Singapore To Hold Biofuels Conference In March
International academia, scientists and experts on biofuels will meet in Singapore in March to identify promising avenues to a viable biofuels future.
The experts will discuss economic and environmental considerations of biofuel technologies and the integration of biofuels into the existing energy infrastructure, while the academia, government and the private sector will discuss and comment on research and policy.
The six-day conference to begin on March 1 is being organised by a United States-based non-profit organisation, Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Singapore’s Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR).
In a statement here Wednesday, A*STAR said the conference titled “Biofuels” will discuss the options of biofuels for an economic and sustainable future, sustainability of cellulosic ethanol (biofuel produced from non-food biomass), algae biofuels (deriving fuel from algae), development of new biomass feedstocks and potential of biomass production in Southeast Asia.
Among the internationally renowned speakers at the conference includes Dr Adam Brown of the International Energy Agency, Professor Timothy Donohue of the University of Wisconsin-Madison/ Great Lakes Bioenergy, Dr Arthur Grossman of Solazyme Inc and Professor Lonnie Ingram of the University of Florida.
One of the conference’s scientific organiser Professor Stephen P. Mayfield of the University of California said one of the greatest challenges that mankind faced today was to develop efficient, sustainable and scalable processes for converting sunlight energy into the food and fuel the world needs.
“No single renewable-energy strategy will be able to provide a total solution but a combination of strategies that can be coordinated and integrated effectively has the potential to significantly decrease our dependence on fossil fuel,” he said.
He added that at this critical time in mapping a new global energy strategy, this symposium would address the potential of cellulosic and algal produced bioenergy as part of a sustainable future for the world.
Keystone Symposia held its first meeting on biofuels last year in US.
More information on the conference can be found at www.keystonesymposia.org/biofuels.
