New Study Supports Ethanol Claims
A new study finds that producing ethanol is energy efficient after all. The study, by professors at University of California-Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy, will be published in the January 27 edition of Science, according to a news release. This journal is a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, so one would hope it will help put some of the arguments about ethanol to rest. The study examined six previous studies and concluded that corn ethanol reduces petroleum use by about 95 percent per gallon of fuel, but only reduces greenhouse gases by about 13 percent. Improved agricultural practices and ethanol made from plants other than corn could boost ethanol’s environmental performance. Of course, that is exactly what the ethanol industry has been saying all along, so it is not real likely that it will appease the detractors. However, like it or not, all indications are that ethanol and other domestic, alternative, renewable, biofuels … whatever you want to call them … are definitely here to stay and are getting the recognition and support they need to grow and help make this country less and less dependent on foreign sources of energy. More information on the report is available here. The Renewable Fuels Association also sent out a press release about the report with comments from President Bob Dinneen who, needless to say, is absolutely thrilled with it.
4 Comments »
Gary Dikkers
Cindy,
I’m sure Bob Dinneen is thrilled. I’m looking forward to reading the new UC-Berkeley study.
If what they say is correct, they will have proved that ethanol plants have all along been mistakenly using natural gas as their source of thermal energy. Ethanol plants all over the country can immediately switch to using some of the ethanol they make as their source of energy and still be profitable. It’s great news to hear that — since it’s now confirmed that ethanol plants make more energy than they use — they will no longer need to use unrenewable and irreplaceable natural gas as their source of thermal energy. We can start using that natural gas as feedstock for making plastics and other neat stuff.
Now if we can just find a way to break the corn farmer’s addiction to imported nitrogen fertilizers made from unrenewable natural gas, we will be well down the road to a true renewable domestic fuel.
Please ask Mr Dineen if he thinks ethanol plants will now move en masse to burning ethanol instead of natural gas now that this new study says ethanol plants have a positive efficiency ratio?
Cordially,
Gary Dikkers
Cindy
Ok – here’s the deal. You have already made your points in this forum – which basically are:
1. You don’t like the corn ethanol industry using the term “renewable”.
2. You think the corn ethanol industry is too dependent on nitrogen fertilizer.
3. You contend that the ethanol industry is too dependent on natural gas for production.
4. Ethanol is a less efficient fuel for passenger cars and trucks than gasoline
5. Things are different in Brazil than they are in the United States.
My points are:
1. The term renewable is a matter of semantics
2. Ethanol can be made from lots of things other than corn
3. As production increases and the industry becomes more efficient, it will become more self sustaining – i.e., you WILL see ethanol plants using ethanol for production
4. If the price of ethanol is cheaper than gasoline, it will still cost less to drive a mile, even if it takes more fuel.
5. Despite the differences, we can still learn from Brazil’s ethanol experiences.
I hate to cut you off, Gary, but once you have made your points – that’s it. Ok?
DomesticFuel » Wham-EBAMM, Thank You, M’am
[...] The model used in the ethanol study out this week from UC Berkeley has a nice catchy anacronym (of course) EBAMM – which stands for Energy and Resources Group Biofuels Meta Model which is available to the public on the UC Berkeley website, which is the same link provided in our previous post about the study. I like the Science Daily release on the study and some of the quotes from the researchers Dan Kammen and Alex Farrell of the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. “It is better to use various inputs to grow corn and make ethanol and use that in your cars than it is to use the gasoline and fossil fuels directly,” Kamman said in the release. “The people who are saying ethanol is bad are just plain wrong,” he said. “But it isn’t a huge victory – you wouldn’t go out and rebuild our economy around corn-based ethanol.” The transition would be worth it, the authors point out, if the ethanol is produced not from corn but from woody, fibrous plants: cellulose. “Ethanol can be, if it’s made the right way with cellulosic technology, a really good fuel for the United States,” said Farrell, an assistant professor of energy and resources. “At the moment, cellulosic technology is just too expensive. If that changes – and the technology is developing rapidly – then we might see cellulosic technology enter the commercial market within five years.” Yep – that’s what we’ve been saying here on this blog. Corn is just a start. God bless the farmers for getting this ball rolling, but in the future the fuel will more than likely come from other sources. The picture, from the release, was taken at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which became the first ethanol dispensing station in Northern California in July 2004. [...]
Domestic Fuel » New Study Story Old News but Still Good News
[...] An Associated Press story on the wire about ethanol producers being encouraged by “new study” is the study that came out at the end of January (see previous post) Just want to make that clear in case someone sees the story and thinks that this is a different “new” study. It is a very positive story for the ethanol industry, so it’s good to see it resurface for another round. This story, which datelined in Iowa, interviews one of the University of California-Berkeley researchers who did the study. Alex Farrell, co-author of the latest study, said previous research didn’t take into account ethanol byproducts such as distiller grains and corn oil. Corn turned into ethanol also feeds animals and is used for other purposes, he said, which displaces competing products that require energy to make. “Studies with a negative impact ignored that,” Farrell said. Since the latest research wasn’t funded by any special interest group and used the most up-to-date data, Farrell said his group’s information is the most accurate. [...]
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