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[RC] Ethanol from switchgrass? - Mary HowellA Northern Virginia politician recently published a column about converting depleted croplands to ethanol producing crops. She said using corn to make ethanol is inefficient and mentioned switchgrass as a better crop, producing "up to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre, with the residue used as biomass in methane generators to produce electricity." Anyone ever heard of this stuff? Is it like wheat? BTW, I've lived in Central VA almost 40 years and have never seen as many fields of corn as this year! Now that its over 5 feet tall and on both sides of many of the rural roads, it's causing an issue with local deer. Normally you can see large groups of them hanging out in the middle of fields planted in low-profle crops like soybeans or wheat, but in the last few weeks we've seen several disoriented deer pop out on the road with no warning. I'd heard our local biodisel plant in West Point (that Prez Bush visited in 05) fronted the cost of putting this large corn crops in the ground for farmers short on cash. Good news is that even if another Hurricane Isabel comes along, the crop will still be salvageable for biodiesel use. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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