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Adapted from The Sunday Times:   27 April 2008

	SWITCHGRASS FACTS
	• A fast-growing grass that produces about 320 gallons of bioethanol per acre • Generates about 3-4 times more energy than is used to manufacture the fuel in the first place • Ethanol production from switchgrass seems to emit vastly less carbon dioxide than does petrol production • Scientific name: Panicum virgatum L • Species is a perennial grass • Distribution: North and South America, parts of Africa • Grows to heights of 0.5-2.5m (Source: USDA; Cardiff School of Biosciences)

Britain's armed forces could acquire a new tinge of green under plans to end the military dependency on fossil fuels, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Possible innovations include the following.

• Ships could run completely on electricity produced from generators powered by synthetic fuels made from grass.
  
• Unmanned attack aircraft powered by the sun. They would fire missiles fuelled with hydrogen produced by feeding algae to microbes.
  
• Tanks could be electrically powered or run on fuel produced from oil squeezed out of weeds so hardy they can grow in the desert.

The Royal Navy’s new Type-45 destroyers already use all-electric propulsion (albeit produced by gas generators) and greener ways of producing the electricity are being explored in conjunction with the French.

The MoD has said that many of the ideas would come to fruition only in the next generation. They pointed out that factors influencing the proposal to use "green" fuels include:

• the opportunity to cut costs - both the £400m annual fuel bill, which has doubled in four years, and transport costs from places like the Middle East;
  
• the reduction of reliance on the unstable Middle East;
  
• the need to reduce the carbon footprint of the forces’ gas-guzzling tanks, jets and other equipment.

The MoD’s science and technology experts envisage more efficient engines and greater use of solar power, microbe-powered fuel cells and lightweight and remotely operated aircraft and robots. Future biofuels are likely to focus on inedible plants such as the jatropha, which thrives as a weed on arid land and desert and needs little water. It is already being cultivated in dry parts of India for biodiesel.