A researcher loads a biomass sample into spinning ring cup. Argonne National Laboratory has launched two online tools that assess the resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuel production. | Photo courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), in partnership with the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), has released two online tools to assess the resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuel production.

  • The Water Analysis Tool for Energy Resources (WATER) allows users to virtually assess water resource use and water quality across the biofuel production stages. The tool provides users with an analysis of water demand and its impact on water availability at the county, state, and regional scale. WATER aims to provide the fuel industry, feedstock producers, policy makers and the general public with accurate and up-to-date information related to biofuel production.
  • The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model is a platform for evaluating the emissions and primary resource consumption associated with the production and use of transportation fuels. ANL has continued to update and expand the GREET model, since its initial release in 1996. This new integrated design is based on the GREET database layered with algorithms and a user friendly graphical interface.

The free tools are part of BETO’s larger efforts to help transform the nation's renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost-competitive, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower. For more on WATER and GREET, read the full article on the BETO Blog. Want to learn more about how bioenergy works? Watch our Energy 101 video on biofuels.

Paul Lester
Paul Lester is a Digital Content Specialist in the Office of Public Affairs. Paul was born in Ohio but spent most of his life in Florida, where he worked as news researcher/archivist and online editor for the Orlando Sentinel.
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