Thanks to the UPS Foundation, all services provided by the Environmental Internship Clearinghouse are 100% free.

Looking for a summer internship? Visit http://environmentalinterns.org to look through over 100 internships (and counting!) already uploaded to the platform. You can apply directly through the clearinghouse portal.

Need a talented, passionate and energetic intern? You can post internship opportunities today at http://environmentalinterns.org!

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the scientific basis for environmental decision-making by bridging the gap between science and policy to catalyze solutions.  The Council connects diverse communities and links scientific knowledge to the decision-making process.  For more information on NCSE, please visit  www.ncseonline.org.    READ MORE and MORE

…Yesterday, Senators Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Richard Lugar of Indiana led the way in carrying an amendment that put the mandatory funding into the bill. According the Advanced Biofuels Association president Michael McAdams, they were part of a broad, bipartisan coalition that has come together to support biofuels and the Farm Bill, including Republican Senators Grassley of Iowa, Thune of South Dakota, Cochran of Mississippi and Hoeven of North Dakota, and Democratic Senators Harkin of Iowa, Klobuchar of Minnesota, Casey of Pennsylvania, Brown of Ohio, Bennet of Colorado, and Stabenow of Michigan.

…In other Capitol Hill news, the Department of Energy is now receiving Senate approval to move $100 million in previously authorized funding to support its advanced biofuels partnership with the US Navy, and the US Department of Agriculture, which pledged $510 million last year under the Defense Production Act to invest directly in commercial-scale biofuels facilities to assure a supply of military biofuels at affordable prices.

…There is still considerable doubt as to whether a Farm Bill will proceed forward, during the 2012 election season. Reportedly, Senate Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow is working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule time for the Farm Bill before the July 4th recess.  READ MORE and MORE (Governors’ Biofuels Coalition) and MORE (Senator Richard Lugar)    Download Lugar/Conrad amendment

**Now accepting applications for our 2012 Summer Institute and RET Program!  Read below for details.**

Research Experience for Teachers (RET) (UW): Accepting Applications!
The RET allows teachers to spend six weeks on campus in the summer (July 9-Aug. 18) to develop a classroom lab or activity related to bioenergy.  Participants work with their mentor scientist to conduct bioenergy research and then collaborate with the mentor and the E&O staff to create a related activity to be used in a school setting.  Read about previous RET participant experiences in the following article: A Summer in the Lab.

Bioenergy Institute for Educators (UW): Accepting Applications!
In this one-week Institute (Aug. 13-18), teams of educators explore core areas of GLBRC research, get hands-on experience with our education materials, and delve into the development of inquiry-based classroom activities. The Summer Institute is trageted primarily toward grades 6-12 educators and features numerous field trips, workshops and labs. Check out this article about the 2012 institute:Building Bioenergy Savvy Educators.

We are now accepting applications for our 2012 Summer Institute.  Online application available here.

Integrated Biological Sciences Summer Research Program (IBS-SRP) (UW):

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) will direct an undergraduate program at UW-Madison during the summer of 2012. This program is part of the IBS-SRP (Integrated Biological Sciences – Summer Research Program) which provides students an opportunity to conduct research as well as interact with peers in an interdisciplinary learning community. Participating undergraduate students will spend ten weeks conducting full-time research. Example study areas include microbial conversion of biomass to biofuels, genomics, enzymology, protein structure, molecular biology, plant breeding, and ecological analysis.
Article: A Summer in the Lab

Kellogg Biological Station Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (MSU): 

The Sustainability Thrust of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) will offer a summer undergraduate research program at the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), Michigan State University, focusing on the sustainability of biofuels. In addition to working with a mentor on an individual research project, students will participate in weekly discussions focusing on environmental, ecological, and economic implications of alternative biofuel practices. Students also will meet researchers working on different aspects of biofuel production, from engineering systems to molecular biology, and take field trips to production facilities. Students will present their research finding in a community-wide poster session at the end of the program.

Summer Research Experience in Bioenergy (MSU):
The ten week programis designed to give students experience in the theory and practice of bioenergy in the areas of biology, chemistry, chemical engineering and computational sciences. It includes a variety of projects and participating laboratories and will collaborate with the field-oriented KBS summer research experience (described above) for common experiences. While the main emphasis is on gaining laboratory experience, the ten week program includes informal lectures from faculty and social activities. For more information please contact Professor Jonathan Walton (walton@msu.edu).

