commercial production in 2014.
Biofuels and renewables can play a bigger role in terms of contribution towards the fuel supply in the USA, which at the moment,
Today, it announced that a new biofuel refinery has joined its early adopters program. The program has a total capacity of 900 million gallons per year,
Ethanol subsidies skate past budget battle Dupont's big bioscience bets Next-gen biofuel in 2012:
another mandate missed USDA bets (again) on advanced biofuels BP, Shell score high on biofuel assessment Fuel to Byrne Cleanstar's plan to use ethanol to clean up cooking
Could cities rely 100%on urban agriculture for their food? While urban agriculture has gained in popularity throughout U s. cities,
a website dedicated to crowdfunding rewards for the first person who can break into Apple's biometric fingerprint scanning technology.
--and that biometric technology has moved on in recent years. Depetrillo said: Basically people criticized the Touchid sensor as being insecure,
U k. trade union rebels against biometric employee scanning Could Silentsense rival Apple s iphone 5s fingerprint scanner?
Decoding the killer blight behind The irish potato faminean international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious blight that caused The irish potato famine in the 1840s.
reveals that the organism's unusually large genome size more than twice that of closely related species
and extraordinary genome structure enable the rapid evolution of genes. That ability helps the pathogen to outsmart its plant hosts.
co-director of the Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in a statement.
We now have a comprehensive view of its genome, revealing the unusual properties that drive its remarkable adaptability.
The team's findings suggest that different parts of the genome are evolving at different rates.
first decoded the P. infestans genome and compared its sequence to the genomes of two relatives:
P. sojae, which infects soybeans, and P. ramorum, which causes a condition known as sudden oak death.
The researchers found a large amount of repetitive DNA in the massive genome. The findings reveal the pathogen's unusual strategy to support the rapid evolution of critical genes, known as effector genes,
that can disrupt plants'normal physiology, enabling it to establish a foothold. On the other hand, some effector genes can also trigger plants'immune responses--making them prime targets for combating P. infestans infection.
Co-lead author Brian Haas of the Broad Institute explains: The repeat-rich regions change rapidly over time,
and death of genes that are key to plant infection. As a result, these critical genes may be gained
and lost so rapidly that the hosts simply can't keep up. Further study should yield a deeper understanding of plant infection
bioswales are incorporated along the street edges throughout the ground plane. The bioswales also act as a rainwater filtration system retaining excess water for irrigation of the gardens and parks within the development...
In case of excessive storm water, green roofs are designed to mitigate the runoff and assist water and air purification...
Right now, the enzyme used to treat it can only be made by culturing mammalian cells â oe they're the only ones capable of performing the biochemical tweaks required to make the enzyme function.
Canada, turned to transgenic, greenhouse-grown maize. Actually, they tricked the maize into making certain modifications.
The team tweaked the protein-producing genes, not to alter the sequence of the human protein,
I. Other plants are already being used to make biopharmaceuticals. In May, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first ever drug produced in a genetically engineered plant cell:
it will have the capacity to generate 30 million gallons annually of cellulosic biofuel produced from corn stover residues,
Dupont's big bioscience bets: butanol, cellulosic ethanol, omega-3 acidsnew YORK--Dupont wants to help raiseã Â sustainably-farmed salmon by offering them a diet loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that it manufactures from soybeans.
Binetti, theã Â president of Dupont's Nutrition & Health and Applied Biosciences divisions, says he sees large potential market opportunities for his group that will lead to 7 percent annual growth
The Applied Biosciences division, which counts $1 billion in revenue, is comprised of two primary businesses:
à  biomaterials, which includes the company's Bio-PDFO, Sorona, Omega-3, biosurfaces and biomedical products;
and biofuels, which includesã Â cellulosic ethanol and biobutanol. BIOTECHNOLOGY The biomaterials group expects to see an estimated $1 billion in revenue by 2015.
Currently, it stands at $200 million. Through the downturn, our businesses grew significantly, he said.
Highlights included: One of the world's largest aerobic facilities, a 100million-lb plant in Loudon, Tenn.
We have a unique capability to have both science in advanced materials as well as biotechnology, Binetti said.
Our goal is to be aã Â powerhouse in industrial biotechnology. BIOFUELS On the biofuels side, Dupont is working simultaneously on cellulosic ethanol--for
which it has opened a demonstration plant--and biobutanol, for which it has a demonstration plant under construction.
