WEBVTT - How Grassoline Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

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<v Speaker 1>from how stuff works dot com? You're getting smarter? Hello,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. I'm a

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<v Speaker 1>staff writer here at how stuff works dot com and

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<v Speaker 1>with me today is my trustee editor, Chris Pallette. Chris

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't always see eye to eye on what

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<v Speaker 1>should or shouldn't go into the article, but I can

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<v Speaker 1>tell you one that we both agree on and find fascinating.

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<v Speaker 1>It's an article that I wrote and he edited called

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<v Speaker 1>can We Fuel Cars with Grass? So, Chris, why don't

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<v Speaker 1>you tell the folks about this article and what it says? Well, basically,

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<v Speaker 1>switch grass is one of the feedstocks for a bio

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<v Speaker 1>fuel and um. Of course that's something that pops up

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<v Speaker 1>in the news all the time. Now is uh ethanol

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<v Speaker 1>or biodiesel? UM. But instead of using corn, which is

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<v Speaker 1>something of course that that people and animals eat, or

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<v Speaker 1>sugarcane um, which is delicious, Oh yes, yes, absolutely um,

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<v Speaker 1>but very hard to find in the continental US, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>we can use switch grass, which is a great source

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<v Speaker 1>of cellulose, which is the substance. I believe you told

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<v Speaker 1>me that cell walls are made up of um. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>what they do is they break it down and make

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<v Speaker 1>it into a fuel, just like you refine oil into gasoline,

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<v Speaker 1>except you can't can't find fossil fuels just anywhere where

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<v Speaker 1>you're you know, possibly approaching peak oil, as you mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>in another one of your articles. And um, so this

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<v Speaker 1>is something that that might be grown all over the

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<v Speaker 1>world and lots that aren't good enough to grow crops on,

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<v Speaker 1>it might be a really good solution. Well, not only that,

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<v Speaker 1>switch grass has the wonderful trait of being able to

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<v Speaker 1>improve soil where it grows. So, like you were saying,

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<v Speaker 1>it grows in these marginal scrub lands that can't be

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<v Speaker 1>used for farming anyway, and it actually improves the soil.

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<v Speaker 1>So you grow some switch grass in an area for

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<v Speaker 1>about a dozen years and next thing you know, presto chango.

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<v Speaker 1>That's arible farmland now. So it would definitely help Africa

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<v Speaker 1>out quite a bit, which is one of the regions

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<v Speaker 1>where it can grow wild too. So tell us what

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<v Speaker 1>switch grass is specifically, Well, switch grass is, as its

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<v Speaker 1>name suggests, a grass. Um. It's not particularly pleasant to

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<v Speaker 1>look at it's um. You know, I think some people

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<v Speaker 1>consider it invasive and more like a weed than anything else. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>farmers especially, Yeah, and it's um. I don't know, can

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<v Speaker 1>I I didn't mean find this out to do animals

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<v Speaker 1>eat switch grass? Or is it just something that that's

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<v Speaker 1>irritating to h I think it's generally irritating. It's used

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<v Speaker 1>in some circumstances as an ornamental grass, some types are,

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<v Speaker 1>but I think ultimately it was clearly put on the

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<v Speaker 1>earth here to be used as a cellulistic ethanol. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I suppose that's it's uh one interpretation of it. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>It'll be interesting to to see what happens with it

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<v Speaker 1>because UM right now, it's very expensive to refine switch

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<v Speaker 1>grass into so eulistic ethanol UM. And of course every

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<v Speaker 1>proponent of every different biofuel has a reason why we

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<v Speaker 1>should be using theirs UM. But one thing, Josh, that

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<v Speaker 1>I found out recently since we publish the article, is

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<v Speaker 1>that converting fields to be used for biofuels, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>to grow soy or corn or sugarcane or palm or

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<v Speaker 1>palm um, can actually be more trouble because in the

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<v Speaker 1>conversion process it can release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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<v Speaker 1>I read an article in the New Scientists that said

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<v Speaker 1>ten thousand UH square meters of Brazilian rainforests. Converting that

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<v Speaker 1>over to UH grow biofuel stock crops um that would

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<v Speaker 1>actually release seven hundred thousand um ms of carbon dioxide,

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<v Speaker 1>which is amazing. You're have to use biofuels for years,

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of years in some cases to recoup the carbon

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<v Speaker 1>debt that you do by converting it. So it's seems

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<v Speaker 1>like switch grass might be a great solution to that problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Switch grass is an excellent solution, but I don't think

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<v Speaker 1>it's the only solution. You know, you can't grow switch

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<v Speaker 1>grass in Indonesia. You can grow palm in Indonesia and

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<v Speaker 1>make oil from it. And sure, you know, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>carbon debt, and that is something clearly that we're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get around, is to put any more carbon or

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<v Speaker 1>any other greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. But I

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<v Speaker 1>think even more than, even maybe more important than than

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<v Speaker 1>climate change is uh war and regional autonomy. Imagine if

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<v Speaker 1>Indonesia didn't have to import any oil from anywhere else,

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<v Speaker 1>they they were energy self sufficient. Imagine if the US

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<v Speaker 1>were energy self sufficient? How much more peaceful would the

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<v Speaker 1>world be, do you think, Chris, if we all grew

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<v Speaker 1>our own um energy supply? That's true, you know it

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<v Speaker 1>makes regions more stable. Um. There are a fewer things

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<v Speaker 1>to u to have political conflicts over. Sure, And I'm

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<v Speaker 1>not pointing fingers, but war is our fought over oil,

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<v Speaker 1>oh sure, and all sorts of other resources. Well, thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us this week. You can read can We

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<v Speaker 1>Fuel Cars with Grass? On how stuff works dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and thousands of other topics, This

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<v Speaker 1>is how stuff works dot com. Let us know what

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