Biofuels versus Fossil Fuels (Biotechnology and Society 2016)

Required Reading/Viewing

 * ExxonMobil Bets $600 Million on Algae Kate Howell Scientific American July 14, 2009.
 * Exxon Takes Algae Fuel Back to the Drawing Board Kevin Bullis MIT Technology Review May 20, 2013.
 * Is There Still a Role for Oil Companies in Renewables? Matthew Morton Greentech Media March 12, 2015
 * Can we save the algae biofuel industry? The Conversation May 9, 2015 Watch the 3-minute ALGAE.TEC video embedded in the page.
 * Jet Fuel from Algae? Nanowerk Jan 29, 2015 Be sure to zoom in on the infographic by clicking on it.
 * Company/industry group webpages useful for answering questions: Solazyme | ALGAE.TEC | All about algae.com | Sapphire Energy

Additional information

 * DOE Algal Biofuels including ENERGY 101: ALGAE-TO-FUEL video
 * UTEX Culture Collection of Algae at UT Austin
 * Radakovits R, Jinkerson RE, Darzins A, Posewitz MC (2010) Genetic engineering of algae for enhanced biofuel production. Eukaryot Cell 9:486–501.
 * Scott SA et al. (2010) Biodiesel from algae: Challenges and prospects. Curr Opin Biotechnol 21:277–286.
 * Energy from floating algae ponds Jonathan Trent TEDGlobal Talk June 2012. This is a more speculative vision of algal biofuels.

Extra Links for the Policy Czar

 * Sims REH, Mabee W, Saddler JN, Taylor M (2010) An overview of second generation biofuel technologies Bioresour Technol 101:1570–1580. Review of technology and issues related to cellulosic ethanol. Skim the article for key details.
 * DOE Cellulosic Ethanol – read this page and click around the other ethanol links
 * For Cellulosic Ethanol Makers, The Road Ahead Is Still Uphill Erica Gies Yale Environment 360 Nov 3, 2014.
 * Bioenergy at DOE. Especially, check out the From Biomass to Cellulosic Ethanol Placemat
 * Dupont Cellulosic Ethanol Watch the "From Feedstock to Fuel" video linked on the right side of the page.

Extra Links for the Policy Czar

 * Slick Solution: How Microbes Will Clean Up the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill David Biello Scientific American May 25, 2010.
 * How Microbes Helped Clean BP's Oil Spill David Biello Scientific American April 28, 2015 Watch the embedded video and slide show.
 * Microbial Response to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill MicrobeWiki Concentrate on the section on what it takes for bioremediation. Page also provides further references.

Extra Links for the Policy Czar

 * New genus of bacteria found living inside hydraulic fracturing wells Pam Frost Gorder Ohio State Press Release Sept 5, 2016.
 * Daly RA et al. (2016) Microbial metabolisms in a 2.5-km-deep ecosystem created by hydraulic fracturing in shales Nat Microbiol 1:16146.