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From what i have read, farmers may switch from corn to switch grass, pardon the pun. Switch grass is a native American prarie grass that yields a much greater amount of energy than corn.Ethanol made from switch grass is ethanol, is it not? So, the same ethanol tank cars would be used. Switch grass can be planted once, and when harvested, will grow back without reseeding as corn must be reseeded each year. Switch grass can grow well on poor soils with no fertilizer and little water, but if continually harvested it would need fertilizer to replace nutrients used and watering would increase yield. Hebicides would also be used, as with other crops.An acre of switchgrass can produce about 1000 gallons of ethanol versus 665 for sugar cane (a la Brazil) and 400 gallons for corn, according to Wikipedia (hope they're correct on this one). There is debate about whether one gets as much engey out as put in, ranging from less out than in (not good) to 4 out for 1 in (looks good to me). Unlike corn that will produce a crop the year the first seeds are planted, it takes about three years for a switchgrass field to come to its full potential. Once it does, it is about 5-6 feet tall with roots about asdeep as it is tall, making for an excellent deep loam.This begs the quetion of creating food shortages because a field planted in switch grass would not be a field planted in corn. I do not know if the greater energy yield of switch grass would mean fewer acres planted in the stuff versus planted in corn. It depends on greed and need. If so, that could help the food problem somewhat. With switchgrass being able to get 2.5 times as many gallons per acre then we might only need 40% of corn planted for ethanol if we used switchgrass instead.It would be supremely ironic if switchgrass, a native grass that was probably considered a weed, would turn out to help alleviate this biofuel mess we have gotten ourselves into.The law of unintended consequences that turn around and bite us should give us pause before we give 1% of GDP the world over to well intended but arrogant medlers with the ecological balance we call the planet earth, still in operation and spinning nicely after billions of years. What other mechanism can boast that? Hubris may well do us all in.
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