Domestic Fuel

The debate rages on regarding ethanol’s greenhouse gas emission reductions (GHGs) as compared to conventional gasoline. Today, Growth Energy came out against two Cornell University professors’ recent paper that criticizes the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations that grain ethanol boasts a lower GHG than gas.

Harry de Gorter and David R. Just, professors of Applied Economics and Management, will have their findings published in the inaugural March issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy, Vol. 32, Issue 1, Oxford University Press. The article, “The Social Costs and Benefits of Biofuels: The Intersection of Environmental, Energy, and Agricultural Policy,” criticizes both corn-based ethanol’s GHG reductions as well as ethanol subsidies and mandates.

Tom Buis, Growth Energy’s CEO stated, “What it appears these two professors at Cornell would have us do is maintain the status quo – keep our addiction to oil, no matter what the cost to our economy in lost jobs and money we send overseas, no matter what the cost to our environment, no matter what the cost to our national security.”

“The Cornell paper is pretzel logic at its worst. The truth is that when we fuel up with domestic ethanol in the U.S., we need less gasoline refined from carbon-heavy oil. And the science on this is clear: a peer-reviewed study published by Yale University found that grain ethanol is 59 percent cleaner than gasoline – with cellulosic ethanol 86 percent cleaner than gasoline,” continued Buis.

Buis concluded, “Academic studies, government agencies and independent papers have concluded that innovation and new technology in the ethanol industry is bringing us ever closer to a high-tech domestic fuel that can contribute significantly to cleaning our skies, while creating jobs and strengthening our national security.”