Getting High On Grass
Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does
Midwestern farms prove switchgrass could be the right crop for producing ethanol to replace gasoline, By David Biello
Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas brought the U.S. closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass—a native North American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on the borders of cropland naturally—and proving that it can deliver more than five times more energy than it takes to grow it.
The grass only needs to be planted once instead of every spring, like corn, and switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol.
Ethanol is the stuff in whiskey that makes us walk funny. Does this mean that it’s going to become legal to get high off grass? Aww, come on. You know I can’t resist an obvious line like that. I can see me now, walking back from the liquor store with a bottle of Old Lawnmower in a little brown bag.
This is ordinary, native North American grass that will grow pretty much anywhere, given adequate rainfall and a little cow crap.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is partially funding the construction of six cellulosic (grass & wood) biorefineries, estimated to cost a total of $1.2 billion. The first to be built will be the Range Fuels Biorefinery in Soperton, Ga., which will process wood waste from the timber industry into biofuels and chemicals. The DOE is providing an initial $50 million to start construction.
I don’t think anyone’s done output projections on this yet, but if corn ethanol is good and this is 5.4 times better, this could end up taking a big bite out of our oil importation needs. I’m sure the Chinese and other large oil importers are watching this closely. The less Arab oil we all buy, the better off all non-Islamic nations will be. In fact this could be the answer to several problems. If enough farmers switch from food crops to grass fuel production, Mexico, Central and South America will be encouraged to do more food farming. This will open up jobs there to replace the ones no longer available here, since grass doesn’t require nearly the labor force that food crops do. This will encourage many illegals to return home.
All these problems, the muslims, the illegals, all revolve around money and our economy. The solutions do as well.
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