 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (January 2018) |
| Established | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Directors | John D. Coates, Chris R. Somerville |
| Location | Berkeley, California |
| Website | energybiosciencesinstitute.org |
The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) is an organization dedicated to developing new sources of energy and reducing the impact of energy consumption. It was created in 2007 to apply advanced knowledge of biology to the challenges of responsible, sustainable energy production and use.[1] Its main goal is to develop next-generation biofuels—that is, biofuels that are made from the non-edible parts of plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[2]
Funded by BP, which initially agreed to contribute $500 million over a 10-year-period, with $350 million slated for academic research, EBI is a joint initiative between the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the energy company.[3] It is the largest public-private venture of its kind. All research from its academic labs is published and publicly available. More information about the EBI is available to the public through the EBI Bulletin and its magazine, Bioenergy Connection, which cover emerging trends in the field of bioenergy.)[4]
EBI was designed as a creative, multidisciplinary institution. Because bioenergy research is so complex, the institute promotes a holistic view by encouraging scientists from many disciplines – biology, chemistry, botany, environmental science, economics, and others – to collaborate on investigations. The institute's main research areas are:
- feedstock development (work on plant sources of biofuel)
- biomass depolymerization (breaking down the plant cell wall to enable sugar, or energy, extraction)
- biofuel production
- the environmental, social, and economic impact of bioenergy development
- fossil fuel bioprocessing (using microbial processes to help make oil recovery “greener” and to shrink its carbon footprint)[5]
- ^ Youngs, Heather; Somerville, Chris (2017-06-01). "Implementing industrial–academic partnerships to advance bioenergy research: the Energy Biosciences Institute". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 45: 184–190. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2017.03.027. ISSN 0958-1669. PMID 28458111.
- ^ Annual Report, Energy Biosciences Institute, 2012
- ^ "BP selects UC Berkeley to lead $500 million energy research consortium with partners Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, University of Illinois, Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News Center, Feb. 1, 2007, http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/02/01_ebi.shtml
- ^ Annual Report, Energy Biosciences Institute, 2012
- ^ EBI Bulletin, Energy Biosciences Institute, Spring 2013