Iowa State's Anex featured in green video

10-30-07

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Annette Hacker, director,
(515) 294-3720

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Robert Anex check biomass crops on an Iowa State test farm.

Robert Anex, an Iowa State associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, examines a plot of hybrid sorghum-sudangrass. The plant is a high-yielding biomass crop that's being studied as a possible biomass source for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Iowa State researchers are conducting a double-crop experiment with the plant: They're growing hybrid sorghum-sudangrass in the summer and growing triticale, a wheat-rye hybrid, over the winter. That would provide two crops, capture more solar energy and reduce erosion. Photo by Bob Elbert.

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Quick look

Robert Anex, an Iowa State associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, is featured in a new video by the YERT team. That's Mark Dixon, Ben Evans and Julie Dingman Evans who are spending a year on YourEnvironmentalRoadTrip.com. They're visiting every state looking for signs of environmental sustainability. During their stop in Iowa, Anex told them about the beauty of perennial grasses as an alternative to ethanol from corn grain. He explained how perennial grasses reduce erosion, maintain soil fertility, eliminate fertilizers, fix carbon and grow a lot of biomass that can be converted into fuel. The video also features an interview with Keith Kutz of the Iowa Energy Center and a visit to the plots where Iowa State researchers grow alternative biomass crops. The 6 1/2 minute video is at http://blip.tv/file/454611.