Corn ethanol is energy efficient, as indicated by an energy ratio of 1.34; that is, for every Btu dedicated to producing ethanol there is a 34-percent energy gain. New owl species foundand it has a haunting screech, Black Canada lynx seen for the first time ever. In fact, any cars manufactured in 2001 or more recently will have the capability to . In other words, the corn and switchgrass that produced the ethanol acquired the carbon from the air to make the starch and cellulose that produced the ethanol. Brian Wright, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Berkeley has noted that real corn prices have nearly doubled since the ethanol mandates of 2005-2007. improve the environment over the past twenty years. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of . Helps Reduce Global warming. By Douglas Fischer, The Daily Climate on February 12, 2010 The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel - in apparent contradiction to. It is a completely renewable resource. Theres generally a whole lot more cellulose in plants than sugars compare a corn cob to its kernels. Yet despite years of bad ethanol reviews, some prominent figures (including former Senator Tim Wirth and attorney C. Boyden Gray in the accompanying article) offer a revanchist argument: Ethanol is not really so bad after all, and we should significantly increase its blending with gasoline from 10 to 30 percent. But that research underestimated the emissions impact of land conversion, Lark said. Visit EWG's 501(c)(4) organization, EWG Action Fund. Tilling fields releases carbon stored in soil, while other farming activities, like applying nitrogen fertilizers, also produce emissions. They have been using it for over 20 years. Oil companies, being greedy, would replace gas with ethanol and pocket the difference. Then there is the issue of vehicle engine efficiency. . Unfortunately, both uses wreak havoc on the environment. How corn is produced on farms and how refineries operate can also have a large impact on greenhouse gases, from the changes in soil carbon and the emissions associated with growing crops, to the GHG emissions from producing the fuel. Without question, hydrocarbon fuels have negative health impacts. But ethanol is no exception. In Brazil, ethanol is dominated by sugarcane. I don't know why we stopped pushing for flex fuel cars . Corn ethanol is a renewable fuel; it takes only six months to grow and harvest a crop of corn to convert into ethanol. In 2005, spurred by rising oil prices and perceptions that corn ethanol was a renewable, carbon-neutral fuel, Americas love affair with corn ethanol grew. Given that ethanol typically comprises 10 percent of commercially available gasoline, that means. Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The latest science on E15 clarifies the fuel's damaging impacts on the environment, public health, and consumers. COUNTERPOINT The Case for More Ethanol:Why Green Critics Are Wrong. Oil isn't America's only fuel addiction. For example, ethanol-fueled vehicles produce lower carbon dioxide emissions. If producers mix corn ethanol with switchgrass or sugarcane, the environmental benefits improve to reduce our impact on the atmosphere even further. These systems are now on test across the Great Plains and the PNW. In much of Brazil a second 'safrinha' (off season) corn crop is grown after a soy crop, and Brazilian safrinha corn is now a major contributor to . All rights reserved. The EPA's own data shows that corn ethanol is worse for the environment than conventional gasoline. Cellulosic ethanol -- considered by many to be the ultimate biofuel is fuel generated from a plant's non-edible parts. The part about livestock is absolutely true. While any amount of ethanol blended below the 15-billion-gallon intention of the RFS is detrimental to American corn farmers, as well as the environment, there were a few bright spots coming from Washington today. For reporters, ethanol crisscrosses beats. That's according to the Swiss Federal Laboratories, which concluded that biofuels "often shift environmental burdens toward land-use related impacts." Thanks to new fuel efficiency standards, the rationale for the corn ethanol mandate created in 2005, and expanded in 2007, has evaporated. Here is a link to our most recent work on the energy balance of corn ethanol: 2015 Energy Balance for the Corn-Ethanol Industry. Let us know if you have additional questions. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. We only would have to change a small converter in any automobile to use ethanol.Doesn't producing electric for charging batteries produce green house gases and the price of electric cars is very high. This analysis found that corn ethanol plants produce 2.1 Btu of ethanol for every Btu of energy input. But it isnt just land use change that influences the GHG balance of ethanol. Not until 1978, in the wake of the 1970s energy crisis, did Congress provide a tax exemption for ethanol-blended gasoline. Instead, its production may have made things worse. Ethanol Made From Corn Could Be Worse For The Environment Than Petrol, Study Claims. They will continue to innovate, increase crop yields and ethanol output, and add in other crops and materials to further expand ethanol output as consumer demand increases (and as higher ethanol-gasoline blends are made available at the pump). A groundbreaking study says yes. An official website of the United States government. It is also represents an environmental hazard, threatens nutritional balance by raising the cost of key . In 2014, the U.S. will use almost 5 billion bushels of corn to produce over 13 billion gallons of ethanol fuel. Feb 14 (Reuters) - Corn-based ethanol, which for years has been mixed in huge quantities into gasoline sold at U.S. pumps, is likely a much bigger contributor to global warming than straight gasoline, according to a study published Monday. Then way back in prehistoric times, we humans figured out how to hijack that microbial process for our own purposes and for millennia that purpose was making alcohol from sugar for libation (and I imagine since then theres been a whole lot of libation). "Corn ethanol is not a climate-friendly fuel," said Dr. Tyler Lark, assistant scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and lead author. New research is confirming that corn ethanol also has more greenhouse gas benefits than previously thought. