| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| First production sized switchgrass crop for fuel to be planted in OK |
| 2008-05-02 |
| Oklahoma Set to Plant First-Ever 1,000 Acre Switchgrass Field ARDMORE, Okla., April 24....secured land for the world's largest stand of switchgrass devoted to cellulosic ethanol production....Oklahoma advances switchgrass,.. The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC)... planting of more than 1,100 acres of production-scale demonstration fields for cellulosic energy crops...Planting will take place within the next 45 days. -- Planting will be in the OK panhandle. The panhandle gets about 20" of precip a year. Its not enough for corn and only some inferior wheat varieties could grow there (and since precip is variable, a lot of years are too dry to grow even that). The biorefinery will be only 40 miles away from the fields. Probably it will take a few years to get this working decently but its a step in the right direction. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #5 I believe switchgrass is a native species, Nimble Spemble. It will provide habitat to lots of animals and birds until harvested each year, so that that isn't a bad thing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-05-02 17:17 |
| #4 its a step in the right direction. not if it's subsidized. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-05-02 16:38 |
| #3 Now what happens to all this biomass that is consumed as fuel. Does it return to the ecosystem somehow? I imagine switchgrass and corn will get consumed and "returned" as "fertilizer". I kind of get the idea that this may be unsustainable. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-05-02 16:35 |
| #2 Use kudzu to make ethanol and I'd be able to drive through the South whilst thinking I'm in Kansas ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-05-02 15:27 |
| #1 I'm surprised that nobody is planting tumbleweed, as it has one of the highest and fastest water to cellulose ratios around. It also grows in very marginal soil. Come to think of it, I wonder if kudzu would work as well? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-05-02 14:17 |