Introductory College Sustainable Biofuels Course (UW):

“Bioenergy: Sustainability Opportunities and Challenges” (UW-Madison Agronomy 375, Fall 2010) is a three-credit undergraduate course that explores a wide range of interdisciplinary issues associated with bioenergy. There is a strong focus on systems perspectives and understanding the complexities that are involved and so typical for modern scientific and technological challenges. The potential for future biofuels to be a renewable energy source and to mitigate global climate change is highlighted. This course is a part of the UW-Madison FIG program (First-Year Interest Group, http://figs.wisc.edu/), and all the students also take 1st semester General Chemistry and Environmental Studies: People and Resources.  READ MORE

…The infographic cites data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other reliable third-parties and depicts noteworthy ethanol accomplishments since enactment of the RFS, including helping reduce oil imports and replace the need for 485 million barrels of imported oil, how U.S. ethanol production is greater than the gasoline which could be produced from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bakken Shale Oil Formation, and proposed Keystone XL pipeline combined, and how ethanol helps save consumers money.  READ MORE  Download graphic/charts

The ABO Blog will be offering perspectives and updates on algae industry news in all of the different markets we expect to impact: food, fuel, chemicals and more.

You will also find information on events, policy developments and R&D opportunities, such as today’s post about a Department of Defense notice for an advanced drop-in biofuels production project.

To provide context for many of these developments, the blog will offer views from ABO’s executive director and staff, board members, and industry representatives.

The blog will be another vital communication tool for the industry, complimenting the recently launched algae education website–All About Algae, jointly developed by ABO and the National Biodiesel Board.  READ MORE and MORE

This session is not intended to offer government insight, nor answer direct questions and receive comments on the DPA Title III Advanced Drop-In Biofuels Production Project. Questions related to the Special Notices or the pending Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) cannot be answered at this roundtable. All comments concerning the Special Notices on the pending BAA should be sent toTitleIIIBiofuels@wpafb.af.mil.

The meeting will be held on Friday, May 18, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The meeting will be held at USDA Jefferson Auditorium, USDA South Building, 14th and Independence, Washington, DC 20250.

The purpose of the roundtable meeting is for the federal government to present further details on the partnership between the DoN, DoE, and USDA to construct or retrofit multiple commercial scale advanced biorefineries. Additional general information will be provided regarding the DPA Title III, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and DoN’s requirements for fuels.Show citation box

There is no cost; however, all attendees must register before May 11, 2012, for this Industry Roundtable via email reg.adibir@Gmail.comwith all of the following required information:Show citation box

Name and Title:

Corporate Affiliation:

Address:

Phone number:

Email:

Web site:

Position on the Biofuels Production Value Chain: (feedstock provider, bio-refiner, finished products distributor, integrated effort, subject matter expert, financier, etc.)

Information and details concerning this Industry Roundtable (including maps and draft agenda) will be forwarded to those registered later.

Among the 17 discrete areas to be covered are bioenergy, renewable fuels and energy, bio-based chemicals and renewable chemical process technology, polymeric materials, and novel catalytic process technology, which includes biocatalysts.  READ MORE  and MORE (National Science Foundation)

From National Science Foundation:

BIOLOGICAL, BIOMEDICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGIES

Proposals should address one of the subtopics that are outlined below. When submitting a proposal to the BC Topic, please provide the appropriate subtopic code, e.g., BT1, for proposals in the area of “Biosensors“. In addition, use the code as the first item in the key words/phrases portion of the Project Summary of your proposal.

Please note: Development of new nanomaterials for biological and medical applications should refer to the NM topic and sensors for environmental and health applications should refer to the EI topic.

