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Sustainable Biotechnology; Sources of Renewable Energy draws on the vast body of knowledge about renewable resources for biofuel research, with the aim to bridge the technology gap and focus on critical aspects of lignocellulosic biomolecules and the respective mechanisms regulating their bioconversion to liquid fuels and other value-added products. This book is a collection of outstanding research reports and reviews elucidating several broad-ranging areas of progress and challenges in the utilization of sustainable resources of renewable energy, especially in biofuels.
The products we purchase and use are assembled from a wide range of naturally occurring and manufactured materials. But too often we create hazards for the ecosystem and human health as we mine, process, distribute, use, and dispose of these materials. Until recently, most research has focused on the waste end of material cycles. This book argues that the safest and least costly point at which to avoid environmental damage is when materials are first designed and selected for use in industrial production. Materials Matter presents convincing evidence that we can use fewer materials and eliminate the use of many toxic chemicals by focusing directly on material (chemical) use when products are designed. It also shows how manufacturers can save money by increasing the effectiveness of material use and reducing the use of toxic chemicals. It advocates new directions for the material sciences and government policies on materials. And it argues that manufacturers, suppliers, and customers need to set more socially responsible policies for products and services to achieve higher environmental and health goals.
This book evaluates maize as a bioenergy fuel source from two perspectives. It explores whether the input energy needed to generate fuel significantly exceeded by the energy harvested. In examining this issue, the chapters provide assessments of the social, economic, and political impact on fuel pricing, food costs, and the environmental challenge with corn biomass the engine of change. It then examines whether corn be genetically improved so that its biomass is significantly increased, its cellulose-lignin complex made more amenable to harvesting and to processing, and grown in regions not normally associated with its cultivation of food.
It is difficult to find an area of public policy more plagued by misunderstanding than energy policy. Even worse, every time the subject is raised, we are obligated to get mired in pointless arguments about the weather. This book helps set the record straight. Not convinced? Consider some of these inconvenient truths: The cost of green energy climate remediation is anywhere from 10-to-1,000 times greater than the damage from the climate change it attempts to alleviate. Germany, the worlds leader in solar energy, will spend more than $280 billion by 2030 on solar subsidies. But all of that investment will only forestall 22nd century global warming by 37 hours. Obamas carbon tax would cost Ame...
A new focus on glycoscience, a field that explores the structures and functions of sugars, promises great advances in areas as diverse as medicine, energy generation, and materials science, this report finds. Glycans-also known as carbohydrates, saccharides, or simply as sugars-play central roles in many biological processes and have properties useful in an array of applications. However, glycans have received little attention from the research community due to a lack of tools to probe their often complex structures and properties. Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future presents a roadmap for transforming glycoscience from a field dominated by specialists to a widely studied and integrated discipline, which could lead to a more complete understanding of glycans and help solve key challenges in diverse fields.
Following the flight of one woman's factory job from the United States to Mexico, this compelling work offers a provocative and fresh perspective on the global economy -- at a time when downsizing is unraveling the American Dream for many working families. Mollie's Job is an absorbing and affecting narrative history that traces the postwar migration of one factory job as it passes from the cradle of American industry, Paterson, New Jersey, to rural Mississippi during the turmoil of the civil rights movement to the burgeoning border city of Matamoros, Mexico. This fascinating account follows the intersecting lives and fates of three women -- Mollie James in Paterson, Dorothy Carter in Mississ...
In Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Eighth Symposium, leading researchers exchange cutting-edge technical information and update current trends in the development and application of biotechnology for sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. This symposium emphasizes advances in biotechnology to produce high-volume, low-price products from renewable resources, while improving the environment.