Roles for biochemistry in solving energy problems

We have heard of a number of significant problems occurring across the world and many of our challenges for the future will be to identify solutions that are sustainable for future human societies. Biochemical methods and principles offer some novel solutions to these problems.

Some of the areas where biochemistry has most significance relate to energy production and consumption, especially in ensuring that there will be enough food to feed the growing global population while still protecting the environment. These issues come together and affect all countries across the world through changes to the climate and weather patterns.

There are increasing energy requirements across the globe and these are likely to continue to increase in the near future. The metabolism of nitrogen containing compounds has been hugely important in improving the efficiency of agriculture because they are a central component of agricultural fertilisers. We now understand that these types of compound have a very important effect on the environment because some products of nitrogen metabolism are significant “greenhouse” gases.

During this week, some relevant biochemical details will be provided about research that is offering potential novel solutions to some of these problems.