Engineered High Energy Crops

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DOE?s mission and strategic goals include promoting U.S. energy security by providing reliable, clean, and affordable energy and strengthening U.S. technological leadership and economic competitiveness through advancements in science and technology. The mission and goals of the Bioenergy Technologies Office within DOE?s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy include the development and transformation of renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, higher-performance biofuels and advancing the domestic bioenergy industry in support of the renewable fuel goals under EISA 2007. ARPA-E?s goals include enhancing U.S. economic and energy security through the development of advanced energy technologies that reduce imports of foreign oil and energy-related emissions, and ensuring that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies. Programs to support the development and demonstration of engineered high energy crop through field trials would further the mission and goals of DOE by catalyzing the deployment of dedicated, engineered energy crops that produce more energy per acre and produce molecules that require little or no processing prior to being introduced into existing infrastructure (e.g., refineries, pipelines, and vehicles), thus enabling agriculturally-derived fuels that are cost-competitive with petroleum-based fuels. Examples of engineered high energy crops include those being investigated under ARPA-E?s PETRO program as well as other projects that have a similar objective of engineering crops for increased energy capture. Additional information regarding the PETRO program and the crops being investigated under that program is available at: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-programs/petro.

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