Penn State researchers believe they have discovered a way to use corn stover -- the dried stalks and leaves left over after a harvest -- as a direct form of electricity generation.

"The stover is chopped into small pieces and then put in a steam explosion process that produces soluble sugars from the cellulose material," said Bruce E. Logan, professor of environmental engineering.

The corn waste and organic sugars can then be fed to microbial fuel cells, which, along with wastewater, has been used to produce hydrogen gas directly, Logan and his colleagues said.

"This is a very simple, low-impact process. You get very good conversion to electricity," said team member Pin-Ching Maness, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

With 90 percent of stalks left over in the field, "corn stover is the biggest wasted agricultural resource today," said Yi Zuo (graduate-environmental engineering), another of Logan's colleagues.

The electricity produced can be used to power an iPod or a cell phone, eliminating the need for heavy batteries in such devices, Zuo said.

"We can use the energy for laptops and even some cars as a future application," Zuo said. "Energy shortage is a big problem in the world, and if people can use electricity for their house or agricultural production, it would be very beneficial."

Finding new uses for corn waste isn't the only way the university is aiding in energy conservation. A new band of partially hydrogen-powered vehicles are expected to hit the streets of State College in the near future.The normal gas engine in a CATA bus will be converted to burn a mixture of 30 percent hydrogen and natural gas, and a fuel cell car will run under the nickname "HiLion." In addition, a university maintenance van will also be converted, said Joel Anstrom, director of Penn State's Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Center.

Environmentally, the benefits of the vehicles will be significant, Anstrom said.

"They have extremely clean emissions," he said. "Hydrogen helps any fuel burn cleaner."

Another advantage to the hydrogen-powered fleet is the creation of a domestic fuel, Anstrom said.

"It's one step toward developing hydrogen as a practical transportation fuel," Anstrom said.

Students can look for the energy-conscious bus number 85 on the Loop and Link routes, as well as maintenance van number 608 by the end of summer.