Corn, Soy, and Switchgrass as Biofuels

Filed in archive Energy, Environment and Ecology , Food and Agriculture on July 20, 2006

It seems that the topic of Alternative fuels are high on the list of hot topic the last few days. Here are some discussion threads I found on the web:

GreenCarCongress discusses the use of microbial fuel cells (MFC) to convert corn stover directly into electricity.

ARS researchers are looking into switching to switchgrass, a native prairie grass, as an alternative to corn in biofuel production. They say it's a logical alternative to corn, as it grows well under minimum looking after. Each ton of dry switchgrass might yield as much as 96 gallons of ethanol.

FuturePundit cites a report that claims biodiesel is better than corn for ethanol, but opines that research funds are better spent on developing better photovoltaics. Mike at ifEnergy seems to agree.