Carbon Sequestration
Carbon sequestration is one of the most promising means of reducing greenhouse emissions. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, even under the most optimistic scenarios for energy efficiency gains and the greater use of low- or no-carbon fuels, carbon sequestration will likely be essential if the world is to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at acceptable levels. BioStar's anaerobic digestion technology utilizes naturally-occurring bacteria and is prime example of a commercially viable carbon sequestration technology.
Microbes and plants play substantial roles in the global cycling of carbon through the environment. The Office of Science's Biological and Environmental Research program continues to leverage new genomic DNA sequence information on microbes important to the global carbon cycle by characterizing key biochemical pathways or genetic regulatory networks in these microbes.