The Associated Press
reports:
Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than
gasoline at creating heat-trapping gasses in the
short term, a study claims, challenging
the Obama administration's conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil
alternative
and will help combat climate change.
A $500,000 study paid for by the federal
government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature
Climate Change
concludes that biofuels made with corn
residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years
compared with conventional
gasoline.
While biofuels are better in the long
run, the study says they won't meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law
to qualify
as renewable fuel.
The conclusions deal a blow to what are
known as cellulosic biofuels, which have received more than a billion
dollars in
federal support but have struggled to meet
volume targets mandated by law. About half of the initial market in
cellulosics
is expected to be derived from corn
residue.
About 40 percent of the nation's corn
crop goes to produce biofuels, but biofuel production from corn residue
has yet
to be extensively commercialized.
...
Isn't it time we stop putting our food supply into our gas tanks?
2 comments:
Talk to someone who knows engines & performance. Burning food in irrational response to petro-phobia is so inefficient as to be stupid.
Let's just start a development company called "Crony Capital," it should attract all manner of "investment."
"Isn't it time we stop putting our food supply into our gas tanks?"
Now there's a non-sequitur if I've ever seen one. I thought we were talking about cellulosic ethanol here. By definition that is the INEDIBLE portion of the plant.
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