Northern New York Watching the Gra$$ Grow

When are we gonna learn that corn is simply NOT the answer to the fuel crisis?

Hopefully, that day is coming closer.  NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) recently awarded SUNY Canton a grant worth over $150 thousand to continue research on grass pellets as clean-burning fuel for heating.

Grasses native to Northern New York, such as switchgrass and reed canary grass are being tested, according to Michael Newton, who heads the school’s alternative and renewable energy program.

[Newton said] “Vacant farmlands can be used to grow these native grasses, potentially making an extra boon for our area farmers, while creating a whole new heating source in the North Country.”

Given the low cost of growing and harvesting switchgrass versus other pellet sources, as well as the anecdotal financial benefits of pellet-burning versus natural gas for the consumer, this idea, if it works, could very well be the boon Newton is suggesting.  But these native grasses could be a boon for the North Country — indeed, the whole country — in another important way: ethanol.

Mostly, when ethanol is discussed as an alternative fuel, either in the general population or by the news media, the assumed source is corn.  And US Corngrowers do have a lot at stake in the ethanol battle.  There’s only one problem: It is a terrible source.  Whether you’re looking at it from pure economics, or if your concern is the impact to the environment, corn simply doesn’t solve the fuel problem.  According to harvestcleanenergy.org’s eNewsletter “Biocycle,” cellulosic ethanol (such as that created from switchgrass) reduces greenhouse emissions nearly twice as much as corn-based:

 ”The WTW model for cellulosic ethanol showed greenhouse gas emission reductions of about 80% [over gasoline],” said [Argonne National Laboratories' Michael] Wang. “Corn ethanol showed 20 to 30% reductions.”

Scientific American also made the case for switchgrass-based ethanol in January:

… yields from a grass that only needs to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed—in the form of nitrogen fertilizers or diesel for tractors—growing them. “It’s a prediction because right now there are no biorefineries built that handle cellulosic material” like that which switchgrass provides, [USDA plant scientis Ken] Vogel notes. “We’re pretty confident the ethanol yield is pretty close.” This means that switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol according to the most optimistic studies.

So, if cellulosic ethanol is cheaper to grow, cheaper to harvest, cleaner and more efficient than corn-based, why do we not hear about it?  Two main reasons spring to mind: first, for some reason, corn growers think they ought to corner the ethanol market.  This is folly, for the simple reason there will be no market, unless there is a better alternative to corn.  The second was stated above by the USDA’s Ken Vogel: there are no refineries.  Meaning some would have to be built.

Meaning jobs.

Oddly, one of the biggest strengths of cellulosic ethanol has been largely ignored.  Refineries will need to be built and operated.  And, they can be built and operated in areas closer to the sources of the raw material, cutting the cost of transportation and providing jobs in areas often plagued with job cuts and unemployment.

Places like Northern New York.

For more information on switchgrass biofuel, go here.