Carnegie Mellon: Solution to Energy Crisis Could be Found Down on the Farm

Carnegie Mellon University researchers say the use of switchgrass, a perennial tall grass used as forage for livestock, could help break U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and curb costly transportation costs.

“Our report indicates the time is right for America to begin a transition to ethanol derived from switchgrass,” said Scott Matthews, an assistant professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. A 25 percent hike in gas prices since December that’s driven average U.S. gas prices to nearly $3 a gallon adds to the researchers’ call for more ethanol derived from switchgrass. The Carnegie Mellon findings were published in the May 1 issue of the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science and Technology journal.

Matthews, along with W. Michael Griffin, executive director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, and William R. Morrow, a researcher in the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said using switchgrass as a supplement to corn to make ethanol would help ensure the availability of large volumes of inexpensive ethanol to fuel distributors and consumers.

“We need to be thinking about how we can make and deliver ethanol once our corn and land resources are maxed out. Switchgrass can be that next step,” Griffin said.

Carnegie Mellon Today