Are biofuels really a good idea?

There's been a lot of controversy on this subject. On one hand, it's a good idea to wean the country off of foreign oil coming from countries that aren't too crazy about us. (For example, the U.S. imports almost a million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia – and if memory serves me right, that's where all but two or three of the 9-11 hijackers were from. Tell me again why we're doing business with these people?)

On the other hand, folks are arguing that every ear of corn that was used to make ethanol was an ear of corn that was taken out of the mouth of a hungry child somewhere. (Considering what happened to the price of tortillas in Mexico and the effect on the population of subsistence farmers in that country, they may have a point.)

The fact is, with a growing, hungry population, we can't afford to be turning food-producing land over to the production of motor fuels. But there are some alternatives.

Recently, a team of agronomists and others in the biological sciences finished a study showing some sources of biofuels that work a whole lot better than corn.

Those of you who are up on your history remember that when Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from old Napoleon Bonaparte back in 1803, a lot of his detractors whined that he'd just spent $15 million on "The Great American Desert." And in fact, it was just about the last part of the country to be settled.

It's no desert, though. In fact, the Great Plains are home to almost 300 different species of grass – and as anyone who has had a lawn can tell you, grass grows like crazy. This diversity is part of the key. According to the study, each acre of land in the northeast that's under the control of the Conservation Reserve Program (this is where the study came from), containing a number of native prairie tallgrass species, could conceivably produce 600 gallons of biofuel a year without taking anything away from food production.

Most of the mix consists of switchgrass, big bluestem and indian grass. The great thing about switchgrass is that it grows almost anywhere. Even better, it has one of the best input/output ratios of anything we've got. What that means is that it takes very little energy to produce a lot of energy – in fact, depending on where it's growing, that ratio can be up to 20 to 1. (In simple terms, that means one gallon of fuel to produce twenty – which is pretty darn impressive!)

The same cannot be said for corn, however, which yields only about 1.28 units of energy for every 1 unit of energy input.

Switchgrass also makes excellent cattle feed, but it's none too good for horses, sheep and goats – meaning that unless you're raising just cattle, it's probably not practical for that use.

Next time, I'll be telling you about some of the tax benefits that are available for biofuel production.