Scientists in the United States announced plans to use remote sensing data to map grasslands in and around Nebraska in order to determine what areas are best suited for cellulosic biofuel derived from switchgrass. USGS officials said it would take much of the "guesswork" out of deciding where to plant crops for the use of biofuels on U.S. grasslands. With what could be considered standard forms of alternative energy -- wind and solar power -- gaining momentum, most of the guesswork for biofuels may be in its future.
Expensive gasoline does strange things to U.S. consumers. It prompts them to do everything from investing in a hybrid vehicle to trading in their gas-powered lawnmowers for old-fashioned reel mowers. With gasoline hovering near historic ties, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey announced plans to use satellite data to find the best places in the Platte River Basin in and around Nebraska to assess where it's best to produce switchgrass for biofuels.
Switchgrass is a good crop in that it grows fast, tall and taps into water not readily available to other plants, including most food crops. Because of this, it's relatively easy to turn into a fuel source. The White House last year announced plans for up to $510 million in investments to back biofuels for military transportation and the Navy said it wanted half of its fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020. In May, an $80 million project was launched in Missouri to make jet fuel from switchgrass.
USGS scientists have developed a method for mapping grasslands that could be well suited for growing biofuel crops. This boils down to good and basic natural resource management. But just as scientists note that just because it's green doesn't make it clean, switchgrass has its problems. Critics complain that it actually requires more energy from chemicals, heat and electricity to produce a viable fuel from switchgrass. Furthermore, replacing conventional gasoline with biofuels produced from switchgrass would actually give off more of some types of greenhouse gasses.
Production of biofuels produced from perennial crops like switchgrass can offset some of the emissions tied to fossil fuels. Agricultural considerations, however, could lead to higher levels of greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. Meanwhile, the Navy is reportedly spending four times as much for biofuels than it would on conventional jet fuel. Reports of the $1,000 hammer aside, that's hardly a wise investment.
The EPA announced this week it was examining a 15-percent ethanol mix for gasoline engines. Presumably, that's part of President Obama's trumpeted "all-of-the-above" energy strategy, but even his predecessor George W. Bush found something to love in switchgrass. Much of the ethanol produced in the United States comes from food crops so moving to switchgrass seems like a logical step. It's too expensive now, but as technology grows, so too will the Nebraska prairies used for biofuels.
By. Daniel J. Graeber
Cross Posted at Oilprice.com
Daniel Graeber is a senior journalist at the energy news site Oilprice.com. He is a writer and political analyst based in Michigan. More of his articles can be found on his Authors page at Oilprice.com
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Interesting article. We designed this wonkie greenhouse that sits on 20 acres of so-so farmland ,we ended up with a facility design that gives 50-90% shade to grow American Ginseng,a profitable looking crop. We insulated the outside tunnels of the greenhouse with switchgrass for a great R-factor. We would be able to crop it every year like cutting grass. We did combust some of this stuff without any additives. It is extremly volitile. The U.S. Navy is on to something. Our new company has the name Switch in it after our discovery of this grasses potential. We would probably ask $500/ton for what would have been waste.It came from the atmosphere so if some goes back it might be alright to use as energy. Were a long way off of building this thing but since we only have to plant switchgrass once every 10 years it just made too much sense not to pencil it into the equation.
We are killing the Earth to save the climate! Why is Earth a living planet? Earth is in the eco-nomy of all life because of her wild, natural ecosystems, and ecosystems are life giving and supporting because of the vast wealth of both plant and animal biodiversity, the bricks and mortar of man's only house, Earth. We know, agriculture and cities heat up and dry out the climate; we know that science claims, when man kills ecosystems for any reason, he is, "suicidal", and when man destroys biodiversity, he is killing the Earth -- about as safe for mankind as thermonuclear war.
Are we going to devour the Earth's ecosystems or the eco-nomy of all life for dead planet fields of switchgrass, solar dead fields and planet slaughtering windmills; kill Earth for the climate while man kills evapotranspiration, opens the Earth to the heat of the sun, killing sheltering clouds while plastering the Earth with death.
Man exists only because of wild, natural ecosystems.
Any carbon-based fuel source will generate carbon-dioxide, the ultimate greenhouse gas and the primary contributor to global climate change. Is biofuel a preferable alternative to foreign oil? Perhaps yes, with the caveat that it will do nothing to alter our primary problem worldwide, it will simply help us geopolitically.
By far a better alternative for producing electricity is clean, green hydrogen-fired steam generation www.nativesunenergy.us produced from clean-burning hydrogen fuel. There is no carbon footprint, no greenhouse gas emissions, in fact there are no emissions of any kind, toxic or otherwise.
As for automotive technology, I don't see "saving the planet" as ever making a significant difference in peoples' preference for the venerable internal combustion engine. No, the big motivator in moving away from ICE's is going to the price of gasoline... when unleaded regular is more than $10 a gallon, people might accept electric alternatives by default. One day it might be the only way they can afford to get to work!