Additional Resources
Posted on Jun 2, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Resources:
BIOFUELS BASICS
BIOTECHNOLOGY OF BIOFUELS
CLASSROOM BIOENERGY ACTIVITIES
CLIMATE CHANGE
GENERAL ENERGY EDUCATION
IMAGE GALLERIES
POPULAR PRESS ARTICLES
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES
Video: Converting Biomass to Liquid Fuels
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2008)
A 5 minute online video that gives a nice overview of what is cellulosic ethanol, the production process, and the areas of scientific research needed to create the fuel. GLBRC is working in these same areas.
Fields of Energy Video
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture
A free DVD with student hosts. Two short segments show how corn ethanol is made and the research into cellulosic ethanol.
Biofuels for Transportation
US Department of Energy Office of Science (2007)
An FAQ-style page with overview material such as “What is biomass?”, “How much ethanol can we get from an acre of Bioenergy crops?”, “Can one gallon of ethanol displace one gallon of gasoline?” Links to many other quality resources available from the Department of Energy.
Bioenergy.MSU.edu
Michigan State University Extension guide to bioenergy. Includes information on different feedstocks, fuel types, conversion processes and other energy-related questions. Geared toward the farming community, but useful for general audiences.
Crop Economics article: Profitability of Converting to Biofuel Crops. This bulletin by L. James, S. Swinton and D. Pennington of Michigan State University discusses the economics of farming various biofuel crops and break-even points to convert from corn to other feedstocks.
Wisconsin Biorefining Development Initiative
This Web site introduces biorefining processes that can transform low-value biobased feedstocks into multiple, higher-value biobased products. It is a tool to help industry, agriculture, technology developers, and business supporters in Wisconsin pursue biorefining opportunities.
Energy Information Administration Official Energy Statistics
US Government
An updated source of statistics on energy consumption and production in the US and around the world. The link “Energy Explained” is especially user-friendly, with graphs describing US, State and International energy consumption and descriptions of different energy sources.
Alternative Fuel Statistics
Comprehensive information from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy arm of the DOE. Find information on fuels, vehicles, laws and incentives, data, etc. For a quick update on today’s prices and current production stats try biofuels data from the US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration.
Renewable Fuels Association Ethanol Industry Statistics
RFA Statistics
DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI)
Background information on the biotechnology used in biofuels research. Appropriate for those without a biotechnology background who want to better understand the techniques used in the lab.
CLASSROOM BIOENERGY ACTIVITIES
Biofuels from Forest Resources: Handouts and Procedures: Cellulosic Ethanol from Forest Resources
This 5 day, college level lab, takes students through the process of pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and yield analysis of ethanol created from woody biomass. Posted with permission from Michigan Technological University.
Fuel-Grade Ethanol from Corn Mash
This high school level lab takes students through the process of pretreatment, fermentation, and yield analysis of ethanol created from corn mash. Posted with permission from Luverne High School.
Supporting Material:
Ethanol from Corn Mash Activity (PDF)
Ethanol from Corn Mash Activity (MS Word)
Westfield, WI High School Biodiesel Program
The school converts waste vegetable oil into biodiesel to run their school buses.
Dig it! The Secrets of Soil, Greenhouse Gas Calculator (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History) This interactive, animated online activity puts students in the role of a farmer, deciding what crops to grow and what farming practices to use to balance high yield with lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The Carbon Bathtub: The Big Idea–Climate Control
The December 2009 National Geographic issue (print and online) has an excellent set of graphics describing the global system of carbon flow including sinks and fluxes with related climate change concerns. Using a bathtub with quantitative inputs and outputs, and the potential to overflow, this is a comprehensive visual description of a complex system.
Fundamental Principles of Energy
Encyclopedia of Earth. T. Lawrence. Cleveland, C. J. (2008).
This is a broad and wide-ranging article that covers topics including the physics of energy, climate and the earth’s energy balance, and control of energy resources as a cause of violent conflict. There is an extensive list of “further reading”.
KEEP
Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program
KEEP was created to promote energy education in Wisconsin. KEEP is the product of an innovative public private partnership between educators and energy professionals. They provide professional development for teachers regarding all aspects of energy (forms of, efficiency, renewables, etc) with an emphasis on application of curriculum to relevant, local considerations in the classroom.
NEED
National Energy Education and Development Project
The NEED program includes engaging curriculum materials, exciting professional development, turnkey assessment and evaluation tools, and high quality teacher support. NEED’s long-term partnership with the U.S. Energy Information Administration provides the data and energy analysis used to update NEED curriculum materials on an annual basis.
