Natalie Hunt, a Ph.D. candidate working with Tom Gower, is examining the effects of the emerging bioenergy industry in the upper Midwest on future environmental policy. In particular, Natalie is studying the increasing significance of biofuel production with the expansion of renewable fuel standards in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. This project is in collaboration with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) in which Tom Gower is a co-PI in the "Sustainability Thrust" area. The Sustainability Thrust examines the economic and environmental sustainability of transforming biomass to biofuels through conducting life cycle analysis (LCA) of the biofuel production system. We are using a suite of computer modeling programs to conduct a comprehensive accounting of energy inputs/outputs and greenhouse gas emissions of the processes involved from the "field to the wheels". The major thrusts of life LCA within GLBRC include:

1. Biological cycle of agricultural and forest systems,
2. Industrial system of feedstock production, processing, and fuel distribution, and
3. The underlying energy system that provides energy to and receives energy from the entire biofuel production system.

The Biome-BGC team provides the biophysical modeling of both agricultural and forest feedstock systems.