3-2 FB Miracle Fuel

 The good news, I’ve found a crop that can save the world. The bad news, It doesn’t grow well in the NW. I’m DS…

Science Daily says Demand for biofuels is increasing as Americans seek to expand renewable energy sources and mitigate the effects of fluctuating energy prices. Corn ethanol is the main biofuel on the market, but demand for ethanol competes with corn's availability as a food, and rising ethanol consumption could lead to higher food costs.

In recognition of this problem, federal regulations mandate that 79 billion liters of biofuels must be produced annually from non-corn biomass by 2022. Large grasses, such as switchgrass and miscanthus, could provide biomass with the added benefits of better nitrogen fixation and carbon capture, higher ethanol volumes per acre and lower water requirements than corn.

Here’s Madhu Khanna, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics at U. of I. “The primary benefit of energy crops are that they are higher yielding. Every acre of land under miscanthus will give you twice as much gallons of fuel as an acre under corn.”

Dr. Khanna says that yields for miscanthus are nowhere near as good in the NW as in the East so I guess we continue growing corn.