Perennial grass production for biofuels: Soil conversion considerations
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Auburn Univ., AL (United States). Dept. of Agronomy and Soils
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
The increased use of renewable fuels for energy offers the United States a mechanism for significantly reducing national dependency on imported oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving regional agricultural economies. As mandated by law, a wide range of issues have been raised regarding the net environmental impacts of implementation of these new technologies. While uncertainties regarding both positive and negative environmental influences still exist in many areas of this new technology, it is now possible to address with substantial certainty the positive aspects of perennial herbaceous energy crops on several important soil conservation issues. Past experience with forage grasses and recent research with switchgrass. A warm season perennial forage grass selected as one of the model bioenergy species, indicates that important benefits will be gained in the area of soil conservation as grasses replace energy-intensive annual row crops. These include reduced erosion, improved conservation of water and nutrients, and increased productivity of soils by the deep and vigorous rooting systems of perennial warm-season gasses.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10189529
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410176-1; ON: DE95001347; TRN: 94:010024
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6. national bioenergy conference,Reno, NV (United States),2-6 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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