Biological Technologies

BT1 – Biosensors: Biosensors are sensors that contain a biologically-based sensing element. Proposed projects might include but are not limited to real-time sensors, microbial component-based sensors, sensors for monitoring fluxes of metabolites, nanobiotechnology-based sensors, biomedical sensors, micro- or nanofluidic-based sensors, and disease and toxin monitoring. Other types of sensors should refer to the EI topic.(Cognizant Program Officer: Jesus Soriano; jsoriano@nsf.gov)

BT2 – Life Sciences Research Tools:  Developing novel technologies that will advance scientific research across the biological spectrum. This may include enabling technologies for drug discovery (high-throughput screening assays and platforms, and high-content screening assays and platforms; novel high-content screening technologies based on characterization of physical properties of cells are of high interest). Proposals should focus primarily on the development of innovative consumables, processes, and services where there is significant market opportunity. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman; rshuman@nsf.gov)

BT3 – Bioinstrumentation: The development of technology for novel or improved instrumentation primarily for biological research applications. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman; (rshuman@nsf.gov) and Juan Figueroa; (jfiguero@nsf.gov)

BT4 – Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering: Using synthetic biology to engineer novel biologically-based (or inspired) functions that do not exist in nature. This approach may be applied at all levels of the hierarchy of biological structures – from individual molecules to whole cells, tissues, and organisms. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman; rshuman@nsf.gov)

BT5 – Fermentation and Cell Culture Technologies: Proposed projects might include but are not limited to novel or improved microbial fermentation or mammalian and plant cell culture technologies, bioreactors, processes, scale-up, development of expression platforms, and purification. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman;rshuman@nsf.gov)

BT6 – Computational Biology and Bioinformatics: Developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., pattern recognition data mining, machine learning algorithms, and visualization) and may include but are not limited to sequence alignment, gene finding, genome assembly, drug design, drug discovery, protein structure alignment, protein structure prediction, prediction of gene expression and protein-protein interactions, genome-wide association studies and the modeling of evolution. Proposed projects might include the creation and advancement of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques and theory to solve problems arising from the management and analysis of biological data.(Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman; rshuman@nsf.gov)

Biomedical Technologies

BM1 – Materials for Biomedical Applications: Proposed projects might include but are not limited to biomaterials, bio-mimetic and bio-inspired materials, improved implants, bio-device coatings and anti-microbial coatings. Development of new nanomaterials should refer to the NM topic. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman;rshuman@nsf.gov)

BM2 – Diagnostic Assays and Platforms: Proposed projects should focus on transformational diagnostic technologies. Proposed projects might include but are not limited to non- or minimally-invasive disease diagnosis, detection, and monitoring, biomarker development, disease-specific assays, and point-of-care testing for diseases. (Cognizant Program Officer: Ruth Shuman; rshuman@nsf.gov)

BM3 – Drug Delivery: Proposed projects might include but are not limited to improved drug delivery formulations and devices, biological delivery through implanted tissues. Development of new nanomaterials for drug delivery should refer to the NM topic. (Cognizant Program Officer: Jesus Soriano; jsoriano@nsf.gov)

BM4 – Tissue Engineering and Repair: Using innovative approaches to meet research challenges and market opportunities in tissue engineering and repair. Proposed projects might include but are not limited to artificial tissues, artificial blood vessels, small caliber grafts for small vessel replacement, disease specific tissue engineering, stem cell based therapies, and orthopedic implants. (Cognizant Program Officer: Jesus Soriano; jsoriano@nsf.gov)

BM5 – Biomedical Engineering: Using engineering approaches to solve problems in medicine.  Proposals should focus on the early-stage development of therapeutic devices.  Proposers are encouraged to form an interdisciplinary team that includes relevant engineering as well as biology/health related expertise. (Cognizant Program Officer: Jesus Soriano; jsoriano@nsf.gov)

BM6 - Medical Imaging Technologies Proposed projects might include but are not limited to novel or improved imaging techniques for localization and diagnosis of infectious events, imaging technologies for the detection and localization of cancer, detection and/or imaging agents. (Cognizant Program Officer: Jesus Soriano;jsoriano@nsf.gov)

Environmental Technologies

ET1 – Environmental Pollution Mitigation and Waste Treatment: Such applications include microbial contamination sensing and control, removal of toxic compounds for human and animal safety, novel bioremediation technologies, water treatment (municipal wastewater and drinking water), air pollution mitigation to remove gaseous pollutants and particulates, pathogen and toxin diagnostics and energy efficient novel municipal and industrial waste recycle and reuse technologies. In addition, methods to reduce the use of chemical pesticides, and approaches that develop biodegradable replacements for existing non-biodegradable pesticides sensors for environmental monitoring should refer to the EI topic. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

