Switchgrass: Taking The Place Of Corn For Alternative Fuel

If you live in any big city, you've likely encountered 'green' gas pumps, tacked on at the end of the row of regular gas, or off by themselves. An ear of corn is often stuck or painted on the pump to designate the ethanol fuel inside, which makes perfect sense considering the fact that corn is the product used to create ethanol gas in the United States today. Like with gasoline, the demand for ethanol fuel has been edging up the price of corn. The rising price of corn, used as both a food source for humans and to feed livestock, will, in turn, cause an increase in the prices of other animal by-products, such as eggs, dairy, and meat. To keep the staple vegetable-product from swelling to gas-like proportions, and to keep the ethanol as clean and earth-friendly as it can be, other natural options are being considered for the production of ethanol.

The main contender to take corn's place in the manufacture of fuel is switchgrass, also known as thatchgrass or blackbent, a perennial grass crop that grows all over the United States. Switchgrass is a warm season grass, which starts coming up in spring and blooms all summer long and into the early fall. It is an decorative plant, which can serve as a protection against erosion and can be harvested for the use of animal feeding, but, on its own, it has no essential purpose, making it an ideal candidate to take over for the more indispensable corn.

The ease with which switchgrass is able to flourish under difficult conditions is another basis for its contention as a corn-fuel replacement. Unlike corn, which requires a certain level of fertilization and hydration to grow properly, switchgrass is a durable plant, resilient to drought and with very little need of fertilization and pesticides. Less fertilizer and pesticide usage offers its own benefit to the environment.

The place of switchgrass as a new bio-fuel is uncertain though, as scientists and researchers disagree as to the effectiveness of switchgrass as a bio-fuel, and also to the effectiveness of bio-fuels overall as a reliable alternative fuel source to gasoline. Until there is some sort of proof, or at least agreement on the subject, bio-fuels may remain a slowly growing business.

The industry is not without its supporters though. Earlier this year, the governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen, budgeted in sixty-one million dollars for work on an alternative fuels plan. Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee's Institute for Agriculture have already produced, and are working on refining, ethanol from switchgrass. If it works, a success in the Tennessee program could see a reversal in the growing demand and price for the country's corn crop.