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, vehicles typically go 3 to 4 percent fewer miles per gallon on E10 and 4 to 5 percent fewer miles per gallon on E15, because ethanol packs only about two-thirds the BTUs of gasoline. DAN THORNBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK, The Case Against More Ethanol: Its Simply Bad for Environment, including former Senator Tim Wirth and attorney C. Boyden Gray in the accompanying article, The Case for More Ethanol:Why Green Critics Are Wrong, Native Guardians: Canadas First Nations Move to Protect Their Lands, How Digital Technology Is Helping Decode the Sounds of Nature, Last Resort: Moving Endangered Species in Order to Save Them, As UN Climate Talks Near, a Showdown on Reparations Looms, Unraveling the Causes of the Pandemic, and Preparing for the Next, The Clean Water Act at 50: Big Successes, More to Be Done, As Rio Grande Shrinks, El Paso Plans for Uncertain Water Future, Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing, As Himalayan Glaciers Melt, a Water Crisis Looms in South Asia, Beyond Bidens Climate Plan, a New Industrial Revolution Is Needed, For a Scientist and Mother, Climate Change Is Generational Robbery, Why the Rush to Mine Lithium Could Dry Up the High Andes. So, not only is corn-based ethanol a smarter choice for the environment, it's also a healthier one for you and your family. Ethanol is better for the environment, helps keep fuel dollars here at home and it supports rural communities because that's where most ethanol Skip to content info@wicorn.org 262-372-3289 N77W24707 Century Court Growers Join | Member Benefits The effort to rehabilitate corn ethanol is linked to the perceived insufficiency of federal mandates known as the Renewable Fuel Standard requiring an escalating quantity of ethanol from corn and cellulosic sources to be blended with gasoline annually until 2022. The study, titled " The greenhouse gas benefits of . "corn-based" ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Second, the higher the price of oil, the more economically ethanol can be blended with gasoline. Ethanol's Economic Impact High Octane - Low Carbon Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol trade lobby, called the study "completely fictional and erroneous," arguing the authors used "worst-case assumptions [and] cherry-picked data.". The grain required to fill a 25-gallon gas tank with ethanol can feed one. Here, the argument for E30 is supported by recent experimental work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which shows that E30s increased torque delivers more power to smaller, specialized engines so as to achieve rough miles-per-gallon parity with current E10 fuels. Production of ethanol is a drain on resources and pollutes the environment. Washington, DC 20005. It features in stories about renewable resources, greenhouse-gas emissions, water use and . Some studies (here and here) suggest that biofuel production leads to forest-clearing to grow more crops and thus increased greenhouse gas emissions. It was forwarded to the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. The best-case scenario for corn-based ethanol is a 20-percent reduction in carbon emissions. But this alcohol-based fuel struggled to find a toehold in Americas fossil-fuel dominated energy budget. About this page. [1/2]An ethanol plant with its giant corn silos next to a cornfield in Windsor, Colorado July 7, 2006. This could, in turn, lessen the impact of global warming. Ethanol proponents underscore emissions savings, cost stability (ethanol is distilled from domestically grown corn) and reduced reliance on (foreign) oil as benefits of more drivers filling up their tanks with E85 instead of gas. In the face of these tribulations, the revisionist ethanol narrative makes a number of shaky assumptions. Corn cultivation appears to be responsible for ethanol's less-than-ideal environmental impact, according to new research by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Please be respectful of copyright. For environmental purposes, ethanol is less harmful than unblended petrol. Yet even though a portion of the corn product distilled into ethanol can be recovered for animal feed, this does not mean that corn directly available for feed has not been reduced by allocating close to 30 to 40 percent to ethanol. So why is Congress continuing to force consumers to use a fuel that increases food and gas prices and is bad for the environment and public health? Since 2010, ethanol refineries have evolved by adopting more efficient processes to produce more ethanol per bushel of corn. If passed, the victory would likely be Pyrrhic: with the renewable fuels standard regulations intact and corn ethanol being the only game in town, its unlikely that corn-ethanol producers will suffer very much. Ethanol is the second-largest customer for U.S. corn. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. 2. Ethanol has had its highs and lows. Creators of Skin Deep Database Tapwater Database EWG Verified Search. EWG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, EIN 52-2148600. Advantages of Ethanol Fuel Ethanol Fuel is Cost-effective Compared to Other Biofuels. The policy was intended to reduce emissions, support farmers, and cut U.S. dependence on energy imports. A lock ( LockA locked padlock ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. However, when it comes to GHGs, the evidence demonstrates that corn ethanol is a net positive compared with gasolineand there is room for continued improvement. Making biofuels from corn cobs slated for livestock feed will affect food supplies as well as land use and greenhouse gas emissions. Its use of corn for fuel instead of food has fed other concerns, such as possible food shortages and volatility, price shocks and political instability. 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