Post by captaggie on Apr 29, 2008 9:59:24 GMT -5
www.digtriad.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=102390&catid=57
Greensboro, NC -- America is begging for an answer to skyrocketing gas prices and climbing costs at the grocery store. Local researchers think they've found the solution growing in North Carolina's swampland.
Researchers at North Carolina A&T say they can use a weed that digests animal waste as a new source of ethanol.
Doctor Abolghasem Shahabazi believes duckweed will one day replace gasoline and drastically cut the cost of fuel.
The plant can produce up to 1000 gallons of ethanol an acre per year.
Corn produces 300 gallons per acre annually.
"Human creativity can really discover and then come up with lots of amazing things and this is just one of them," Shahbazi said.
Shahbazi also expects his research to cut down on the demand for corn and the subsequent hike in food prices.
He expects the plant will be used for fuel nationwide within five years.
Greensboro, NC -- America is begging for an answer to skyrocketing gas prices and climbing costs at the grocery store. Local researchers think they've found the solution growing in North Carolina's swampland.
Researchers at North Carolina A&T say they can use a weed that digests animal waste as a new source of ethanol.
Doctor Abolghasem Shahabazi believes duckweed will one day replace gasoline and drastically cut the cost of fuel.
The plant can produce up to 1000 gallons of ethanol an acre per year.
Corn produces 300 gallons per acre annually.
"Human creativity can really discover and then come up with lots of amazing things and this is just one of them," Shahbazi said.
Shahbazi also expects his research to cut down on the demand for corn and the subsequent hike in food prices.
He expects the plant will be used for fuel nationwide within five years.
