I thought it might be a nice brain-excercise, so I surfed howstuffworks.com for a while yesterday. Eventually I ran across this - which was exactly what I've been looking for for a while.
Grassoline
Some nice quotes:
"A fast-growing grass known as switchgrass can be found around the United States, Canada, Central and South America, and parts of Africa."
"Switchgrass is a native perennial species to the Americas. It grows quickly and easily on plains. It's a tough, hardy species -- in some cases, it's considered invasive. A three-year study in North Dakota published in 2005 showed that, when left alone, some varieties of the grass can produce an average yield of more than seven tons of biomass -- the harvested plant material -- per acre, depending on precipitation and soil type. The grass is also resistant to drought and requires little, if any, fertilizer. This means that it requires less fossil fuel expended on production."
"Even better, lignin -- a byproduct created when water is eliminated from cellulose -- has shown promise for use as a fuel to power ethanol production plants. If lignin can be harnessed, this could make ethanol processing self-sustaining."
"...Researcher Michael Wang calculated the energy ratio for switchgrass. He found that every one unit of energy put into cellulosic ethanol production from switchgrass created 10 times the energy output. This is much higher than ethanol derived from corn. By contrast, gasoline has an energy ratio of 1 to 0.81, which means it requires more energy to produce than it yields."
"In 2006, plant geneticist Albert Kausch said that with current cultivation and production methods, the cost per gallon of cellulosic ethanol would be $2.70. That's still cheaper than gasoline, but Kausch believes it could be brought down to around $1 per gallon [source: Newswise]. One of the ways to achieve this dramatic cost reduction is to develop cheaper enzymes and find a single enzyme that can both break down cellulose and ferment ethanol."
"Competition is tight between corn and switchgrass over which will serve as the feedstock for future ethanol production...But while ethanol made from the two crops is similar in many respects, the process by which switchgrass is turned into fuel makes it the superior choice for many researchers, politicians and activists. Corn ethanol production, for example, uses only the grain (the stuff you eat) to produce ethanol. The rest is cast off -- although, ironically, the crop residue can be used in cellulosic ethanol production."
Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a replacement for Oil...but it's promising to be a big chunk of that. There are concerns that the US doesn't have enough land to grow enough grass to make enough ethanol to replace oil. Okay, so don't replace it, take advantage of Fuel Cells, and plug-ins. Then import some Ethanol from Canada, and the rest of the Americas - as opposed to the volitile Middle east.
Just my take on the topic, but I thought it could be an interesting read for some on the boards.