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Remember when you could get a gallon of gas for just two dollars? Hard to imagine the two-dollar mark is something drivers would long for, but with current prices, that is the case. And University of Minnesota economics expert Steve Polasky says those two-dollar-a-gallon prices might never return.

“I actually don’t expect to see prices come down from where they are, they may go up a little bit further.”

Polasky says demand is the reason for the high prices. To bring them down, Americans could either reduce their driving or …

“The other way is to increase supply. There you can think about alternative supplies, coming from biofuels, other sources.”

And the U of M is thinking very hard about those other sources …

“We’ve got willow, we’ve got hybrid poplar, we’ve got alfalfa, switchgrass …”

At the U’s Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, researchers like Gregg Johnson have planted row after row of trees … mostly poplars and willows. The specially developed mini-forests are popping up in places that used to be reserved for corn and soybeans … and when it comes to growing fuels, Johnson says the trees might be far more affective than those more traditional field crops.

“The woody biomass, not only produces a lot of biomass, but it’s got a lot of different types of sugars in it. And so when you look at fermenting those sugars, the ethanol yield on materials like this is very, very high.”

Johnson says the woody-biomass producing trees are a good fit for Midwestern fields. In fact, the willows and poplars can grow well in areas where corn and soybeans can’t.

The trees can be harvested several times before they need to be replanted and, although they are only harvested roughly once every three years, produce a massive amount of material on every acre.

“This material, right now, is going anywhere from 10 to 15 tons to the acre and so it’s a tremendous volume of material, per acre basis.”

Add in the fact that, unlike corn, trees are not also needed for food, and it would seem that woody biomass is the perfect solution to the nation’s energy problem. But there is still work that needs to be done before a willow is what you need to power your family car.

Work that’s being done in labs like this on the U’s Twin Cities campus.

“It comes from fields all over the state, straight into this lab. Everything from willows to corn stalks, could eventually be turned into a fuel in this facility.”

Different kinds of diesel, corn-based fuels … even biofuels to power jet engines are being developed in the U’s fuel-research labs.

“I think we’re going to have a whole variety of fuels coming from biomass. From woody biomass, from algae and so on. I mean, now we’re talking about bio-diesel fuels from algae.”

For the last 30 years, David Kittelson and other U of M researchers have been working with diesel fuels … trying to find the best sources and how to get those sources to burn cleanly and efficiently.

“Now, when we start bringing in these new fuels, we have to do the same thing. We have to make sure that these new fuels can be burnt cleanly and efficiently.”

If Kittelson and his colleagues are successful, biofuels could finally start making a serious dent in the amount of petroleum-based fuels we now use. Reducing demand for those fuels …

“This is supply and demand driven.” … thereby, reducing the price at the pump.

For the University of Minnesota, I’m Justin Ware.

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Donald received his award at a ceremony this past weekend (November 10 & 11) at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in New York City.

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