STUDY: Fuels From Corn Waste Not Better Than Gas

BY DINA CAPPIELLO ASSOCIATED PRESS

Environment • April 2014 • Views: 981

Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration’s conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change.

A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.

While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won’t meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.

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10 comments

Randall Gross Apr 21, 2014 11:00:42am

Please note that this is not about energy from Corn Ethanol, but rather the corn waste product (stems, stalks, leaves, husks).

Randall Gross Apr 21, 2014 11:00:59am

en.wikipedia.org

Backwoods_Sleuth Apr 21, 2014 11:03:36am

Leftover harvested corn plants are very commonly baled up for use as winter time forage for livestock.
Cows produce 20% of the methane emitted to the atmosphere.
Picking and choosing scary stats is a real industry now.

KerFuFFler Apr 21, 2014 11:32:24am

Presidential primaries start in Iowa, so we will all end up subsidizing corn biofuels whether they are green or not.

Time to have some other states go first in the primaries.

b_sharp Apr 21, 2014 1:17:16pm

The difference is that fossil fuels add to the long term store of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because the carbon released is not a part of the current carbon cycle. Because we’re concerned with the immediate level of CO₂ one source of CO₂ is as bad as any other.

If we weren’t burning any fossil fuels we could burn any amount of fuel from corn or any other vegetation as long as the carbon sinks don’t shrink faster than the sources release the carbon without worrying too much about CC. Living vegetation is a sink, dead and/or burning vegetation is a source.

If we use fossil fuels to create fuel from vegetation then we’re doubling up on our release of carbon => CO₂. The climate system is going to have to come to a new balance eventually but that is going to depend on how large the contents of the carbon cycle gets. That completely depends on how much carbon we transport through time from the past by burning fossil fuels.

Only because we’re desperate to stall the increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere do we consider producing and burning non-fossil fuels as bad as burning fossil fuels.

b_sharp Apr 21, 2014 1:18:16pm

re: #1 Randall Gross

Please note that this is not about energy from Corn Ethanol, but rather the corn waste product (stems, stalks, leaves, husks).

Doesn’t matter.

b_sharp Apr 21, 2014 1:19:10pm

BTW Randall, I disagree with the caption you use as a title.

freetoken Apr 21, 2014 1:53:51pm

re: #5 b_sharp

There is also the issue of removing the material from the soil that ought to be recycled back in. There has been so much topsoil loss in this country since the 19th century that we’ve wasted perhaps our greatest physical resource.

b_sharp Apr 21, 2014 1:59:53pm

re: #8 freetoken

There is also the issue of removing the material from the soil that ought to be recycled back in. There has been so much topsoil loss in this country since the 19th century that we’ve wasted perhaps our greatest physical resource.

Farming is changing though. More farmers are tilling the plant residue back into the soil rather than burning it all the time. Here, our skies used to be grey with smoke from farmers burning the stubble. Now only the old farts do it.

Randall Gross Apr 21, 2014 6:39:05pm

re: #7 b_sharp