Turns out clearing thousands of acres of land to grow tons of corn for ethanol isn't all that good for the environment. According to new research released yesterday, the production of ethanol actually makes a net contribution to global warming, as the rainforests, wetlands and grasslands that once absorbed carbon dioxide are turned into farmland. The research, conducted by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Minnesota and published Science magazine, found that ethanol production creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing between 17 and 420 times as much CO2 than is reduced by burning ethanol in lieu of fossil fuels. Previous studies that demonstrated the benefits of using ethanol to reduce emissions and combat climate change didn't take into account the effects of changing land use. Taking projected land use changes into account, this latest study finds that over a 30-year period, corn-based ethanol increases greenhouse gas emissions by 93 percent compared to gasoline.
The energy bill that was signed into law in December calls for a six-fold increase in ethanol use in our fuel supply, upping output to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022. And ethanol has been one of the major solutions to climate change that George Bush and corn-state politicians have been touting. But folks have been arguing for quite some time that we're geared up to invest a good deal of resources in a fuel that is potentially worse for the planet. Of course, there are ways to make biofuels more sustainable, which we might want to incorporate into our energy plan sooner rather than later.
--Kate Sheppard
