harnessing the benefits of homegrown Energy

Renewable energy production offers a tremendous new market opportunity for farmers and ranchers. Done right, renewable energy can be a piece of the growing ecosystems services marketplace and expand and environmentally sustainable market opportunities for farmers.

A New Generation of On-Farm Energy Opportunities

Ethanol from Switchgrass

Conventional ethanol (from corn) and biodiesel (from soybeans) are unlikely to cover more than 10 percent of current or future demand for fuel. Enter switchgrass.

Switchgrass has been touted as the next renewable fueld poster child. It’s a fast-growing variety of prairie grass that once grew wild across the eastern United States and has the potential to grow in areas from the Great Plains all the way to the Southeast. A new study documents that ethanol from switchgrass is nearly five times more efficient to produce than corn ethanol.

Electricity from Manure

In the United States, the cows, chickens, pigs and sheep we raise for food release 28 percent of all methane gas. About 85 percent of this methane is produced while animals chew and process their food but 15 percent of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the “lagoons” used to store untreated farm animal waste—waste that we might be able to turn into electrical energy, eliminating the methane in the process.

Methane biodigesters, which have been around for over 30 years, are expected to make a comeback due to new technologies and better government support. By burning waste methane produced in animals’ guts and using the heat to power a generator, digesters could help meet electricity needs while destroying methane—a powerful greenhouse gas.

Getting It Right: The Potential Pitfalls of Ethanol and Biofuels

Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel have grown from niche fuel additives found primarily in the Midwest to worldwide competitors with gasoline and diesel. As production of these alternative fuels has increased, the role that biofuels can play now and in the future for curbing climate change, improving national security and helping the environment is under increasing scrutiny. more»