In one example using switchgrass and a small SUV, the researchers calculated that the SUV would go 8,000 miles per
acre on ethanol, but a comparable electric SUV would go 15,000 miles per acre on electricity generated by that acre of switchgrass.
Not exact matches
And it Doesn't include the production of algae and duckweed, which is currently at 6,000 gallons per
acre per year, for oil and
ethanol respectively, plus co-product biomass that can go to feed or fuel depending
on demand.
The National Commission
on Energy Policy reported in December that, if fleet mileage in the U.S. rises to 40 mpg — somewhat below the current European Union fleet average for new vehicles of 42 mpg and well below the current Japanese average of 47 mpg - then as switchgrass yields improve modestly to around 10 tons /
acre it would take only 30 million
acres of land to produce sufficient cellulosic
ethanol to fuel half the U.S. passenger fleet.
Practically speaking, one would probably use for
ethanol production only a little over half of the soil bank lands and add to this some portion of the plants now grown as animal feed crops (for example,
on the 70 million
acres that now grow soybeans for animal feed).
They promote spending $ 22 billion just in federal money during FY - 2014
on climate change studies; costly solar projects of every description; wind turbines that blight scenic vistas and slaughter millions of birds and bats annually, while wind energy developers are exempted from endangered species and other environmental laws that apply to all other industries; and
ethanol programs that require millions of
acres of farmland and vast quantities of water, fertilizer, pesticides and fossil fuel energy to produce a gasoline additive that reduces mileage, harms engines, drives up food prices... and increases CO2 emissions.
The facility will be built
on 10
acres near Lancaster, California and is not expected to begin producing
ethanol until late 2009, The location was chosen because of the abundant waste that already passes by the location: An estimated 170 tons of wood chips, grass cuttings, and organic waste each day.
«If every one of the 70 million
acres on which corn was grown in 2006 was used for
ethanol, the amount produced would displace only 12 percent of the U.S. gasoline market.