 A recent ethanol study by the University of Minnesota suggests that corn-based ethanol maybe more harmful (climate change, greenhouse gases, health effects) and costly to the environment than gasoline itself. With this said, it is important to note that quite a bit of the US production of ethanol is currently reliant on first generation biofuels, such as corn.
"To understand the environmental and health consequences of biofuels," says Jason Hill, one of the lead author's of the report. "We must look well beyond the tailpipe to how and where biofuels are produced."
According to the findings in this study, for each billion gallons of fuel produced and expelled into the air through a vehicles exhaust, the combined health and greenhouse costs are $469 million for gasoline and somewhere between $472 million to $952 million for corn ethanol, the variance being dependent on whether the biorefinery heat source is coming from natural gas, coal, or corn stover.
They found that ethanol made from corn would result in health costs of as much as 93 cents per gallon compared to 34 cents a gallon for gasoline.
The results for ethanol varied according to how the fuel is produced. Ethanol produced by coal-fired plants fared the worst. Ethanol from plants that use natural gas still came out with higher costs than gasoline.
Ethanol made from prairie grasses fared much better than gasoline or corn ethanol at 24 cents per gallon.
Researchers from Stanford University and the Energy Department also were involved in the study.Labels: corn, ethanol, gas |
