Well, this is a hell of a thing
(Detroit Free Press) The multi-billion-dollar U.S. biofuels industry — promoted and expanded for over a decade by the federal government — may be built on a false assumption, according to a new University of Michigan study published today that is sure to stir all sides in the contentious debate over the industry.
Despite their purported advantages, biofuels created from crops such as corn or soybeans cause the emission of more climate change-causing carbon dioxide than gasoline, according to the study from U-M Energy Institute research professor John DeCicco.
The study is the latest salvo in the expanding battle over whether biofuels, and the farmland increasingly devoted to them, are actually providing the environmental and climate benefits many expected.
Reading on, once the entire life-cycle of biofuels is factored, it is worse for “carbon emissions” than gasoline. Not discussed is whether any of them actually make much of a difference in causing the current Holocene warm period, but, that is a debate for a different day.
There’s also a handy dandy graphic of where corn is going
Also not discussed in the article is the notion that using food for fuel is a bad idea, something even the NY Times noticed a few years back. Using more and more of it helps increase the costs of other foods. Perhaps it is time that the federal and state governments, along with both Republican and Democratic supporters, jump off the food for fuel bandwagon.
so why hasn’t the GOP Congress done something about that ?
Isn’t it their job?
The chart may be a tad misleading. The percentages changed greatly, but they are percentages of a larger pie. There is definitely a large increase in use as biofuel.
If you do the math, the actual reduction in the volume of livestock feed works out to about 15-16%.
If you look at Food, seed industrial use, the actual volume has increased by .04 billion bushels.
To see if food production was actually reduced, you would have to compare growth in population to determine any per capita change.
To make corn into bio-fuel it has to be fermented first, before distillation. The major off-gassing by-product of fermentation is CO2, by the ton.
Law of unintended consequences…
so why hasn’t the GOP Congress done something about that ?
Isn’t it their job?
They would but Harry Reid would fillabuster it or Obama would veto it.
They dont want solutions…..that makes the Democrats irrelevant.
Oh and by the by I have commented here frequently about how bad for the environment that farming is……..(IF YOU BELIEVE CO2 is bad for the environment)
The left should be going after food not fuel….Its far and away the leading culprit in the expulsion of co2 into the air…..
New Plan AGW……Dont let people eat….that will solve ALL your problems.