Meeting US biofuel goals with less land: the potential of Miscanthus

Biofuels from crops are emerging as a Jekyll & Hyde - promoted by some as a means to offset fossil fuel emissions, denigrated by others as lacking sustainability and taking land from food crops. It is frequently asserted that plants convert only 0.1% of solar energy into biomass, therefore requiring unacceptable amounts of land for production of fuel feedstocks. The C4 perennial grass Miscanthusgiganteus has proved a promising biomass crop in Europe, while switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has been tested at several locations in N. America. Here, replicated side-by-side trials of these two crops were established for the first time along a latitudinal gradient in Illinois. Over 3 years of trials,…