Why Switch to Switchgrass?

Monday, April 16, 2007

Wednesday, April 18th
12 noon – 1 pm
Wisconsin State Capitol
President’s Conference Room -Off the hall to the right of the Senate Chambers, 2nd Floor
From the State of the Union speech to ethanol production, many people are talking about using switchgrass, a native prairie grass, to make ethanol or replace coal. A recent US DOE study showed that switchgrass and other prairie grasses from Conservation Reserve Lands in Wisconsin could produce 3.447 million tons of biomass per year. This could produce 207 million gallons of fuel if converted to ethanol, about 1/12th of our gasoline consumption. It could replace 2.3 million tons of coal if burned, about 1/12th of our coal consumption.

This brown bag lunch will explore what switchgrass is and how we can use it to meet Wisconsin’s future energy needs, reduce air pollution, and create wildlife habitat.

Speakers:

Senator Kathleen Vinehout, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and
Gary Radloff, Policy Director, DATCP, How switchgrass can help Wisconsin’s farmers.

Kim Zuhlke, Alliant Energy Vice President for New Generation, on Alliant’s Iowa switchgrass test burn and plans for Wisconsin.

Brett Hulsey, Better Environmental Solutions, How switchgrass can light our homes, run our cars, clean our air, restore critical habitat, and protect our streams.

For more information, call Ed Blume at 608-819-0748, eblume@renewwisconsin.org or Brett Hulsey, 608-238-6070, Brett@BetterEnvironmentalSolutions.Com.

Sponsored by RENEW Wisconsin and Better Environmental Solutions.