John Fike, a Virginia Tech researcher, combs through switchgrass at the school's agricultural center in Orange, Va. According to a five-year study conducted by researchers at the University of ...

Switchgrass yields more than 540 percent more energy than the energy needed to produce and convert it to ethanol, making the grassy weed a far superior source for biofuels than corn ethanol, reports a ...

The researchers also say that over the lifecycle of the fuel -- from growing the switchgrass to burning the ethanol in a car engine -- it emits 94 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.

Will switchgrass, a tall, resilient and fast-growing native plant once familiar to pioneers, become the next cash crop for farmers in states in the Chesapeake Bay drainage? In a convergence of ...

Grass that needs no mowing? Endures drought and heat? And what if it resists diseases and pests, offers year-round interest and provides food, shelter and nesting sites for birds and other wildlife?