To begin, Binetti offered a look at the global biofuels market. A quick summary of his points:
Biofuels are growing rapidly thanks to a large service economy. 2010 was a $50 billion marke. 2015 prediction:
The projected outlook for biofuels as a whole: Ã Â $100 to 200 million in pretax earnings by 2015,
when that rapid growth in biofuels takes place in the next decade. Photo: Anthony Masterson/Getty More from the 2011 Jefferies cleantech conference:
You can think of it as being biocompatible with our planet. But if this material gets put in your garden or on the side of the road,
It s getting broken into biocompatible stuff. It ll help improve the soil in your area.
In January we are going to be announcing an oil collection service to work with a local producer of biofuels, DC Biofuels.
if organic fertilizers and biofertilizers could enhance the growth of the Santa rosa plum. In nearby Guadalentin, researchers and farmers are collaborating to develop new types of cut flowers--gerbers
We re developing a bio-herbicide to kill weeds that would replace the chemical herbicides.
RNA molecules that kill parasites by disrupting the way their genes are expressed, Technology Review explains.
and bio-based waste and convert it into electricity for the coffee industry, Deputy Associate Director for Research Chris Zygarlicke said in the statement this week.
or it will be converted to biofuels or chemicals. The pilot-scale tests will determine the quality of syngas that can be produced from the Green Mountain waste.
White Castle vs biofuelstaking a bite out of biofuels. White Castle and other chains say that corn-based biofuels are driving up food prices.
--U s. chain restaurants and a group of congressmen are launching an assault against biofuels on the grounds that fuel produced from crops like corn are pushing up food prices.
At a press conference on Capitol hill this Thursday, the president of burger chain White Castle will join the owner of a Wendy's franchise and other meat movers to demand theã Â repeal of the federal Renewable
Bamboo is the next wonder material Friends of Earth rain on Lufthansa biofuels parade Biofuels fly mainstream:
Lufthansa passenger flights taking off Airbus and Europe map jet biofuel goal Will the real biofuel Lindbergh please stand up?
The Lindbergh of aviation biofuels
Food of the future: can'Frankenfish'survive politics? Sometime this summer or soon after, the federal Food and Drug Administration may finally approve the first-ever genetically modified animal for human consumption--a fast-growing Atlantic salmon that has taken 17 years to reach the threshold of American consensus. The man to thank
--or blame, depending on how you feel about these things--is a former Soviet biologist who is bankrolling the endeavor with an eye on becoming a U s. salmon farmer.
a Boston-area biotech company that wants to bring its genetically altered Aquadvantage Salmon to American dinner tables and supermarkets.
or it risks America losing its biotechnology edge to countries like China. More than 33,000 fishermen, environmentalists and food safety advocates have written to the FDA to oppose the approval.
when his investment fund sold its shares to Intrexon, a Maryland-based biotech firm. He has retained the lucrative R&d unit, its staff and the lease on its labs. Despite its small size,
Aquabounty is the only animal biotechnology company in the United states trying to gain approval for a gene-altered animal to enter the human food chain.
But it has dozens of biotech behemoths supporting it and cheering it on from the sidelines.
as well as biotech executives and shareholders, worry that if the United states can't approve a gene-altered animal for consumption,
U s. industries will lose out to nations that will. The FDA delays are a major challenge to business,
says Dr. Helen Sang, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who has studied the issues on both sides of the Atlantic.
has said one factor in moving the study was that it took the FDA a decade just to decide how to regulate bioengineered food and dairy animals.
a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from an eellike fish, called an ocean pout,
that trips this gorge-and-grow gene. It matures twice as fast as Atlantic salmon, can grow year round,
Producing this transgenic fish indeed sounds freakish. In addition to gene splicing, Aquabounty produces only what are known as triploid eggs,
an abnormality in the chromosomes that stop female fish from reproducing. plans to sterilize embryos in Canada before shipping them to Panama,
where scientists would expose males to estrogen to be reversed sex. Bendukidze, 57, whose San diego lab scientists are genetically engineering zebra fish to try out other alterations in commercial seafood,
who started his career as a molecular biologist before becoming the economics minister of the Republic of Georgia and finally a biotech entrepreneur.
Little wonder that the biotech companies are worried. A June ABC News poll found that 52 percent of the respondents felt GMO food was unsafe to eat
and slightly more said theyã¢â â¢d be less likely to buy foods labeled as genetically modified or bioengineered.
Spent grease is turning into biofuel. Excess food is donated now to shelters and soup kitchens. Used food is diverted to feedstock.
The effort has stimulated also a micro-economy of biofuel makers, compost haulers, urban farmers and recycling outfits.
and by changing policy incentives, the nation's agricultural system would be equipped better to deal with several environmental impacts such as climate change, biodiversity loss and resource issues.
and of a growing global population and of contributing to U s. biofuel production, under the constraints of rising production costs,
Forest biofuel increases emissions, study saysthe biofuel industry has been seeing the forest for its cellulose,
In the Pacific Northwest, forest biofuel has been touted as a potential job creator, a means for achieving renewable energy targets,
this biomass even if just the woody scraps on the forest floor is the wrong way to go.
the researchers find that producing biofuel from forests would release 14 percent more greenhouse emissions than proceeding with current management practices.
