Biofuels: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology, 581)

This editor believes the public finally understands that bioenergy should be a critical new 39 component of our world’s future energy supply. While this new enlightenment might have 40 come from bioenergy’s environmentally friendly attributes and its renewable and sustain- 41 able nature, the reality is that the primary driver has been both the high cost of energy, 42 led recently by petroleum products, and the unique climatic changes such as local weather 43 events and reports of melting of ancient glaciers. I believe that much of the public under- 44 stands the primary cause of these changes is the growing demand for fossil fuels for heat- 45 ing and transportation needs driven by both population increases and dramatic economic 46 development around the globe. This increased demand, as well as global politics, has 47 impacted the costs for these energy products. At the same time, increased use of fossil fuels 48 has been liberating unprecedented levels of CO and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) 49 2 that must be impacting the global climate. As a result, the world is looking for alternative 50 solutions. Renewable energy is one of the leading options as long as it is pursued in a sus- 51 tainable fashion. Of course, renewable energy has numerous sources, including wind, solar, 52 geothermal, ocean currents/tides, and bio-based energy. The latter category of renewable 53 energy is centered primarily on use of green plant matter, i. e.