Posted on 08/14/2023 5:55:06 AM PDT by BansheeBill
Fast growing grasses sound like a great source of fodder for grazing animals. The species mentioned in the article were actually brought in AS fodder, originally, according to the article.
It sounds like the 1st thing to do would be to graze what would effectively be wide firebreaks around towns. IF that’s unprofitable, also introduce short-height species the grazers don’t like as much. The grazers will selectively take out the grass species that create the greater fuel hazard, and as that happens, the number of grazing animals can be reduced, reducing costs. After a few years, costs would be minimal even if grazing isn’t profitable. You don’t even have all that much quantity of cow farts. (eye roll!)
Wikipedia’s article on Cheatgrass is a good read / background, and gets into lots of aspects of controlling unwanted grasses:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromus_tectorum
Thats how I’m thinking too. Cows. Or goats. That can be the new thing at the luau.
Not that I’m a big ethanol fan, but, it also seems possible that fast growing tall grass could be harvested to make ethanol*, or even used directly as fuel to generate electricity, make “starter” logs and so on. (I suppose a cynical marketer of the latter could advertise “It’s from Hawaii, so you know how it burns!”)
*For making ethanol you want high cellulose content, switchgrass being a good example.
I wonder how lemongrass would grow in this environment? (We cultivate a bit - my wife sometimes uses it in her cooking.)
Most every problem also represents an opportunity - the “catch” is finding / recognizing the opportunities, how to market them, and so on.
My objection to things like ethanol schemes is that they are high-investment subsidized projects. They tend to be expensive boondoggles, that because of the extreme disconnect between means and ends “forget” their justification almost immediately. Its all about collecting project funding. That the thing actually works afterwards is irrelevant.
Saw that a lot in CA energy projects.
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