By Associated Press
Washington, DC – Auburn University is showing off its mobile bioenergy unit in the nation's capitol this week, converting wood chips into electricity on the back of a truck near the National Mall.
Auburn earned the spot as one of about a dozen winners of the Agriculture Department's Grand Challenge. The contest is aimed to advancing a goal of producing 25 percent of the nation's energy by 2025.
The mobile unit, used to promote awareness of biomass energy technologies, converts wood chips, switchgrass and other agricultural byproducts into gas, which can be used to generate electricity or converted into liquid fuel.
Steve Taylor, head of the university's bioenergy center, said the technology is still being refined but could soon be competitive in a variety of commercial uses.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)