The UI team obtained a yield of about 60 tonnes per hectare of the tall grass with no issues of diseases or pests, using a sterile hybrid of the plant to prevent it becoming invasive.
"If about 8% of the land area (of the state) was given over to this grass, and assuming only half of those yields were obtained, we would obtain enough dry matter to generate the total electricity used by of the state if Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago," said team leader Steve Long.
Researchers are looking at burning the crop in a 50% ratio with coal to generate electricity with low greenhouse gas emissions, a procedure that could be undertaken in many power plants without requiring infrastructure modification.
The UI team addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science at a recent conference and said the perennial miscanthus and related grasses could prove to be an economically viable solution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"As the plant grows it is drawing carbon dioxide out of the air. When you burn it you put that carbon dioxide back, so the net effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide is zero," Long said.
"In terms of Kyoto it would be considered carbon neutral. The point we want to make is that these new plants we have been looking at really could make a major contribution and it doesn't require major technological breakthroughs to do that."