ET2 – Bioenergy: Proposed projects might include novel approaches to biomass conversion to energy; novel methods to generate energy from marine, plant, algal, and microbial bio-energy sources; microbial fuel cells; hydrogen production; and methods for distributed bio-energy production. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan;pbalan@nsf.gov)

ET3 – Renewable Fuels and Energy: Proposed projects might include development of commercially viable renewable fuel options, but are not limited to drop-in replacements to petroleum-based transportation fuels that also reduce SOx, NOx, particulate, and/or other emissions that have a negative environmental impact.   For instance, projects might address bio-fuels and the development of low cost raw materials that make this technology cost competitive with petroleum derived fuels. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

Chemical Technologies

CT1 – Energy Storage, Management and Use: Proposed projects might include technology for direct conversion, storage and use of renewable sources of energy for applications ranging from small scale portable energy to grid scale energy applications including, but not limited to, fuel cell technologies. The proposed technology should present a significant improvement in energy utilization efficiency and environmental impact when compared to current commercial options. Novel industrial process technology, heat transfer technology, process equipment, process modeling and control schemes that leads to significant enhancements in energy efficiency and energy use minimization. This topic specifically excludes photovoltaics; see the NM topic. Biofuel proposals should be submitted to the ET4 subtopic above. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

CT2 – Bio-Based Chemicals and Renewable Chemical Process Technology:Novel chemical and biochemical processes built on sustainable, energy efficient and waste minimization or waste elimination paradigms, including, but not limited to, lignin, cellulose and renewable feedstocks; integrated bio-refinery innovations to produce bio-based chemicals as direct and sustainable alternatives to chemicals derived from non renewable sources; new or novel green chemistry processes; processes that facilitate energy efficient recycling and chemicals recovery for reuse from waste consumer and industrial products that would result in waste minimization and reduced environmental pollution. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

CT3 – Separation Technologies: Separation technologies and materials that enable ease in phase separations, reduce or eliminate the amount of waste generated and energy required, and promote a sustainable environment with substantial improvements in energy efficiency and separation efficiency with applications such as, but not limited to, separations for multicomponent liquid and gas streams, fuels, critical and strategic metals and minerals extraction, recycle and recovery by separation of higher value materials from waste, alternative energy efficient and novel separation techniques as disruptive improvements to current established separation technologies, including but not limited to organic/inorganic membranes, porous media and nano structured materials in applications related to drinking water, waste water treatment, medical applications, industrial chemicals, and microelectronics applications to name a few. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

CT4 – Polymeric Materials: Limited to novel polymeric materials designed to replace current materials that are produced in a non-sustainable manner, have hazardous by-products and/or, are not biodegradable. Examples include, but are not limited to, novel polymeric materials from recycled materials, polymers from a biomass based feed stock, bioengineered plastics and biochemically produced polymers and precursors that lead to biodegradable polymers. This topic specifically excludes structural composite materials; refer to the NM topic. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan;pbalan@nsf.gov)

CT5 – Novel Catalytic Process Technology: Catalytically (including biocatalytic approaches) produce commodity and specialty chemicals from renewable sources with substantially improved energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact compared to current approaches. Examples are systems with novel homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts and biocatalysts, co-catalysts, promoters, and/or supports that are highly active and selective; enabling simplification of complex multistep chemistries into fewer steps and ideally a single step with byproduct elimination and substantial reductions in energy costs and capital equipment costs. (Cognizant Program Officer: Prakash Balan; pbalan@nsf.gov)

The pioneering investigation used remote sensing data from satellites to identify detailed areas of the Greater Platte River Basin (most of Nebraska, parts of adjacent states) that are best suited for producing cellulosic (from the cell walls of plants) biofuel derived from hardy switchgrass, a native plant that grows wild or is easily cultivated.

“This innovative scientific study takes some of the guesswork out of deciding whether it could be feasible to raise a potentially high value crop for biofuels on America’s grasslands,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Using non-food crops for fuel grown on land not now under cultivation is a low-impact step towards America’s energy independence.”

