No, it is not a trendy sports drink.

• Position: Energy Cane - Brief article

"Energy cane" may sound like a trendy sports drink, but it actually is among a generation of energy crops that could yield up to five times more ethanol per acre than corn, according to Chemical & Engineering News. Senior Editor Melody M. Bomgardner explains that energy cane is a high-fiber variety of sugarcane now being grown in California's Imperial Valley.

Scientists bred it specifically as an "energy crop," a genre that includes the giant reed Arundo donax, napier grass, switchgrass, and hybrid poplar. Far beyond providing raw material for biobased fuels, such crops have potential for supplying inexpensive, abundant, sustainable raw materials ("feedstocks" in chemical...