Second-generation biofuels technologies are able to manufacture biofuels from inedible biomass and could hence prevent conversion of food into fuel.
The various fuels which can be used or are commonly used in the USA, Europe and Pacific Countries are Bagasse, Biomass, Lignite, Coal, Scaly Bark, Fuel gas, Industrial waste, khuff gas, MFO(marine fuel oil), Organic matter, Oil, Litter, Rice hulls, Rubberwood, Sludge, Wood, Woodchips.
Named after the English biochemist Herbert Grace Crabtree, the Crabtree effect describes the phenomenon whereby the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, produces ethanol (alcohol) aerobically in the presence of high external glucose concentrations rather than producing biomass via the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, the usual process occurring aerobically in most yeasts e.g. Kluyveromyces spp.
Research from the University of Botswana has found that the common practice of overstocking cattle to cope with drought losses actually depletes scarce biomass, making ecosystems more vulnerable.
It is the biomass dominant pelagic fish over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge when the entire water column is fully considered.
The result is minor biomass degradation with high yields The process was patented by Bruce Dale, Michigan State University professor.
Decomposition of dead plant material causes complex organic compounds to be slowly oxidized (lignin-like humus) or to break down into simpler forms (sugars and amino sugars, aliphatic, and phenolic organic acids), which are further transformed into microbial biomass (microbial humus) or are reorganized, and further oxidized, into humic assemblages (fulvic and humic acids), which bind to clay minerals and metal hydroxides.
Addition of Iron sulfate to the subarctic western Pacific gyre caused increases in primary production rates, chlorophyll a concentrations, biomass, and photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency.
Three years after fish removal had been discontinued, the fish biomass had recovered to almost its initial value; the community structure, however, was different because of much greater abundance of perch.
The largest biomass of fish, however, is in the pelagic zone (open waters) and is dominated by six species: two species of "Tanganyika sardine" and four species of predatory Lates (related to, but not the same as, the Nile perch that has devastated Lake Victoria cichlids).
A 2007 report published by the Oxford Research Group listed the following results, after Leeuwen and Smith: coal = 755 g/kWh; natural gas = 385 g/kWh; biomass = 29 - 62 g/kWh; wind = 11 - 37 g/kWh; nuclear = 11 - 130 g/kWh (using the minimum and maximum results amongst 3 studies).
Energy crops are crops with high yield of lignocellulosic biomass produced to serve as a raw material for production of second generation biofuel examples include switch grass (Panicum virgatum) and Elephant grass.
Fisheries management agencies such as the membership of ICES and the United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) commonly use scientific sonar for stock assessment purposes, such as herring biomass assessment for resource management purposes.
Currently, Southern Company is building the first new nuclear units in the U.S. in 30 years at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Georgia; building one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the U.S. at Cimarron, New Mexico; building one of the largest biomass plants at Nacogdoches, Texas; and installing over four million smart meters by 2012.