4-H National Youth Science Day – Biofuel Blast!
Test your science skills in the 2009 National Science Experiment – “Biofuel Blast” – where you can engage in the important environmental issues our global community faces together and the the opportunities available for a greener tomorrow.
DOE Bioenergy Research Centers Image Gallery
This page has many high quality images and figures created by DOE for use in their materials and at GLBRC.
NREL Photogallery
Features many photos that can be sorted by category.
Bourne, Joel K. (2007). “Green Dreams: Making fuel from crops could be good for the planet–after a breakthrough or two.” National Geographic. View Text
A readable National Geographic article with supporting activities comparing different forms of ethanol with gasoline and algae-based diesel for transportation fuels. Try the “Compare Biofuels” option to investigate net energy and green house gas emissions for each fuel.
Monahan, P. (2008). “Biofuels: An Important Part of Low-Carbon Diet.” Catalyst 7(2).
This article assesses sustainability of biofuels and also address the creation of biofuels. It is written in a way that it could be understood by high school students. View Text
Martin, A. (2008). Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-pointing. New York Times. New York, New York.
This article from the New York Times does a good job of laying out the complexities of the food verses biofuel crop production debate without oversimplifying. It should be readable by high school students.
Rosenthal, E. (2008). New Trend in Biofuels Has New Risks. New York Times. New York, NY.
This is a short and easy read on the problems of using invasive plant species as biofuels crops. It should be readable by high school students.
NOTE: Not all of these articles may be available for free public use and the links may not work for all users.
Sustainability:
Ecological Society of America (2000). “Carbon Sequestration in Soils.”
This is a readable explanation of how carbon is stored in soil, the benefits of soil carbon and practices that help maintain higher levels of carbon in the soil. View Text
Hill, J., E. Nelson, et al. (2006). “Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels.” PNAS 103(30): 4.
What are the net energy balances, and the energy inputs and outputs for biofuels? This article details a life-cycle analysis of both corn grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel biofuels. While this article is technical, with some guidance, it should be understandable by high school students. View Text
Hill, et al. (2009). “Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt.” Science 319(5867): 1235-1238.
Research on the greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions coming from different biofuel production techniques. View Text
Field, C. B., J. E. Campbell, et al. (2008). “Biomass energy: the scale of the potential resource.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23(2): 65-72.
For those interested in the food verses fuels debate, this scientific article looks at the global base of abandoned cropland and the corresponding productivity of these areas. This article is scientifically dense and is likely best for advanced high school students.
Robertson, G. P., V. H. Dale, et al. (2008). “Agriculture – Sustainable biofuels Redux.” Science 322(5898): 49-50.
The 2008 Farm Bill provides a subsidy for the production of cellulosic ethanol. The large group of authors associated with this article looks at the sustainability implications of this subsidy, and detail environmental and ecological research that they feel is needed. This article is likely readable by high school students. View Text
Tilman, et al. (2009). “Beneficial Biofuels—The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma.”
A two page summary of what a prominent group of scientists propose as the best way to develop the cellulosic biofuels industry in a sustainable way. View Text
Pretreatment:
Yang, B. and E. Wyman, (2007). “Pretreatment: the key to unlocking low-cost cellulosic ethanol.” Wiley Interscience: Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining 2:26-40.
Gives a nice background of the use of petroleum and biofuels in the introduction. Also provides a comparison each pretreatment method, including pros and cons, on page 31. Figure 1 (page 29) provides an outline of the biological conversion of cellulosic biomass into ethanol, including effects of pretreatment processes on other operations. Best suited for high school students or teachers who want to know more about pretreatment methods. View Text
Mosier, N., Wyman, C., Dale, B., et al. (2005). “Features of promising technologies for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass.” Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) 673-686.
Overview of plant structure and challenges of accessing cellulose provided on pages 673-676. Also provides detailed descriptions of pretreatment options. Useful for high school students and teachers, especially chemistry teachers who may be interested in mimicking procedures outlined for pretreatment. View Text
Microbes:
Rubin, E. M. (2008) Genomics of cellulosic biofuels. Nature 454
An overview of the most common microorganisms in biofuels research and status of genome sequencing. View Text
Plants:
Pauly M., Keegstra K. Cell-wall carbohydrates and their modification as a resource for biofuels. The Plant Journal. 2008;54(4):559-568. ”
A technical overview of plant cell wall structure and a good introduction to sugar content in plants being researched in biofuels. Appropriate for those who already have background in biology, but need an introduction to the cell wall issues related to biofuels.” View Text
