Water plants for energy production

by Robert
(Waukon, Iowa USA)

Can you advise on most likely water based plants to consider growing within a greenhouse as growing stock for the production on site of ethanol in small to modest sized operations.

Doug says you gotta be kidding. You're in Iowa and that's going to take heat to produce any plant. Second, ethanol is best produced from leftover residues from crop production - not the crop itself. Cellulose rather than sugar as the base. Finally, third - ethanol plants are closing down because of the economics of producing ethanol.

So growing stock plants for a crop - maybe hybrid Poplar trees but certainly not water plants. And you don't need a greenhouse for those.

Save yourself a whole lot of work and hassle. If you have a greenhouse, figure out a way to make money with ornamentals rather than this one. If you don't have a greenhouse, don't build one for this kind of venture without a ton of really solid financial information and a ready-willing market.

I just re-read this and it may sound too negative. Apologies for that but been there, done that with small farm marketing and alternative crop development.

I'm the wrong guy to start with on for research on this topic. :-) I prefer my crops to have instant profitability. :-)