Can roadside land and interstate medians be used for energy crops, and how tall are they?
Potentially these lands could be used for bioenergy crop production. This might be a good use of such lands because the crops would take up carbon dioxide, sequester carbon in their above and below-ground growth, remove other pollutants from the air, and minimize maintenance needs and fossil energy use for grass-cutting, etc. However, harvesting and removing the crops safely might present problems, and there may be no markets nearby for the biomass, making transport rather expensive. Switchgrass can range from 3 to 8 feet (1-2.5 m) in height. Tree crops are more typically 10-20 feet (3-6 m) in height, depending on the frequency of harvest. Some interstate medians and roadsides already feature trees of this size or taller, so visibility is unlikely to be a problem.
