Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Sharon Chambers
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 19:05
Corn may be toast, but other biofuel sources rule

Whew! The price of gas is finally starting to come back down a bit. It’s a pretty sad state of things when $3.69 per gallon means “cheap gas.” What’s the solution? Do we all need to go out and buy a brand-new Prius so we can drive across town without feeling self-conscious about our gasoline usage?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have 25 grand to drop on a new vehicle. So I’ve been researching the different fuel alternatives out there, as well as tips on saving gas. I’ve heard for years now that corn was the “fuel of the future.” Yet since the ethanol mandate back in 2005, I’ve heard many more counter-arguments claiming the negative effects of producing and consuming ethanol make the benefits pale in comparison.

Did you know, for example, that the fuel required to produce ethanol (run the harvesters, transportation equipment, etc.) amounts to roughly one-half the total volume of ethanol produced? Or that that one gallon of ethanol has only about two-thirds the energy content of one gallon of gasoline (i.e., your gas mileage suffers relative to the amount of ethanol in the gasoline). Now, several years post-ethanol-mandate, we’re actually discovering that ethanol leads to more smog emissions rather than the fewer we were promised. Whether or not you credit the rising costs of food-even in part-to the fact that nearly a third of Midwestern corn now goes into ethanol production, I think it’s still safe to say that corn is most definitely not the fuel of the future.

But corn is not the only source of ethanol available to us. In the past few years, ethanol producers have discovered a more attractive source. Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel derived from things such as wheat straw, switchgrass, grass, and wood chips. These materials are much more abundant and cheap than corn. Converting it into ethanol also requires less fossil fuel, thereby reducing overall greenhouse-gas emissions. Acre per acre, crops grown specifically to make ethanol could produce more than twice the volume of ethanol than an acre of corn. And when you consider the fact that we’re not consuming our food supply every time we make a trip to the store, it becomes that much easier to swallow (pun intended).

You won’t have to look far around Chattanooga to find people striving to offset rising fuel and food costs. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. The University of Tennessee is doing their part to innovate a fuel alternative. Their research, in conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has covered the production of ethanol from sources such as wood chips, pine trees, and other forest and agricultural biomass.

In 2007, The University of Tennessee paved the way to a greener tomorrow with their Tennessee Biofuels Initiative. Just a year later, they are on their way to constructing a biorefinery in Tennessee by 2010. The principal product of the refinery will be “grassoline”-ethanol fuel derived from plant material. And it doesn’t stop there. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $385 million in funding for cellulosic ethanol production plants all across the country. This year alone, more than 723 acres of switchgrass will be grown by Tennessee farmers to facilitate plans for future biorefineries.

So whether you’re headed across town to your favorite sushi bar, or whether you’re planning a long weekend with your significant other, there’s no need to feel self-conscious. Just keep an eye on your fuel consumption and the costs you are paying each month, stay educated, and get involved whenever possible. Remember, little effort produces big results!