Climate Change

FOSSIL fuels

~300 million years ago (before dinosaurs!):

Coal Oil

Now:

CO2

Burning Fossil Fuels puts EXTRA carbon

dioxide into the atmosphere

Carbon dioxide cycles naturally

CO2 CO2

Carbon from grass is converted to CO2 by herbivores and decomposers

Climate Change SOLUTION?• Bioenergy or Biofuels or Grassoline

CO2 CO2

When using grassoline as a fuel, CO2 that is produced would have been released into the atmosphere naturally through other processes

The BEST Experiment Question:Is Grassoline Sustainable?

OrHow green is grassoline?

BioEnergy SusTainability Experiment

• What kind of grassWhat kind of grass to make grassoline from?—lots of species (prairie) or just one species (switchgrass)?

• Should we fertilizefertilize to make the grass grow bigger? Will doing this create other kinds of pollution?

• What will happen to the ecosystemecosystem when we cut cut the grass (to make fuel)?

The BEST Experiment Question:Is Grassoline Sustainable?

or

ResearchPlots

FERTILIZED

PRAIRIEHARVESTED

FERTILIZED

SWITCHHARVESTED

SWITCHHARVESTED

PRAIRIEHARVESTED

FERTILIZED

PRAIRIE

FERTILIZED

SWITCH

SWITCH

PRAIRIE

Block Layout

Planting the plots!

Harper Creek school district

Planting the plots!

Olivet school district

http://www.ndep.us/Biofuel

Biofuel Video