| Vol. 8 | No. 4 | October 2006 |
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Dialogue
Switchgrass is being touted as a promising energy resource. What is switchgrass and what is its potential? |
Long a favorite of cattle, switchgrass is a tall, fast-growing grass native from Florida to Saskatchewan that could reduce our dependence on the fossil fuels that currently power our vehicles and electric utilities. Although corn-based ethanol has been getting a lot of attention, switchgrass and other kinds of plant matter used in "cellulosic" ethanol require fewer fossil fuels to grow and yield three to five times as many gallons of ethanol per acre as corn. As a result, the production and burning of cellulosic ethanol generates 70 to 90 percent less carbon dioxide (the primary contributor to global warming) than corn-based ethanol. It is currently too expensive to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale, but new technologies are expected to make this process more affordable within 10 years.
Another way in which switchgrass can reduce fossil fuel use is to burn it along with coal in a power plant, a process known as co-firing. Iowa is set to co-fire switchgrass in one of its power plants, displacing five percent of the energy this plant typically generates from coal—approximately 35 megawatts, or enough to power about 3,000 homes.
UCS is working to promote policies and practices that will ensure switchgrass and other energy crops (together referred to as biomass) are cultivated, harvested, and processed in a sustainable manner. To learn more about biomass energy, visit the Clean Energy section of the UCS website.
Also in this issue of Earthwise:
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