If I were entering college today I would plan on working in biological engineering. Way back in 7th grade one of my teachers asked me what profession I wanted to go into. My answer was genetics engineering. I loved the idea of taking natural biology and modifying it to perform directed tasks. Living machines seem to me the ultimate in technology, combining the best features of technology and biology.
If I had gone into bioengineering I would be excited to work on biofuel production. While most of the current work in this area is focused on industrial processes, trucking of stuff to vats where it can be processed, then trucked somewhere else, I have a different vision of what would be useful.
I don't believe that the future will be like today. The reduced availability of fuel will require us to use drastically less fuel and energy in general, so a centralized fuel infrastructure will be less efficient than a distributed system. Rather than huge plants producing thousands of gallons a day we'll see local communities producing small quantities for their own use. To that end I'd be interested in working on modifying tree crops to produce oils that can be used in fuel production. Perhaps something that could be tapped like a sugar maple or that produces large oil-bearing seeds that would be pressed for oils. An ideal solution might be something like a coconut tree that produces very large nuts that contain a fine oil that is used by the nut to quickly grow new trees, or that can be harvested and used directly as fuel with no further processing.
The U.S. Department of Energy has committed $125 million to an aggressive effort called Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI, pronounced Jay Bay), that will develop fuels from plant material.(Wired Science - Wired Blogs)
If I had gone into bioengineering I would be excited to work on biofuel production. While most of the current work in this area is focused on industrial processes, trucking of stuff to vats where it can be processed, then trucked somewhere else, I have a different vision of what would be useful.
I don't believe that the future will be like today. The reduced availability of fuel will require us to use drastically less fuel and energy in general, so a centralized fuel infrastructure will be less efficient than a distributed system. Rather than huge plants producing thousands of gallons a day we'll see local communities producing small quantities for their own use. To that end I'd be interested in working on modifying tree crops to produce oils that can be used in fuel production. Perhaps something that could be tapped like a sugar maple or that produces large oil-bearing seeds that would be pressed for oils. An ideal solution might be something like a coconut tree that produces very large nuts that contain a fine oil that is used by the nut to quickly grow new trees, or that can be harvested and used directly as fuel with no further processing.
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