Switch Grass Rush Starts In Oklahoma
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 05. 4.08
How much gas can Switch Grass switch, if we could switch gas with Switch Grass? Check out our analysis below the fold. In the mean time: Let the planting race begin.
Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC), a state-initiative championed by Gov. Brad Henry, secured land to enable the planting of more than 1,100 acres of production-scale demonstration fields for cellulosic energy crops, such as switch grass and sorghum to contribute to the United States' bioenergy effort. Planting will take place within the next 45 days.
The critical piece of this effort is 1,000 acres of switch grass which will be planted near Guymon, Okla. in the state's panhandle. This switch grass field will be the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. Additional acreage of sorghum and switch grass will be planted near Chickasha and Maysville in central Oklahoma.
By most reports, you'd think that the nation's future hangs on scale up of some secretly-developed, IPO-funded, car company-invested, chemical or biochemical cellulosic ethanol (Ceetoh) production process: whether the feed stock be wood chips or switch grass or whatever.
Chemical, physical, and biological feedstock processing, however, is only one segment of the "Ceetoh" product life cycle. Equally important will be the agricultural inputs and waste products, water consumption, land requirements, transportation of raw materials to processing centers, and processing plant effluents and emissions, for example.
Here's a predetermined outcome for the US 2009 budget.
Don't expect oil companies to be supportive of Congressional appropriations in support of Switch Grass if it is felt that small-scale processing operations will have to be distributed throughout the nation's 'grass belt.' That necessity would erode the traditional cost saving edge that massively scaled up petrochemical processing facilities can achieve.
The signal development for that particular scenario would be a request from the Texas delegation to underwrite development of grass pelletizing equipment and construction of "grass elevators" for regional storage of the pelletized switch-grass feedstock.
Via::NewsWire
Image credit::Nassau County Museum, Mort Künstler, Oklahoma Land Rush - ©1988, Oil on canvas.
I'll be shocked if it is net energy positive.
I'll be surprised if it is not another environmental disaster. I can see millions of areas of land being wasted for fuel production.
How about just driving less America, it is much simpler?
If a man can go to the moon, you can bike to work.
I worry that switch-grass farmers are going to start shooting the animals that try to graze on their fuel feedstock. But then again, are there any wild grazing animals left in Oklahoma? Any bison, or antelope? And how will this affect the cattle grazing industry? This is just another ethanol debacle waiting to happen. God help us if they ever start using chipped up trees as feedstock.
Drive less. Drive less. Drive less. It's really good for your checkbook and for your waistline.
switch grass to make cellulosic ethanol is a waste of time
instead - take the whole plant & use it in a high temperature, high pressure conversion process to get diesel oil
google anything into oil
also instead of switch grass - how about a weed such as hemp - much greater volume produced, I think & it is a weed
While I fully applaud those who bike to work and the cities that make it a truly feasible option...
For many, however, biking is simply not an option due to distances, terrain, etc.
Programs to help support biking are certainly worthwhile both from environmental and health standpoints... but we also need some dramatic increases in funding for mass public transit for those for whom biking is about as feasible as a trip to the moon.
Mr. Buzzsaw,
cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass has an energy yeild ratio of around at least 10, which is quite impressive for a biofuel. And if we make it from agricultural waste the benefits are even greater
The solution:
1) Raise gas to $8 a gallon
2) Use the excess $4 to subsidize alternate fuel development, including planting of weeds such as switch grass, sorghum, and hemp.
3) Remove all subsidies on corn, rice, and soy beans and use for development for biofuel distribution infrastructure and rebates to buyers of electric and hybrid vehicles..
With this funding available, we could get off oil to something reasonable, instead of stop gap, which would result in a quick leap forward. The last objective--and possibly the most difficult--would be to somehow make the whole thing efficient and propel it quickly forward, while still controlled by the government.
We all know that biofuels are not as efficient as solar. Even switchgrass, a cutting edge energy crop, is less than one-hundredth as efficient as the best solar cell. It converts just 0.3 percent of incoming solar energy into chemical energy. And all biofuels have ongoing needs for nutrients and requires all the work of growing, harvesting, and processing. Most biofuel crops require a thousand tons of water for each ton of biomass. In the pursuit of a climate-friendly fuel, ethanol developers are either building their own coal-fired broilers or demanding more electricity from their utilities to generate enough heat and pressure to meet their needs.
Unfortunately, the global economy is dependent on transport and there is simply no immediate substitute available. In the coming years, fluid fuels will play a crucial role in fighting global warming.
Anyone want to bet on algae (http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1490/70/) being the answer?
Lauren Guite
Environmental Defense Fund
I'll take that bet.