It seems like just about anything can be a biofuel these days: lawn clippings, algae, even poplar trees.  At this rate, you might as well head out to the swampy area in your backyard and chop down the cattails down for processing, right?

Well, you might be dead on with that assumption.  A team of researchers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is investigating the potential that the humble cattail, already a fixture in swamps across the northern hemisphere, may have use as a biofuel feedstock. 

While cattails and other common marsh plants play a vital role in purifying swampy waters, the group appears to believe that the plants can be successfully culled and processed as they age, allowing stands of cattails to continue with their purification process, while providing a valuable source of ethanol as well.

Because cattails grow so abundantly and ubiquitously, and because ethanol burns so cleanly, I could see small-scale cattail processing plants potentially powering back yard grills and even lawn mowers, should this new energy source prove as promising as it currently seems.