Harvesting the biomass for just fire prevention would result in a 2 percent increase. Lead author Tara Hudiburg of Oregon State university says in a statement:
Most people assume that wood bioenergy will be carbon-neutral, because the forest re-grows and there's also the chance of protecting forests from carbon emissions due to wildfire.
and fallen branches might also affect soil health, biodiversity and wildlife habitat. The study, conducted over four years, covers 80 forest types within 19 different eco-regions,
however, the biomass could still be better than burning fossil fuels. In the study, bioenergy production did result in fewer emissions in one scenario:
when a forest faces the double whammy of standing in a high fire-risk zone and being weakened by drought or insect infestations,
Just last month, the USDA granted a total of $80 million to University of Washington and Washington state University for next-gen biofuel research.
Salvaging biofuel from West's pine beetle devastation Could biodiesel be worse for the environment than diesel?
How do you solve a problem like next-gen biofuels? Image: Flickr susan liepa, Flickr a75
Former NASA, Apple engineers unveil $11, 000 coffee makerah...what great lengths we wouldn't go through for the perfect cup of joe.
Friends of Earth rains on Lufthansa biofuel paradefriends of the Earth today condemned Lufthansa s use of biofuels on commercial flights as greenwashing that makes an environmentally destructive practice appear eco-friendly.
Lufthansa is painting itself green with biofuels ââ oe but these flights are anything
but environmentally friendly, said Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. Biofuels exacerbate poverty and hunger,
drive land grabbing and deforestation, push up food prices, and make climate change worse. He issued his statement prior to the scheduled 11:15 a m. take off of Lufthansa flight LH013 from Hamburg-to-Frankfurt.
The 244-mile trip marked the first ever use of jet biofuels on a regular commercial service.
and Paris using biofuels in September. Yesterday, Finnair announced that it plans to test biofuels on at least 3 passenger flights between Helsinki and Amsterdam.
Airlines say biofuels can shrink the industry s carbon footprint because they do not emit CO2 the way conventional hydrocarbon jet fuels ââ oetypically kerosene-do.
Lufthansa says the 1200 flights will save 1500 tons o CO2. But Foe points out that jet biofuels can actually increase carbon emissions
if planters of feedstocks like palm, jatropha and camelina eradicate forests and grasslands, thus releasing the CO2 stored in those natural sinks.
Scientific studies consistently show that most of the currently used biofuels are worse for the climate than fossil fuels, a Foe position paper states.
and producing biofuels. Plowing, fertilizing and harvesting emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases, it points out.
and other NGOS found that EU road biofuels are between 81%and 167%worse for the climate than the equivalent fossil fuels,
Biofuel plantations can also decimate biodiversity, and rob people of food and water as companies use land for biofuel feedstocks rather than for food crops,
it notes. Last month ten international organisations, including the World bank, WTO, UN and OECD called on G20 governments to scrap biofuel subsidies and mandates because of their impact on world poverty and food prices,
Foe said today. With partial funding from the German government, Lufthansa has purchased 800 tons of blend from Finland s Neste Oil for the 6-month, â 6. 6 million biofuel program.
Neste says the blend consists 80%of camelina 15%of jatropha and 5%of animal fat and as such is environmentally responsible.
Biofuel proponents say they can grow with relatively little water and in some cases on poor soil that would not sustain food crops.
Foe biofuel campaigner Kenneth Richter added that airlines overstate the environmental friendliness of jatropha. Although the crop can grow on degraded soil
By one estimate, jatropha would use up the equivalent of 35%of Germany s arable land to meet Lufthansa s 2025 biofuel target, Foe noted.
The controversy surrounding biofuel land use could settle down if researchers find more land-friendly sources. One such possible hope is algae.
Biofuels fly mainstream: Lufthansa passenger flights taking off Airbus and Europe map jet biofuel goal Will the real biofuel Lindbergh please stand up
Fruit-bat colony forces architects to change building designa v-shaped walkway was designed around the trees housing rare bats HONG KONG
delivering the news like an unexpected pregnancy test the crop developed genes that are resistant Monsanto's Roundup or Bayer's Liberty Link herbicide.
This is the first time a biotech crop has been found flourishing in the wild. In farms genetically modified canola plants are grown,
However, when the GM CROPS persist in the wild and can not be killed by herbicides, it becomes a weed.
and the plants contained at least one transgene. Canola was detected in nearly 50 percent of the locations.
but some argue that it's impossible to stop gene pollution from happening. In fact, canola can mate'with 40 different weed species around the world.
