U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds

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https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-corn-based-ethanol-worse-climate-than-gasoline-study-finds-2022-02-14/

U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds

February 14, 20225:12 PM EST
Last Updated 13 hours ago

By Leah Douglas
3 minute read

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.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contradicts previous research commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showing ethanol and other biofuels to be relatively green.

President Joe Biden's administration is reviewing policies on biofuels as part of a broader effort to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050 to fight climate change.

“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 of the study.

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[Phoenix61]

1. Not to mention the crappy mpg you get.

I have a Ford Escape and the mpg varies from 18 to 25. Same gas station, same driving habits.

[elleng]

2. Well ain't that a kick in the cornfield.

[multigraincracker]

3. Terrible for small engines, like

lawnmowers, outboards and chain saws. I'm happy to spend a dollar more per gallon for no ethanol fuel, when I can find it.

[Lulu KC]

4. They keep "discovering" this, but nothing ever happens

So glad Joe is taking this seriously!
I remember first hearing this around 1990, from Wes Jackson of The Land Institute, and I'm sure he wasn't the first to say it.
One of those headlines like, "Broccoli Is Good for You."

[PoliticAverse]

5. Ethanol is just corporate welfare for big agriculture. n/t

[kirby]

6. This has always been about propping up farmers...

There are tons of unintended health and environmental issues related to this choice to subsidize corn producers.

[Chainfire]

7. Lest you forget, if it is good for ADM, it is good for the country.

[Midnight Writer]

8. At least corn is renewable. As long as we rely on burning stuff for energy, it's all bad.

We should have moved beyond this primitive method of energy generation long ago.

[hunter]

9. Burning fossil fuels to grow corn which will then be distilled into fuel and burned...

...is not "renewable."

Aside from fossil fuels, agriculture damages the natural environment more than anything else humans do. Permaculture is rarely practiced.

Imagine if we took all the land now devoted to fuel ethanol production and restored it to something resembling a natural state. Rather than subsidizing fuel ethanol we could subsidize those restorations with no impact on the human food supply and very positive environmental impacts.

[NickB79]

10. I've seen this personally

My dad and uncles used to enroll all their marginal farmland in CRP programs. Sandy, rocky, and easily eroded land. They'd make more money planting it into perennial grasses and collecting government checks than plowing it. They could even periodically cut it for hay, and hunt on it. It was great. So many pheasants and rabbits every fall for the dinner table.

Once corn prices crept up due to the ethanol surge though in the 90's, land started coming out. You dump enough fertilizer on poor soil and you can get a corn crop. Eventually all the CRP land was back in cultivation. He did leave the 30 acres of old growth oak and sugar maple though, as well as all the duck ponds and marshes.

My dad sold his farm 12 years ago. The new owner cleared every last tree in the woods and burned them, filled in every pond and wetland, and tilled right to the edge of the fence lines. All for more corn. He got hit with a substantial fine for destroying wetlands without a permit, but it was a pittance compared to the profits he made off that extra acreage.

I was so furious with my dad for letting that happen, I stopped talking to him almost entirely.

[sl8]

11. Thanks for that.

It's sad and infruriating when people do that sort of shit.