Miscanthus Biofuel

Here’s a solution for our fuel oil future!  Biofuel!  The alternative fuel!  The kind you make from vegetables and weeds and whatnot.  The most promising of the lot (and the one that’s not talked about enough) is a biomass fuel made from a plant called Miscanthus x giganteus.

If you haven’t heard much about miscanthus, it’s because we Americans tend to wait awhile to see how something goes in the rest of the world and if it works there, then we’ll do it too.  I wish it weren’t that way, but that’s the way it is.

Now, I know miscanthus is called a weed.  But during the colonial days, you know, when our forefathers were in the process of forming a new country, ornamental grasses such as  a variety of miscanthus were used as flowers around the colonial homes, some of which homes are standing today.  Miscanthus plants are still there in the gardens of some of these wonderful old colonial homes that have been preserved as National Monuments.  There are many nurseries today that sell Miscanthus (with other Latin names attached than “x giganteus”) should you want them for purely beautification purposes rather than for fuel oil.

Miscanthus x giganteus is a tall perennial grass that can be harvested every year with a sugar cane harvester and is easily grown in a cool climate like that of northern Europe.

The harvested stems of miscanthus can be used as biomass fuel for production of heat and electric power, or can be converted to other useful products such as ethanol.