Cellulose-based plant biomass (such as switch grass and other perennial grasses) is considered a “second generation” biofuel crop, and is thought of as “the way to go” for the production of ethanol for biofuel applications. In contrast to “first generation” bioenergy crops (such as corn), the use of cellulosic feedstocks for ethanol production are said to require lesser agricultural inputs, have better net energy yields and have better “carbon balances”. Many farmers in the United States are considering a shift from corn/soya to perennial grasses as biofuel feedstocks. This shift in bioenergy crop, however, can have effects on the “seasonal cycle of water and energy exchanges between the land and the lower portion of the atmosphere”. A joint research collaboration between South Dakota University’s Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) (United States) will attempt to assess the impacts of this bioenergy crop shift on weather and climate. The three year study will use field and modeling approaches to evaluate potential impacts of the biofuel crop shift in a study area covering North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, western Minnesota and northern Iowa. According to Senior Scientist Michael Wimberly, the goal is not make exact predictions, but rather “to make broad but reasonable assumptions, so potential consequences can become part of the discussion”..

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) has announced the development of a “decision-support tool” to help countries derive the benefits of biofuel industry development, without putting food security at risk. According to the FAO press release, the tool is an “analytical framework” and can allow governments venturing into biofuels to “calculate the effect of their [biofuel-related] policy decisions on the food security of their populations”. The initial step for using the framework involves the establishment of a “bioenergy scenario”, where the biofuel policy options and associated strategies are defined. The framework allows a five-step assessment of (1) technical biomass potential, (2) biomass production costs, (3) the economic bioenergy potential, (4) macro-economic consequences, and (5) national and household-level impact and consequences on food security. The analytical framework which uses mathematical models like “Quickscan” from the Copernicus Institute (at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands) and “COSIMO” from FAO, will be field-tested in Peru, Thailand and Tanzania before release..

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology (involving the collection and transport of CO₂ emissions for ultimate geological or ocean storage), is a climate-change mitigation strategy usually tailored for large scale emission sources, like power plants. However, about two-thirds of global CO₂ emissions are said to be from small scale “distributed” sources, like automobiles and small power plants. A CCS technology tailored to such small scale distributed CO₂ sources would contribute much for mitigating climate change by reducing CO₂ emissions. American researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), have conceptualized a CCS system for these small scale distribution sources. According to the Georgia Tech press release, the Georgia Tech team’s goal is to develop a “sustainable transportation system” which uses liquid fuel, and traps/stores the carbon dioxide emitted using an on-board device. The stored CO₂ can then be dropped off to a processing plant where it can be recycled into liquid fuel. Under development is the on-board fuel processing device “to separate the carbon and store it in the vehicle in liquid form”. The conceptual study is published in the journal, Energy Conversion and Management (URL above).

Related information on Carbon Capture and Storage Technology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_capture_and_storage