Objective
The Biorenewable Resources Consortium (BRC) is dedicated to the development and utilization of agriculturally derived alternatives to petrochemicals and other nonrenewable fossil resources. The BRC will help redress the problem of our national dependence on nonrenewable resources as a primary source for energy. The $2 million funding for the BRC is part of the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2002 and will come through the Office of Industrial Technologies in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network.

Partnership
Partnerships are critical to the ultimate success of the BRC. We welcome connections with industry, commodity groups, cooperatives and groups engaged in rural revitalization. In addition to the three ISU partners described below, the BRC has recently developed connections with the National Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Industries of the Future program. We invite other potential partners to contact the BRC program manager, Dr. George Kraus.

ISU's research community is a recognized leader in agriculture, the physical sciences, and engineering. It has an impressive faculty of world-renowned scientists and young researchers. There are three major, mission-oriented research and development laboratories on campus: the U.S. Department of Energy Ames Laboratory,  the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, and ISU's Plant Sciences Institute. This combination of basic science, applied development and outreach resources is unique among American universities. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to assess and develop biorenewable alternatives in an integrated and systematic way.

Impact
This interdisciplinary initiative will:

• develop and follow a state technology development roadmap

• reduce our national dependency on foreign oil

• enhance the environment

• result in the development of new products, new industrial processes, and new companies

• revitalize rural economies

The national investment in biorenewables promises a huge payoff to the U.S. taxpayer. It will improve the international competitiveness of the U.S., form new industries, increase farmers’ profitability, enhance the sustainability, viability, and economic development in rural communities, reduce net carbon dioxide emission and thus improve our environment.

The next step taken by the BRC will be to work to assure that the partners can achieve these impacts. See Frequently Asked Questions for background.

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4/17/02