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The newest biofuels don’t compete with food sources, instead producing energy from inedible plants like switch grass or algae.

But development of renewable fuels from waste or substances like fast-growing algae and switch grass has been frustratingly slow.

I have moved away from the massive miscanthus grass, not only for its invasiveness but also because it lacks the elegance of grasses such as switch grass, molinia, prairie dropseed and little bluestem.

Among switch grass varieties, the stalwart Shenandoah remains the best, Dietrich says.

The federal act is intended to infuse into the fuel supply tens of billions of gallons of futuristic, environmentally sound biofuel made from such things as cornstalks, switch grass and wood chips.