Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs)

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science established and operates three Bioenergy Research Centers. The mission of these centers is to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. Each centre explores high-risk, high-return biological solutions for bioenergy applications. The centers will provide the knowledge needed to develop new biobased products, methods, and tools that the emerging biofuel industry can use. The three centers, which were selected through a scientific peer-review process, are based in geographically diverse locations - the Southeast, the Midwest, and the West Coast. The Centers are supported by multidisciplinary teams of scientists and researchers from 18 leading U.S. universities and seven DOE national labs, as well as a range of private companies and nonprofit organizations. DOEs Oak Ridge National Laboratory leads the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) in Tennessee; the University of Wisconsin-Madison leads the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC); and DOEs Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in California. Each center represents a multidisciplinary partnership with expertise spanning the physical and biological sciences, including genomics, microbial and plant biology, analytical chemistry, computational biology and bioinformatics, and engineering.

Want to know more about this policy ? Learn more