The maps of areas with high biofuel production potential were produced by combining satellite-derived vegetation data with weather data, soil types, terrain, and other physical data. An analytical method developed by the authors helps separate the influence of long-term year-to-year weather changes (e.g. drought) from short-term disturbance changes (e.g. fire or overgrazing) in order to identify suitable areas more accurately. The maps can be used to optimize land use decisions for biofuel development and sustainability.

Demand for biofuel products is expected to increase as the world seeks alternatives to fossil fuels. Critical considerations concerning the broader production of biofuels include issues of how much energy we get from the biofuel compared to the amount of energy required to grow and process it; its environmental impact; and the effect of biofuel production on prices of human food,  livestock feed, and agricultural land.

Cellulosic-based production of biofuel uses the inedible structural material of plants which can be supplied from sources such as grasses (commonly switchgrass and miscanthus), woody biomass, and agricultural and municipal wastes.

Currently, ethanol produced from corn is the most common biofuel product in the United States. The negative environmental effects resulting from corn-based biofuel development often include soil erosion, water quality impairment from pesticides and fertilizer, and demand for irrigation water.

Deep-rooted switchgrass, one of the dominant plant species of the central North American tallgrass prairie, helps limit soil erosion and can be grown on land considered unsuitable for row crop production (including corn) as well as in sandy and gravelly soils that typically produce low yields of conventional farm crops.

As solutions to the technical challenges of producing cellulosic-based biofuel efficiently begin to move this energy source toward a competitive market position, demand for cellulosic feedstocks such as switchgrass is expected to increase.

The study was published in the January 2012 issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy.     READ MORE   Abstract

One segment that could change all that is cellulosic ethanol production. Both Urbanchuk and Swenson predict little significant growth in the ethanol industry until cellulosic facilities begin to come online. Urbanchuk believes any future growth in ethanol will be through the use of non-corn feedstocks. Swenson is keeping a close eye on the small number of cellulosic facilities that are expected to begin operating in Iowa in the next few years, and says their commercialization will spur substantial activity in the feedstock chain, which can be factored into future analyses. He’s willing to acknowledge cellulosic ethanol’s impact on farming economics, because whereas corn has other uses and would probably still be grown and sold by farmers, cellulosic ethanol producers are creating a market for cellulosic feedstocks, he says. Corn stover, for example, will become a new commodity with its own inputs and requirements, he says, allowing him to factor in things like increased farm productivity as a result of ethanol’s demand for the product.

Of course it will be a couple of years before anyone expects the cellulosic ethanol industry to be a factor in any state’s GDP. And while corn ethanol’s contribution is not expected to grow significantly this year, there is a chance that it could decline. By mid-February, several producers were beginning to respond to dismal crush margins by reducing ethanol output. Predicting a year’s worth of crush margins is not unlike attempting to predict a year’s worth of weather conditions, but Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, offered a word of caution for the industry’s 2012 outlook. “If the current crush margins were to continue for the next several months, you could see plants come offline and actually have production go down for the first time since the mid-′90s,” he says.  READ MORE

…Targeted toward value-added agriculture, AgMRC is a virtual library that provides facts and figures on commodities, markets, business development and more. AgMRC, which is partially funded by USDA, is based out of Iowa State University. It started out as a collaboration of ISU, the University of California and Kansas State University but as it has evolved, other universities have provided data as well, Hofstrand says. The information compiled in abundant articles, spreadsheets, charts and graphs comes from various sources including the USDA, U.S. Energy Information Agency and the U.S. Census Bureau.

One part of that is data collected on the renewable energy industry, specifically ethanol and biodiesel. That includes the monthly Renewable Energy and Climate Change newsletter, which is posted online and emailed to more than 1,300 subscribers. Past newsletter articles on diverse subjects range from exports, risk management, profitability of the ethanol supply chain and more. The first monthly newsletter was published in June 2008. The information has value for people in a variety of areas, such as the management of biofuels plants, investors and those in the feed industry, Wisner says. In addition, domestic and foreign policy makers have been known to use the information in making policy decisions. Both Wisner and Hofstrand have received many calls and emails from people around the world, they tell EPM. READ MORE