Switchgrass Makes Better Ethanol Than Corn 560
statemachine writes to mention that the USDA and farmers took part in a 5-year study of switchgrass, a grass native to North America. The study found that switchgrass ethanol can deliver around 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, as opposed to corn ethanol which can only yield around 24 percent. "But even a native prairie grass needs a helping hand from scientists and farmers to deliver the yields necessary to help ethanol become a viable alternative to petroleum-derived gasoline, Vogel argues. 'To really maximize their yield potential, you need to provide nitrogen fertilization,' he says, as well as improved breeding techniques and genetic strains. 'Low input systems are just not going to be able to get the energy per acre needed to provide feed, fuel and fiber.'"
President George W. Bush Was Right? (Score:5, Interesting)
Energy Used (Score:2, Interesting)
Also of consideration is what is the energy yield per acre? Of course, corn at 24% would be a total loser ($1 of energy provides $.24 of energy), but even at 540%, switch grass might not be the most economical method based on land used. Consider if you supply an acre of switch grass with 1 watt of power and it produces 5.4 watts - that's definitely not worth it.
Re:Almost anything is better than corn (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:You can grow all three you know. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Switchgrass is a one trick pony. (Score:2, Interesting)
Butanol is a much better alternative than ethanol (Score:5, Interesting)
About Butanol Energy [renewablee...access.com]
However a researcher from the midwest (Ohio I think) has patented a process by which it can be produced more cheaply than ethanol *without having to change existing gasoline infrastructure.*
Here's the researcher's company.
More Butanol Information [butanol.com]
From what my friend told me, the only thing preventing this right now is a lack of funding and public awareness. So please read it for yourself and spread the word.
W. caused $100 million to be invested (Score:1, Interesting)
And Bush's speech spurred on some investing:
Re:Switchgrass is a one trick pony. (Score:2, Interesting)
It actually get you fuel AND cow food. The waste product from the ethanol can be used as feed.
Re:Almost anything is better than corn (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Switchgrass is a one trick pony. (Score:3, Interesting)
For example, if you cut the price of bio/petro diesel in half relative to gasoline, I could easily see 50% of the vehicles on the road being diesel within 5 years.
A diesel-electric hybrid would be capable of some scary efficiency and low emissions. Most pollution from diesels are from them operating out of their ideal powerband.
It's easy to design a diesel engine optimized for a constant RPM and load that'll last halfway to forever that gets high efficiencies. The electric motor can provide temporary boosts when you need more power.
separate sewage (Score:2, Interesting)
Here in Japan, there are two separate sewage paths in most of the country, for soft sewage (sinks, shower, etc., mixes with the storm sewer outside (deep gutters!), and for hard sewage, i. e., the flush toilet. Some places have non-flush toilets, or have light-flush toilets, that drop into septic tanks, generally under the house. One house my wife and I looked at once in Kakogawa had a partial treatment plant on the septic tank -- stirred the sewage regularly to speed up the conversion. With the tanks, you'd have to have the septic truck come around every so often, and put a big vacuum house down the outside access and take it away.
Anyway, most Japanese people are very sensitive to sewage issues and don't wash industrial waste down either path. (Part of the reason is that there are often rice fields that use the storm sewers for irrigation in many neighborhoods, even in the cities, so it's easy to remember that what you wash down the drain could come back to haunt you.) Lake Biwa (which I really want to go see sometime) turned red some thirty years ago because of stuff in detergents, and citizens groups formed to push the detergent companies to make and sell bio-friendly detergents at reasonable prices, and to encourage the avoidance of the bad stuff. By the time they made laws, conformance was mostly not an issue any more.
Not everywhere in Japan has had such success with the environment, but there is a difference between Japan and the US. People don't tend to use old engine oil to kill ants and weeds here, either.
But, yeah, these are the sorts of problems that might have to be worked out to make common effluent useable for fuel crops.
Re:Switchgrass is a one trick pony. (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope Switchgrass is not plowed every year, it is mowed, sometimes twice annually. Replanted every 10 tears. Requires little fertilizer, if any.
Anything but Corn (Score:2, Interesting)