Sentences with phrase «growing switchgrass»

Furthermore, as significant as that carbon sequestration by switchgrass is, there are farmers growing switchgrass and other plants to raise cattle that have double to triple + the rate of carbon sequestration as the switchgrass for biofuel guys!

A sustainable biofuels industry will mean that farmers must make very localized decisions, growing switchgrass on one plot of land and poplars on another.

GREEN GRASS Growing switchgrass (left) for biofuels produces more biodiversity and ecological benefits than growing maize (right) does.

Without higher subsidies, «rational farmers will not grow switchgrass or soybeans for biofuel production, and rational investors will not build these plants.»

However, the President, a rancher, already knows it will soon be about acreage, not just to grow switchgrass, but for solar and wind as well.

Not exact matches

Compared with rows of maize, tufts of switchgrass grown for biofuel have hidden perks, a new study finds.

Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50 %.

Switchgrass and prairie cordgrass, both native perennial grasses grown for biomass, come out of dormancy when the soil warms up for a week or more, usually in April.

Faster - growing root systems could allow new plants to take hold more quickly, including perennial grasses like switchgrass and Miscanthus, which are considered viable feedstocks for next - generation biofuel.

New switchgrass shoots stopped growing, but stayed green and alive; the researchers referred to this as stagnation.

Previous studies on switchgrass plots suggested that ethanol made from the plant would yield anywhere from 343 % to 700 % of the energy put into growing the crop and processing it into biofuel.

After crunching the numbers, Vogel and his colleagues found that ethanol produced from switchgrass yields 540 % of the energy used to grow, harvest, and process it into ethanol.

Now, the first large - scale study shows that switchgrass yields more than five times the energy needed to grow, harvest, and transport the grass and convert it to ethanol.

Jay Keasling, a chemical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of several investigators trying to make ethanol and related fuels from plants such as switchgrass, which grows quickly and resists many pests and diseases.

Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas brought the U.S. closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass — a native North American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on the borders of cropland naturally — and proving that it can deliver more than five times more energy than it takes to grow it.

Though the study is complete for the Upper Midwest, many farmers may still be hesistant to switch to switchgrass because they are accustomed to growing maize for food and for fuel, says economist Gregory Parkhurst of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.

Research at the UW - based center will shift to bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, poplar trees and sorghum that will be grown on non-agricultural land.

A research team led by the University of Georgia has discovered that manipulation of the same gene in poplar trees and switchgrass produced plants that grow better and are more efficiently converted to biofuels.

Dr. Steve Tsengas, CEO of OurPets, explains that switchgrass is a hearty grass that grows on the plains in North America.

While there continue to be high hopes that biofuels made from plant products like corncobs and switchgrass can help meet our growing energy needs, one major obstacle has been the cost of enzymes which are used to break down these tough plant parts into simple sugars that can be turned into ethanol.

Their findings showed a startling 218 - 990 million hectares of land would have to be converted to switchgrass (which is 14 - 65 times as much land as the US uses to grow corn for ethanol); also 17 - 79 million tonnes of fertiliser a year — which would be 75 % of all global nitrogen fertiliser used at present; and 1.6 - 7.4 trillion cubic metres of water a year.

They see small - scale cellulosic refineries located near switchgrass grown on empty fields, beside pulp paper mill plants, or linked to municipal landfills, producing ethanol and using leftover biomass for co-generation of heat.

They envision vast fields of switchgrass, a tall prairie grass, grown without water on vacant land, and harvested for fuel.

By way of calibration, this would essentially eliminate the need for oil imports for passenger vehicle fuel and would require only the amount of land now in the soil bank (the Conservation Reserve Program («CRP») on which such soil - restoring crops as switchgrass are already being grown.

Based on a study from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture, we estimate that using forest and urban wood waste, as well as some perennial crops such as switchgrass and fast - growing trees on nonagricultural land, the United States could develop more than 40 gigawatts of electrical generating capacity by 2020, roughly four times the current level.

Switchgrass is a fast - growing grass that produces high amounts of thermal energy, called BTUs, when burned.

I don't endorse bio-fuels, however, there may be some geographical areas that can grow only certain types of crops such as natural grasses that don't need a lot of water, fertilizer, etc. to grow, (e.g. switchgrass) that maybe someday could provide a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative energy source.

The process entails growing trees and plants such as switchgrass that suck up carbon dioxide as they grow, burning them for energy in power plants, and then capturing and storing the CO2 released during the burning.

Switchgrass is a fast - growing grass that burns at a high temperature, supplying a large degree of heat energy.

Techniques for converting fast - growing, fibrous crops like poplar and switchgrass into fermentable sugars are still in development and are currently too expensive.

Tilman and his colleagues found that, in addition to producing more than twice the biomass than single - species planting (not less than 238 % more than switchgrass), multiple - species plantations restored biodiversity, grew on degraded land and — perhaps most importantly — could be carbon negative.

One of switchgrass» many benefits, Vogel explains, is that it need not take up valuable space that would otherwise be used to grow food crops; it is perfectly happy being grown on marginal cropland.

Yes, we did recently report on a study which showed that switchgrass could potentially yield 5 times more energy than was used to grow it and, yes, there are several companies that are working hard to bring cellulosic ethanol to market.

Like — switchgrass burns, like any potential biofuel that's grown dry.

More about switchgrass and other grasses:: Planting Switchgrass Could Improve Soil Quality:: Switchgrass Yields Five Times More Energy Than is Used to Grow it:: TreeHugger Picks: Far - Out Fuels forswitchgrass and other grasses:: Planting Switchgrass Could Improve Soil Quality:: Switchgrass Yields Five Times More Energy Than is Used to Grow it:: TreeHugger Picks: Far - Out Fuels forSwitchgrass Could Improve Soil Quality:: Switchgrass Yields Five Times More Energy Than is Used to Grow it:: TreeHugger Picks: Far - Out Fuels forSwitchgrass Yields Five Times More Energy Than is Used to Grow it:: TreeHugger Picks: Far - Out Fuels for the Future

While it shares a similar growing season, switchgrass is much less efficient at photosynthesis; Miscanthus has a conversion efficiency of around 1 % (1 % of sunlight gets turned into biomass).