http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/mis...s-profile.html

Partly because of the small size of the seed, switchgrass seedlings tend to be slow to develop, and are susceptible to weed competition. Unfortunately, there are no herbicides approved by government for weed control during establishment of switchgrass. However, it can still be successfully established by no-till planting and other strategic approaches

So, we have to worry about other weeds and can't use normal herbicides, wow. That's alot to take in. Also...

Switchgrass reaches full yield only in the third year after planting; it produces a quarter to a third of full yield in the first year, and about two thirds of full yield in the second year. When managed for energy production it can be cut once or twice a year with regular hay or silage equipment.

About twice a year is better than once a year, so maybe it won't be half as much land, but more like 75% as much land, still better than nothing.

 

The best way to propogate grasses is by division, not by seed. This is especially true when using cultivars (cultivated varieties) because they will not come true to form from seed. I would not use seed to grow switchgrass as an energy crop. The green industry will respond to this need with plugs of cultivars developed for the purpose and the tech for machine planting of these plugs already exists. Look for a flood of plant patents for new switchgrass cultivars as the industry responds to this market.

edit: In fact, look for some of these new cultivars to be sterile as seed production could ruin the yeild from the fields.

 

Because then people could drink it....THAT wouldn't go over well....

As we discuss this, I think it's important to keep other factors in mind, as well.

1) Our increasing efficiency in general. Don't think for one second that this is it, that we'll have to replace ALL gasoline we use now with Ethanol. Imagine that gasoline use gets cut down to 80%, just by virtue of.... Something Then we'd need LESS ethanol to replace a smaller amount of gasoline.

2) Ethanol is NOT the only alternative fuel. If vehicles like the Volt become more widely used (just sayin'! ) Then fuel consumption will be FURTHER decreased. Plus, they could run of hydrogen, biodiesel, etc.

3) Switchgrass/garbage/whatever harvesting and turning into Ethanol will only become MORE efficient, as it goes with any new technology. Perfection takes time, and ethanol is but a baby in the grand scheme of things.

I just wanted to put that out there. Make sure when you think of Ethanol's place, that you don't get hung up into thinking that the environment (auto industry, etc) will stay the same as it is now.

That is all.

 

All true.

We will only solve this problem through diversified sources of energy. The magic bullet doesn't exist and shouldn't be used if it did. Having our economy depend on any one source leads to ruin, and abuse, and weakness.

 

aka......wait for it.....OIL!

 

Because we are going to have to rely on a multitude of different energy formats to solve this problem.

Anybody that thinks we can just dump gasoline and be able to produce enough ethanol to replace it (E100) is just being unrealistic and giving into the "green" camp.

But on the flip side, anybody that says it can't help is siding with the oil camp.

A lot of states already use up to 10% ethanol. Lets try to increase ethanol production as much as we possibly can (switchgrass, corn, sugercane, trash, etc...).

If we could somehow manage to get enough ethanol to run E50 across the nation we have just replaced 50% of gasoline consumption (and reduced oil usage as well). This will inherently drive down the cost of oil/gasoline which should help.

Add to this more efficient hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and hopefully a more fuel conservative population and things could look promising.

But if we sit here and argue and fight over we need 100% ethanol, or 100% electric, whatever; we will never get to a point of suceeding at anything!

 

We don't need to replace all of our foreign oil dependency with switchgrass and it doesn't all have to be harvested in the US. Just replacing 1/4 to 1/3 of oil use would be a major improvement. There can't be just one answer to foreign oil or oil consumption period. It will take all the alternative energy ideas to replace what we have now.

 

Is it me, or do I see a consensus forming here?

 

I'm not seeing it... What consensus are you seeing?

 

That we as a nation need to diversify our energy sources.

 

Heh I was thinking that everyone in suberbia should sacrifice their back yard or a part of it for switch grass growing if this kicks off. Have the switch grass truck come around once and a while and pick up the freshly cut grass and take it off to a processing center. If it doesn't need to be tended and is basically a weed...seems to go hand and hand.

 

Actually the effect is the opposite. I live less than 10 miles from six refineries and we pay some of the highest gas prices in the state. Whereas my son lives miles from any refineries and they pay 30-40 cents less per gallon. Over a greater distance transportation costs can be spread out more.

 

You think that's just forming now?

All the smart people have been saying that for nearly ten years now.

 

Ahh yes! I'm good with that....

Also, generally being conservation minded is a good thing.

 

Actually, most of the smart people have been saying that since the 1970's oil crisis when we realized oil really has us by the *****.