Are Liquid Fuels the best use of Non-Woody Biomass?
28th March 2009 by David Malakoff, Science Writer (Photo Credit: PortWorks) If Roger Samson had a coat of arms, it might be a flickering flame encircled by a wreath of grass. For decades now, the Canadian agriculture expert has been talking up the environmental and economic benefits of burning non-woody biomass such as pellets made from perennial grasses – to produce heat and electricity. And hed won some converts: Policymakers, industry executives and farmers in the United States and Canada were warming to the idea, conducting research and starting pilot projects. Recently, however, Samson has had a harder time getting people to listen. All everyone wants to talk about is dealing with climate change by making ethanol from corn and switchgrass, he says. The money and interest got focused on liquid biofuels. Thats a big mistake, Samson and his allies believe. The push to ramp up ethanol production will be costly and do relatively little to ease climate problems, they predict – and it co
