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This talk is based upon a November 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC). The report has two parts, a policy section and a technology section. Here extensive material from the Technical Subcommittee section of the NEAC report is used.

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Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is projected to become one of the main herbaceous, biofuel crops in United States. This status was the result of several years of research; much it sponsored by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). Literature documenting fundamental aspects of switchgrass taxonomy, genetics, breeding, management, physiology, and use is now available and form the basis for protocols to establish and manage the crop, as well as efforts to develop improved cultivars. Future improvement will include production of high yielding hybrids and the use of genomic and transgenic biotechnologies to enhance both productivity and chemical composition. Reducing bioconversion recalcitrance via reduction of lignin content is an example of projected future research in this area.

A map of the world is presented showing the top 12 countries investing in clean energy, such as wind, solar, and biofuels, which includes the U.S. China, and Canada.

The field of biology is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and cross-cutting. This changing research atmosphere is creating the way for a new kind of enquiry that while building upon the traditional research establishment is providing a new multidisciplinary framework to more effectively address scientific grand challenges. Using the US Department of Energy sponsored BioEnergy Science Center as an example, we highlight how impactful breakthroughs in biofuel science can be achieved within a large cross-disciplinary team environment. Such transformational insights are key to furthering our understanding and in generating models, theories and processes that can be used to overcome recalcitrance of biomass for sustainable biofuel production. Multidisciplinary approaches have an increasingly greater role to play in meeting rising demands for food, fibre, energy, clean environment and good health. Discoveries achieved by diverse minds and cross-applications of tools and analytical approaches have tremendous potential to fill existing knowledge gaps, clear roadblocks and facilitate translation of basic sciences discoveries as solutions towards addressing some of the most pressing global issues.

One sixth of the electricity in the United States is now being generated in nuclear power plants, a remarkable achievement for a technology whose basic nuclear reaction was not even known 50 years ago. On the other hand, many of the nation's electric utilities are experiencing great difficulties completing the construction of their nuclear plants; 41 partially constructed plants have been abandoned. Those abandoned plants plus about 110 in operation and 15 still to be completed comprise the first generation of nuclear power plants in the United States. When, and even if, there will be a second generation is much in doubt. Data are presented to show that the absence of a second generation of nuclear plants will place large demands on the fossil fuels, with attendant high energy prices and high environmental costs the expected outcome. It appears that the future will bring large economic forces to start new orders for nuclear plants. On the other hand, the opposing institutional forces appear equally strong. Among the problems creating these institutional forces are the difficulty the United States is having in finding a politically acceptable approach to nuclear waste disposal and the vulnerability of power plant builders and operators to litigation and high financial risk. At present, the issue of a second generation of nuclear plants is stalemated.