Three ALES researchers and one company developing an ALES researcher's product have received the lion's share of funding from an agency supporting projects that address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from biological sources.
Almost $1.3 million was awarded those four projects from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation out of its total funding of $1.6 million for seven projects.
The recipients were Edward Bork, the Mattheis Chair in Rangeland Ecology and Management and director of the Rangeland Research Institute; John Basarab, a senior beef research scientist at Livestock Gentec and an adjunct professor in AFNS; Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez, a soil scientist in RenR; and Sprayfoam Co., which uses bio-based components developed by Jonathan Curtis, the scientific director of the Lipid Chemistry Group.
Bork's project will test whether beef cattle production efficiencies are associated with cow/calf performance under open-range grazing production systems. Specifically, the project will provide information on how current genetic improvement programs may impact cow/calf production as well as the associated profitability and GHG emission reductions as a result. Reducing cow herd GHG is crucial to improving the environmental footprint of beef production. This study received $168,000 from CCEMC.
Basarab is studying methane emissions from beef cattle bred for low residual feed intake compared to the average animal. Methane is a potent GHG that results from the natural digestive process in the animal stomach. This project will use cutting-edge gas sensor technology to measure beef cattle in real production settings. Other goals are to determine the reliability of less costly methods to identify low-methane emitting animals, and to examine the use of feeding, drinking and other parameters in relationship to methane production and yield. This project received $851,354.
Ramirez's project is focused on identifying and developing best management practices for manure injection into soils, and on the use of nitrification inhibitors to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from crop fields. Its long-term objective is to reduce N2O emissions from agricultural landscapes where manure is applied. In Alberta, an estimated eight million tonnes of GHGs come from N2O emissions annually. The CCEMC contributed $75,000 to this project.
The last ALES-related project receiving funding is being developed by Sprayfoam Co. of Edmonton. The firm is developing, testing and pre-commercializing a spray-foam insulation that uses an organic bio-polyol formulation. The goal is to replace by 50 per cent the commercial petrochemical polyol formulation used in polyurethane spray foam with the bio-based content. The bio-based polyol is derived from canola and other plant oils developed by ALES researcher Curtis and his research team. This project was awarded $200,000.
The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation is an Alberta-based not-for-profit corporation with a mandate to reduce GHG emissions and to help the province adapt to climate change. Its funding comes from Alberta's largest industrial emitters, who have a legislated requirement to achieve target reductions of GHGs.
Almost $1.3 million was awarded those four projects from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation out of its total funding of $1.6 million for seven projects.
The recipients were Edward Bork, the Mattheis Chair in Rangeland Ecology and Management and director of the Rangeland Research Institute; John Basarab, a senior beef research scientist at Livestock Gentec and an adjunct professor in AFNS; Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez, a soil scientist in RenR; and Sprayfoam Co., which uses bio-based components developed by Jonathan Curtis, the scientific director of the Lipid Chemistry Group.
Bork's project will test whether beef cattle production efficiencies are associated with cow/calf performance under open-range grazing production systems. Specifically, the project will provide information on how current genetic improvement programs may impact cow/calf production as well as the associated profitability and GHG emission reductions as a result. Reducing cow herd GHG is crucial to improving the environmental footprint of beef production. This study received $168,000 from CCEMC.
Basarab is studying methane emissions from beef cattle bred for low residual feed intake compared to the average animal. Methane is a potent GHG that results from the natural digestive process in the animal stomach. This project will use cutting-edge gas sensor technology to measure beef cattle in real production settings. Other goals are to determine the reliability of less costly methods to identify low-methane emitting animals, and to examine the use of feeding, drinking and other parameters in relationship to methane production and yield. This project received $851,354.
Ramirez's project is focused on identifying and developing best management practices for manure injection into soils, and on the use of nitrification inhibitors to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from crop fields. Its long-term objective is to reduce N2O emissions from agricultural landscapes where manure is applied. In Alberta, an estimated eight million tonnes of GHGs come from N2O emissions annually. The CCEMC contributed $75,000 to this project.
The last ALES-related project receiving funding is being developed by Sprayfoam Co. of Edmonton. The firm is developing, testing and pre-commercializing a spray-foam insulation that uses an organic bio-polyol formulation. The goal is to replace by 50 per cent the commercial petrochemical polyol formulation used in polyurethane spray foam with the bio-based content. The bio-based polyol is derived from canola and other plant oils developed by ALES researcher Curtis and his research team. This project was awarded $200,000.
The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation is an Alberta-based not-for-profit corporation with a mandate to reduce GHG emissions and to help the province adapt to climate change. Its funding comes from Alberta's largest industrial emitters, who have a legislated requirement to achieve target reductions of GHGs.