Finding secure, safe and reliable sources of energy to power world economic growth will be one of the great challenges of this century. The Harvard University Center for the Environment invites the Harvard community to take up the challenge by participating in this ongoing series of discussions. THE FUTURE OF ENERGY “The Development of Liquid Fuels from Lignocellulose” Chris Somerville Director, Energy Biosciences Institute, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Professor of Alternative Energy, UC Berkeley TODAY, Thursday, October 13 5:00 pm Harvard University Science Center, Lecture Hall D One Oxford Street, Cambridge There appear to be many different routes to improved processes for the conversion of biomass to liquid fuels. Research on the design of optimized processes is at a preliminary stage of technical maturity. Efficient production of cellulosic fuels by biochemical routes will require innovation in three main areas: sustainable production of feedstocks that do not compete with food production, depolymerization of feedstocks, and conversion of feedstocks to liquid fuels. There is renewed interest in identifying plants that have optimal biomass accumulation and understanding the production issues associated with large-scale cultivation and sustainable harvesting of such species. Additionally, the importance of enhancing soil carbon and nutrient retention while minimizing inputs will require an integrated approach to the development of cellulosic energy crops. Chris Somerville is the Director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, a research institute at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign initiated with a $500M award from the energy company BP (www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org). He is a biochemist and the Philomathia Professor of Alternative Energy at UC Berkeley. He has published more than 230 scientific papers and patents in plant and microbial genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and biotechnology. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Canada and has received numerous scientific awards including the Gibbs and Schull awards from the American Society of Plant Biologists, the Mendel Medal from the Genetics Society, the Hopkins medal from the Biochemical Society, the Khumo Award from the Plant Molecular Biology Society and most recently the Balzan Award which he shared with Elliot Meyerowitz (Caltech). The Future of Energy lecture series is sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment with generous support from Bank of America. All of the lectures are free and open to the public. View detailed lecture information at www.environment.harvard.edu. Contact: Lisa Matthews Assistant Director Harvard University Center for the Environment 24 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 lisa_matthews(a)harvard.edu p. 617-495-8883 f. 617-496-0425 *|LIST:Future of Energy|* [4]Unsubscribe aspuru-meetings-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu from this list. Links: 4. http://harvard.us1.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=7532d1fbf18f39219ac742ebe&… Our mailing address is: 24 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 T: (617) 495-0368 www.environment.harvard.edu Copyright (C) 2008 Harvard University. All rights reserved. [5]Forward this email to a friend Links: 5. http://us1.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=7532d1fbf18f39219ac742ebe&id… _______________________________________________ Aspuru-meetings-list mailing list Aspuru-meetings-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/aspuru-meetings-list