Eco Factor: Biofuel made from grass clippings and other organic waste.
In Brazil, nine out of ten cars run on sugarcane ethanol and in the US corn-based ethanol is more of a supplement. The rise in the demand of bio-fuel has forced scientists to think of ways to produce fuel which don’t depend on food crops. Scientists at the National Science Foundation think they can produce bio-fuel from leftovers such as grass clipping and other organic waste.
The latest in technology is making it possible to breakdown farm waste such as corn stalks, grass, weeds and wood and convert it into useful biofuel, thus ending the dependence on food crops. These scientists believe that they can use the existing infrastructure of oil pipelines, storage tanks, refineries and engines for this new fuel, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and is renewable.
Via: FirstCoastNews
Comments
This is an important goal in that if home owners cut their grass and mulch it, it will decompose into methane and CO2. Both are GHGs. Dry lawn debris has a dry thermal value of 7000 BTUs per lb and an acre of lawn can produce 10,000 lbs of dry debris per year or 70,000,000 BTUs per season. This is about the same as 9 barrels of crude oil. We need to utilize this resource.