Switchgrass Better Than Corn and Oil for Fuel

Another way South Dakota can move toward energy independence: ethanol from switchgrass. A USDA study finds 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" [David Biello, "Grass Makes Better Ethanol Than Corn Does," Scientific American, 2008.01.08]. The big energy advantage comes in part because switchgrass is a perennial: plant it once, and you're done! Instead of tearing up the land and replanting every year, you just mow it at harvest time, leaving a permanent root system that keeps nutrients in the soil and decreases soil erosion. Plus, switchgrass grows in marginal lands, so we can plant a lot of it without competing for space with corn and beans and other things we eat, meaning switchgrass biofuel doesn't drive up food prices the way corn-based ethanol or soybean biodiesel do.

So what would you rather base your state's economic future on: a native plant that we can cultivate ourselves and that renews itself every year, or petrochemicals that foreign companies extract and process and that takes millions of years to produce? I'd sure feel like an idiot basing my economy on a resource that's controlled by others and that might not be a viable energy source in 30 years (read about Peak Oil here).

Governor Rounds, of course, is stuck in the past, advocating the Hyperion refinery and the TransCanada Pipeline. So much for vision -- Governor Rounds can't even see the homegrown energy opportunities out his own window.