Hybrid energy module for remote environmental observations, experiments, and communications

Increased concerns about climate change have led to a significant expansion of monitoring, observational, and experimental sites in remote areas of the world. Meanwhile, advances in technology and availability of low-power equipment have allowed increasingly sophisticated measurements with a wide variety of instruments. However, the deployment and use of these technologies in remote locations is often restricted not only by harsh environmental conditions, but also by the availability of electrical power and communication options. In some cases, research stations and military installations can provide power for scientific equipment, data acquisition, storage, and transmission. Clustering of research sites near existing infrastructure has had the unintended consequence of limiting a spatial understanding of large geographic regions. Fortunately, the modern market offers many power and communication solutions, but most of them are oriented toward large industrial applications. Use of those solutions to power a research site is limited because of their cost and need for significant modification for the specific research purposes. Each study has its own unique power requirements and needs for proper instrumentation. A power and communication solution for a vast majority of implementations with or without modification would be of considerable benefit. This article describes design of a universal, scalable hybrid energy module for the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic project(https://ngee-arctic.ornl.gov/). Two modules were built, and the authors describe their implementation and findings over a 2-year period at a remote field site on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska, USA.

Plant Biosystems Design Research Roadmap 1.0

Human life intimately depends on plants for food,biomaterials,health,energy,and a sustainable environment.Various plants have been genetically improved mostly through breeding,along with limited modification via genetic engineering,yet they are still not able to meet the ever-increasing needs,in terms of both quantity and quality,resulting from the rapid increase in world population and expected standards of living.A step change that may address these challenges would be to expand the potential of plants using biosystems design approaches.This represents a shift in plant science research from relatively simple trial-and-error approaches to innovative strategies based on predictive models of biological systems.Plant biosystems design seeks to accelerate plant genetic improvement using genome editing and genetic circuit engineering or create novel plant systems through de novo synthesis of plant genomes.From this perspective,we present a comprehensive roadmap of plant biosystems design covering theories,principles,and technical methods,along with potential applications in basic and applied plant biology research.We highlight current challenges,future opportunities,and research priorities,along with a framework for international collaboration,towards rapid advancement of this emerging interdisciplinary area of research.Finally,we discuss the importance of social responsibility in utilizing plant biosystems design and suggest strategies for improving public perception,trust,and acceptance.

Plant Biosystems Design for a Carbon-Neutral Bioeconomy

Our society faces multiple daunting challenges including finding sustainable solutions towards climate change mitigation;efficient production of food,biofuels,and biomaterials;maximizing land-use efficiency;and enabling a sustainable bioeconomy.Plants can provide environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to these challenges due to their inherent capabilities for photosynthetic capture of atmospheric CO2,allocation of carbon to various organs and partitioning into various chemical forms,including contributions to total soil carbon.In order to enhance crop productivity and optimize chemistry simultaneously in the above-and belowground plant tissues,transformative biosystems design strategies are needed.Concerted research efforts will be required for accelerating the development of plant cultivars,genotypes,or varieties that are cooptimized in the contexts of biomass-derived fuels and/or materials aboveground and enhanced carbon sequestration belowground.Here,we briefly discuss significant knowledge gaps in our process understanding and the potential of synthetic biology in enabling advancements along the fundamental to applied research arc.Ultimately,a convergence of perspectives from academic,industrial,government,and consumer sectors will be needed to realize the potential merits of plant biosystems design for a carbon neutral bioeconomy.

The Role of Synthetic Biology in Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Reduction: Prospects and Challenges

The long atmospheric residence time of CO2 creates an urgent need to add atmospheric carbon drawdown to CO2 regulatory strategies.Synthetic and systems biology(SSB),which enables manipulation of cellular phenotypes,offers a powerful approach to amplifying and adding new possibilities to current land management practices aimed at reducing atmospheric carbon.The participants(in attendance:Christina Agapakis,George Annas,Adam Arkin,George Church,Robert Cook-Deegan,Charles DeLisi,Dan Drell,Sheldon Glashow,Steve Hamburg,Henry Jacoby,Henry Kelly,Mark Kon,Todd Kuiken,Mary Lidstrom,Mike MacCracken,June Medford,Jerry Melillo,Ron Milo,Pilar Ossorio,Ari Patrinos,Keith Paustian,Kristala Jones Prather,Kent Redford,David Resnik,John Reilly,Richard J.Roberts,Daniel Segre,Susan Solomon,Elizabeth Strychalski,Chris Voigt,Dominic Woolf,Stan Wullschleger,and Xiaohan Yang)identified a range of possibilities by which SSB might help reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and which might also contribute to environmental sustainability and adaptation.These include,among other possibilities,engineering plants to convert CO2 produced by respiration into a stable carbonate,designing plants with an increased root-to-shoot ratio,and creating plants with the ability to self-fertilize.A number of serious ecological and societal challenges must,however,be confronted and resolved before any such application can be fully assessed,realized,and deployed.

Biological Parts for Plant Biodesign to Enhance Land-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal

A grand challenge facing society is climate change caused mainly by rising CO_(2) concentration in Earth’s atmosphere.Terrestrial plants are linchpins in global carbon cycling,with a unique capability of capturing CO_(2) via photosynthesis and translocating captured carbon to stems,roots,and soils for long-term storage.However,many researchers postulate that existing land plants cannot meet the ambitious requirement for CO_(2) removal to mitigate climate change in the future due to low photosynthetic efficiency,limited carbon allocation for long-term storage,and low suitability for the bioeconomy.To address these limitations,there is an urgent need for genetic improvement of existing plants or construction of novel plant systems through biosystems design(or biodesign).Here,we summarize validated biological parts(e.g.,protein-encoding genes and noncoding RNAs)for biological engineering of carbon dioxide removal(CDR)traits in terrestrial plants to accelerate land-based decarbonization in bioenergy plantations and agricultural settings and promote a vibrant bioeconomy.Specifically,we first summarize the framework of plant-based CDR(e.g.,CO_(2) capture,translocation,storage,and conversion to value-added products).Then,we highlight some representative biological parts,with experimental evidence,in this framework.Finally,we discuss challenges and strategies for the identification and curation of biological parts for CDR engineering in plants.