Aaron Cohen

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Humble grasses may be the best source of biofuel

Sunday Dec 10, 2006

Source: New Scientist.

According to New Scientist, grass may be the best source of biofuel. According to the researchers, it is actually "carbon negative" even after you use fossil fuels to transport it to the refinery.

"The use of fossil fuels to power the process releases 0.3 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare per year - but the growing grasses store 4.4 tonnes of CO₂ in the roots and soil, meaning the net result is 4.1 tonnes removed from the atmosphere. The stems, leaves and flowers of the grasses also absorb CO₂ but this is then released again when the grassland biofuel is burned later on – meaning no net gain or loss of CO₂."

<snip>
Humble grasses may be the best source of biofuel, say researchers, who estimate grasses could provide 19% of global electricity needs at the same time as soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. <unsnip>

Corn as the crop for biofuel has been criticized because of the amount of energy it takes to grow it, harvest it, etc.

It's definitely going to take a mix of innovations to reduce our impact on the environment or to return earth to how it once was. With every innovation that is seen by some as positive there are immediately those who see negatives. Are there innovations out there with no negatives? My definition of innovation is that which improves on something that already exists. But by improving something the most obvious naysayers are those whose previous innovation now has little value.

Should innovation with no negative impact be a goal, given the limited amount of resources on our great planet? After reading Cradle to Cradle, it makes me think that humans should make this our goal.

[7] Comments

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Posted at 09:13AM Dec 10, 2006 by cohen in Sustainability
Tags: alternative biofuel eco energy sun

Comments:

Forget corn. Use water hyacinth. That thing grows like crazy and chokes waterways. Should be a great source of fuel.

Posted by Kevin Federline on December 11, 2006 at 03:30 AM PST #

Forget corn. Use water hyacinth. That thing grows like crazy and chokes waterways. Should be a great source of fuel.

Posted by globalwarming awareness2007 on March 07, 2007 at 09:50 AM PST #

what kind of grass is that?? and what is the process of the grass to produce thr fuel? thanks...

Posted by mary hope on March 09, 2008 at 01:49 AM PST #

we need to shift our trend to produce biofuels from food crops to alternative sources like Water Hyacinth. because at global level food is bscoming insecure.
thanks

Posted by sohail on May 22, 2008 at 02:48 AM PDT #

i am really uncomfortable with the idea of corn source biofuel. I am a lecturer at the university of port harcourt about to commence my phD at the university of benin all in Nigeria and i intend to see the feasibility of using water hyacinth, paper waste from MSW as possible sources of biofuel.Water hyacinth grow like wild fire in this part of the world.i think it should make a better substitute for corn sources of biofuel

Posted by momoh yusuf on September 18, 2008 at 08:40 AM PDT #

Corn is so overly subdisided by the government, the farmers will never give it up. When thye first put out the word that they wanted to use corn as a fuel the price per acrer went up almost $10 per acrer, they hit the lottery and they will never give it up even if it hurts our country!

Posted by P on March 22, 2009 at 09:56 PM PDT #

Water hyacinth is an aquatic species that thrives in real dirty water and tropical temperatures. It's yield is easily ten times that of corn on an energy basis. In fact it's comparable to the best algae yields achieved so far, but it has the advantage of not requiring a concentrated stream of CO2 to get that high yield. This is much cheaper. The dirtier the water, the faster it grows! Synergy with water treatment plants. Just combine a big lagoon with the water treatment plant, send the dirty water to the fast growing aquatic species. Nitrogen, potassium, even heavy metals are little problem for this hardy plant.