But a gene found in an ancient plant, a fern, might lead to solutions to sponge the toxin from contaminated areas.
published in the journal Plant Cell, might eventually improve cleanup strategies, via genetic modification. They've isolated the gene (ACR3) that codes for a membrane protein within the ferns'vacuoles.
A second copy of ACR3 allows the ladder brake fern to safely transport arsenic from its roots to its fronds,
Potentially you could take these genes and put them in any organism that could suck the arsenic out of the Soil banks said.
Salt said rice plants could be modified with the gene to store arsenic in the roots of plants-instead of rice grains-in contaminated paddies.
and other ferns already have a single copy of the gene. Flowering species (from more recent branches of plant evolution) appear not to have ACR3 at all.
The researchers'next move will be to inject ACR3 into the genome of a flowering plant, thale cress (Arabidopsis),
Green algae, the photosynthetic organism used as a biofuel, has now been put to use as sustainable bioplastic.
Sustainable plastic manufacturer Cereplast announced that it can turn algae into a sustainable bioplastic resin,
to be put to use in water bottles, plasticware and other applications. The company, which already manufactures plastic from corn, potatoes,
In this case, the algae serves as a biopolymer on the opposite end of the manufacturing pipeline--instead of reducing pollution from the creation of traditional plastic,
as well as recent commitments by major players in the algae field, we believe that algae has the potential to become one of the most important green feedstocks for biofuels,
as well as bioplastics, said Frederic Scheer, founder and CEO of Cereplast, in a statement. However, for our algae-based resins to be successful,
Cereplast's algae-based bioplastic is still under development, but the company expects to make commercial algae bioplastic resin available by the end of next year.
If a major company were to adopt the new material --which hopefully is at a cost that is competitive with traditional materials--you might find your beverages delivered in green,
which is made partially of  corn-based bioplastic. More stories about algae and alternative fuels on Smartplanet:
if pesticides or viruses or something else is the cause for the colony decline. Even if you don't like honey,
and a mix of a parasite and a virus. Montana's ecologist Colin Henderson said to the Washington post:
but in Hong kong, a frightening outbreak of the SARS virus 10 years ago awakened an interest in living more healthfully.
How do you solve a problem like next-gen biofuels? Next-generation biofuels are viewed often as a transportation fuel panacea.
A magic elixir that will wean the U s. off of foreign oil without sending the economy into the dark ages.
Advocates have promised next-gen biofuels will reduce greenhouse emissions and end the use of food crops for fuel.
but said it's unlikely the U s. will be able to meet its own biofuel production mandates.
In other words, when it comes to solving a problem like next-gen biofuels it might be easier to catch a cloud and pin it down.
said it's unlikely the U s. will meet specific biofuel mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard by 2022
 Of that, 15 billion gallons must be conventional biofuels--aka corn-based ethanol --and 16 billion gallons must be produced cellulosic biofuels from wood,
grasses or non-edible plant parts including corn stalks and wheat straw. The remaining amount includes 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel fuel
and four billion gallons of advanced renewable biofuels other than ethanol from cornstarch and that achieve a lifecycle threshold of at least 50 percent.
The NRC expects the U s. to meet conventional biofuel and biomass-based diesel fuel production mandates.
The problem lies with advanced and cellulosic biofuels. Not a single commercially viable biorefinery exists for converting cellulosic biomass to fuel,
the NRC said. As I recently noted, next-gen biofuels have struggled in part because the process of breaking down plant biomass
and converting it into fermentable sugars so it can be refined into fuel is too expensive to be commercially viable.
In other words, it can t compete against corn-based ethanol prices or gasoline, for that matter. It's why so much research centers on finding a technological breakthrough that will make biofuels cheaper to make.
 And why the federal government has shelled out millions of dollars in loan guarantees, loans and grants all aimed
either driving down the cost of cellulosic biofuels and/or increasing production. The NRC notes other difficulties with cellulosic biofuels including its reliance on subsidies to compete with fossil fuels
and the need to use more farmland to produce feedstocks like switchgrass and corn stovers.
The NRC warned the increased production of advanced biofuels could inadvertently push up food prices by competing with food crops for land.
Ironically, this is one problem cellulosic biofuels were supposed to solve. The solution The NRC report doesn't offer up any innovative solutions.
It suggests carrying out research and development to improve feedstock yield and increasing the conversion yield from biomass to fuels--something that's already happening,
albeit more at a more limited scale than is perhaps necessary. It does, however, lay out what would tip cellulosic ethanol into a cost-competitive zone:
Scientists find fungi that could give next-gen biofuels a boost
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