On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:55:52 -0400, john smith wrote:

Sugar cane has a higher sugar (and therefore energy) content than corn.
Approximately 7-10 times the energy content of corn. A WSJ article this
week reported that a US university has modified a grass that can be broken
down without the use of acids and has an energy content 7 times greater
than corn.

This:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118403019523461642.html

?

Searching on the name of the grass (Miscanthus X giganteus) provides
quite a few additional links such as:

http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/mis...iscanthus.html

But this is a specific example of a general trend that I hope we're
seeing. Biotech is still a relatively new field. And it's still
only just started to be directed to the idea of "fuel" over the past
ten years or so (at least as far as I've seen). I think/hope we're going
to see some interesting possibilities out of that area.

This does suggest, though, that government fiddling with the market such
that a "winner fuel" is chosen prematurely - esp. by the anti-scientists
currently in the administration - would be a bad thing. While Brazil
does seem to be doing well with sugar cane, our growth environment is
significantly different. And I think it would be repeating a mistake to
chose a fuel not easily/efficiently grown "at home".

BTW, searching on this grass also brings one to links regarding other
possible fuel "grasses".

- Andrew