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Energy options brew in Brevard. FLORIDA TODAY, January 4, 2009. "Florida, with its sunny climate, and the Space Coast, with its science savvy, stand poised to become key players, helping to shift the balance of energy power away from hostile and terrorism-funding nations. This bioenergy revolution is cropping up in unexpected places. In the garage of a remote house off Grant Road, scientists with Florida Syngas LLC use temperatures hot enough to nearly melt metal to transform waste glycerol from hog and chicken fat into energy. In glowing green tubes and in tanks at a former Fellsmere greenhouse operation, chemical engineers at PetroAlgae prod microalgae to grow 1,000 times faster than in nature, yielding a thick oil for biodiesel. And in old citrus fields northwest of Sebastian, Global Renewable Energy harvests a sweet sorghum it says nets three times the energy as ethanol from corn. Much of the science behind biofuels spawned from NASA and other government research programs launched to combat the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' 1973 oil embargo. The spike in oil prices last year renewed interest in alternative fuels. But the prospects for biofuel startups, such as those in Brevard and Sebastian, could depend on how long the recent return to cheap oil lasts." http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090104/NEWS01/901040319/1006 -- ********************************************************************** Dr. Ann C. Wilkie Tel: (352)392-8699 Soil and Water Science Department Fax: (352)392-7008 University of Florida-IFAS P.O. Box 110960 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Gainesville, FL 32611-0960 ______________________________________________________________________ Campus location: Environmental Microbiology Laboratory (Bldg. 246). http://campusmap.ufl.edu/ ______________________________________________________________________ BioEnergy and Sustainable Technology Society http://grove.ufl.edu/~bests/ **********************************************************************