"Nationwide, we can grow enough corn to produce much of the ethanol that we are projecting to use in the next 10 years or so, but only a fraction of the corn used for ethanol would come from this region,” says agronomist Greg Roth, considered an expert on corn cultivation. "Research in progress right now is refining the technology that allows us to make ethanol from cellulosic (woody) plants that can be grown in abundance here, and I think you will see that, before the end of the next decade, our region will be producing a lot of ethanol from other sources.”

Greg Roth, who has been evluating hullness barley for biofuels, is collaborating with peers at other universities to develop strains of the crop well-suited for ethanol production.

Governor Ed Rendell recently declared that Pennsylvania will inject 900 million gallons of biofuels into the state’s gasoline and diesel supplies over the next decade. The bulk of this home-grown energy eventually will come from a variety of feedstocks, Roth believes. “We will start out producing ethanol from corn but eventually transition to a more diverse feedstock base,” he says.

“Initially we could develop a cornethanol production capacity with established technologies and then transition to other grains and cellulosic sources as that technology comes on line. I expect that in the future, we will be producing a blend of cellulosic and grain-based ethanol.”

One of the crops Roth has been evaluating for biofuels is hulless barley. “We can grow barley in our region, and it is undervalued,” he says. “We have been collaborating with Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland, and the University of Delaware to develop strains of barley well suited to biofuels production. We tested one promising variety this year on three Pennsylvania farms that averaged 90 bushels per acre. That’s the equivalent of 215 gallons of ethanol.”

Another crop that has potential is canola, a variety of rapeseed that can be used for biodiesel. Although canola is considered more expensive to grow than soybeans—the most common biodiesel crop—Roth and other scientists point out that it yields roughly twice as much oil per acre than soybeans. “We are looking closely at the potential of canola,” he says. “We have planted 10 acres of canola, and we plan to harvest it and process it into oil. We want to address some of the production issues.”

Penn State is investigating canola, mustards, and other oilseed crops with an eye toward developing management recommendations, which will be very useful if commercial-scale production begins. “This puts Penn State in an ideal position to contribute its expertise in this area,” Roth says.

Native warm-season and perennial grasses also hold great potential for energy, according to Richard, an expert in “bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass”—the process of making ethanol from woody plant materials. “Switchgrass has gotten all the headlines in the popular press, but there are other grasses we should look at as well,” he says. “Other native warm-season grasses, perhaps in combination with cool-season grasses such as reed canarygrass, might be better at creating biomass for fuel in Pennsylvania. We just need to figure out how to take best advantage of the sunlight. That is really what we are talking about—converting sunlight into fuel.”