- How about we honestly account for the cost of oil.

There are 3 Aircraft carriers, 15 support ships, in the Arabian Sea right now.
Is that bill going to ExxonMobile or to me?
What has the Iraq war cost so far? 1 Trillion Dollars?
Is ExxonMobile picking up that tab?

Miscanthus giganteus is a naturally occuring sterile hybrid. Sterility is a huge advantage in a biomass crop, since the plant does not have to divert resources into seed production. Seed production uses up a tremendous amount of plant's energy. That is why high soil fertility is required for annual grasses, such as corn, that we grow for food crops. Cellulosic biomass production is a low fertility process, thus its high energy out/energy in ratio. I think that part of m. giganteus high biomass production is a function of its sterility.
Switchgrass breeding has focused on its use as a forage crop. The selection process for forage and biomass are different. For forage, a high leaf to stalk ratio is most desirable; for biomass, maximizing stalk is desirable. M. giganteus has a tremendous stalk. From a distance it looks like bamboo. Most native plant breeding work has been done by the USDA, which has not, in the past, allocated funds for biomass breeding.
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a very winter-hardy native C4 perennial grass. Research done at the USDA Agricultural Research Service station in Mandan, North Dakota, has shown native perennial grass phenology to be 90% correlated with growing-degree days. A pseudo-sterility can be triggered in switchgrass by taking a southern-origin cultivar and moving it to a farther north latitude, where it will stay in its vegetative state longer, benefit from longer day length and still survive winter. This has been the experience of REAP-Canada, which has had the highest biomass production at its test-plots in Quebec from the southern Illinois origined Cave-in-Rock cultivar and lowest production from North Dakota origin Dacotah cultivar. There is a huge potential in switchgrass that is still untouched.
I’d like to point out, also, that there is some misunderstanding by some posters about the harvesting of biomass crops. Harvest would occur after full senescence, when the plant has finished translocating surplus carbohydrate reserves into its root system, thus sequestering carbon, dropped its leaves, and leaving only stalks at equilibrium moisture content. This is winter-harvested dry matter. M. giganteus’ tall stiff stalks have an advantage there.
As a retired native grass seed farmer, I can tell you that from a farmer perspective there are huge advantages to switching from grain crops to biomass. The total capital, labor, machinery and management inputs required drop drastically with perennial biomass crops. Non-farmers see the big switch to corn and its removal from the food stream for ethanol production as being the big problem in the present and future. It’s not. If biomass has a market, turning corn land into grass land is the way to go. It’s a no-brainer. The prairie will return.
If we reduce our liquid fuel consumption to one-fourth our present, we could sustainably produce fuel from renewable cellulosic sources. The problem is that our entire transportation industry does not grasp that the essential problem is not efficient engines, but morphology. We have incredibly inefficient vehicles, from a space and materials utilization perspective. We use the wrong tools for the tasks. It’s like pounding nails with a light pole. We buy vehicles for their ultimate load and use them at extremely low duty cycles. Our habit of using, on average, a 4,000 pound machine to move a 200 pound payload is insanity.

I have some switchgrass that I planted last year and am wanting to try and harvest the seed. I have a combine and want to see if I can find some information on how to tell when it is ready to harvest. I have about 20 acres of cave in rock that is going to seed now.
any help would be appreicated,
Cary Pichan

Re: harvesting switchgrass.
First, contact Kenneth P. Vogel, USDA-ARS, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE and he will get you into contact with people and information you need. You should be very close to harvest time now. The stalks will change in color from blue-green to golden brown. Rub out the panicles in your hand. Most of the seed should be hard and shiny, a gray color, not green. It's OK if some of the seed is in hard-dough stage. Switchgrass is straight-combined with a small-grain header. Any combine will do. Make sure the sickle sections are sharp and the sickle guards are not worn. You're cutting hay, not straw. You're going to be moving a huge amount of material through the cylinder and over the sieves and straw walkers. Don't drive fast. The combine will sound like its grinding, as if you're constantly slugged up. That's normal. Run the cylinder fast (1200 rpm is what I used on my Gleaners) and concave clearance tight. Don't worry if all seed is not husk free after combining. That can be taken care of during seed cleaning. You'll have to duct tape every crack and opening where the clean grain goes through. Switchgrass flows like water. It's worse than flax. The seed will have to be dried. Either spread out on a floor or tarp and turned twice a day. Don't have the pile thicker than 6 inches. Or blow air through it. Build a drying floor out of 2x6s, pig wire and mosquito screen with a plenum connected to a drying fan that can handle high static pressure--preferably a centrifugal fan of 5 hp. or more, not one of those axial grain-cooling fans. They can't handle the static pressure. Good luck.

Re: switchgrass harvest
Sieves are set tight, but not too tight, and make sure there's air flowing through them or the seed will just walk out the end of the combine. Walk behind the combine to see if you get peppered by seed still in the straw as it goes through the chopper. The drying floor is obviously for use in a grain bin, not out in the open.

Steve, [I notice this is an old discussion] When you talk about composites; does that include the source materials for carbon composites? I here that carbon composites have been shown to be a tough material suitable for making very light car bodies out of. The auto industry is now looking for a plan to build a better future on. What better choice is there?

Sincerely ...

PS: My understanding is that coal cuold also provide carbon for composite manufacturing. In fact, it has been proven from the time of WWII that is also can make fuel oils. In some cases even high quality jet fuels. At least that way the carbon is largely sequestered in carbon composite materials.

A carbon composite parts manufacturer.
http://dragonplate.com/
Check out the truss. And fire resistant also.

Here is a 100MPG composite car:
http://insideengineer.com/2008/07/carbon-composite-car/

I vote we go for building trucks, farm equipment, bridges, and other tools.
Sincerely, ...