Clemson gets USDA grant to evaluate biofuels effect on climate change

In South Carolina, Clemson University received a $147,744, two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to analyze how switchgrass fields and loblolly pine forests affect local temperatures through the exchange of water, energy, radiation and carbon with the atmosphere.

The purpose of the project and grant is to evaluate the effectiveness of producing biofuels to mitigate climate change and they plan to quantify the net impact that growing biomass feedstock for biofuel has on local temperature and carbon sequestration. Lead scientist on the project, Thomas O’Halloran, said in a media release, “If we incentivize the Southeast to plant switchgrass instead of loblolly pine, for example, how would that affect local climate? This study will give us some answers. Biofuels are about reducing fossil fuel use in the interest of benefiting the climate, so this research is about getting a holistic view on whether this is actually beneficial to the environment.