Posted on 04/13/2022 8:39:41 PM PDT by FarCenter
...
Though biofuels have been touted for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, assessing the environmental impact of bioethanol requires including greenhouse gas emissions related to the crops needed for its production.
And "the carbon balance of ethanol relative to gasoline isn't as good as it was originally anticipated," Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told AFP.
In 2005, Congress passed a "Renewable Fuel Standard," which required transportation fuel to include a volume of biofuel that increased over time.
The law was further expanded in 2007. As a result, 2.8 million additional hectares of corn were grown between 2008 and 2016, according to a study published in February in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Lark. the first author of the PNAS study, said the consequences of converting land to corn cultivation were underestimated at the time.
"When you do that, you plow up other types of land that may have been sequestering carbon and you apply extra nitrogen fertilizer to grow that corn," he said.
In addition, some of the fertilizer used to grow corn emits nitrous oxide (N2O), a very powerful greenhouse gas.
Thus, greenhouse gas emissions related to gasoline or ethanol are ultimately comparable, concludes the study.
There are other harmful consequences, too -- including leaching of fertilizers into ground water, and the destruction of wildlife habitats to make way for corn fields.
Health dangers
Once in the tank, bioethanol emits less CO2 per liter than traditional fuels, but there's less energy per volume and so more is needed.
In addition, "it produces acetaldehyde which is a carcinogen, formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen and both of those are two of the five most potent ozone producers in photochemical smog," explained Mark Jacobson, a professor of environmental engineering at Stanford University.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
This E15 all summer long is something you better not put in your small engines unless you want to pay big repair bills.
These are good for larger engines, but it is death for small engines.
Gotta burn diesel to plant and harvest that corn, too... When there is usually oil sitting in the ground under it.
Plus tons of fertilizer, of which we are also in short supply.
Resulting in higher food cost and less food
Has Republican Senator Grassley commented?
No ethanol for my mower and tractor.
Corn syrup isnt any good for my motors
"Pres Biden is visiting Iowa ethanol plant 2morrow I’ve made repeated calls for E15 yr round bc it’s good for environment good for natl security good 4farmers hopefully tomorrow Pres Biden comes 2his senses & announces E15 yr round to lower ga$ price$ +enhance energy independence"
Plus the "Greenhouse Gas" rhetoric is just gas too.
Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide - Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? By Timothy Ball
No Smoking Hot Spot (The Australian)
Those two articles take Greenhouse Theory at face value and by the criterion set up in the theory itself finds no evidence of warming on the basis of greenhouse effect.
Sky-high hole blown in AGW theory?
"Forbes reports on a peer-reviewed study that uses NASA data to show that the effects of carbon-based warming have been significantly exaggerated. In fact, much of the heat goes out into space rather than stay trapped in the atmosphere, an outcome that started long before AGW alarmists predicted:"
That article explains why no Hot Spot has been found.
The Hidden Flaw in Greenhouse Theory
Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics
Harvard astrophysicist dismisses AGW theory, challenges peers to 'take back climate science'
Simple Chemistry and the Real Greenhouse Effect.
Those four articles each show that Greenhouse Theory itself has no basis in reality due to a direct conflict with the known laws of physics. No wonder the smoking gun "hotspot" can't be found.
Claim That Sea Level Is Rising Is a Total Fraud
That article kills any thought of planetary warming from any cause apart from the inter-glacial period we are in. Think about it. If there is absolutely no sign of an acceleration of sea level rise how could the planet be warming? The rise in sea level in the last 100 years is far less than the average over the last 18,000 years caused by the inter-glacial period we are in.
Fidiots!😡
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4054256/posts
I cannot help but think when those phone calls did not work… this got Godfather Joe’s attention.
“There are other harmful consequences, too — including leaching of fertilizers into ground water, and the destruction of wildlife habitats to make way for corn fields.“
These are the normal left wing attacks on modern agriculture .I was in a small meeting where the well known environmentalist mayor of our largest city was speaking .
He knows very little of agriculture and I heard him say similar things.
Wish I would have recorded him.
Ethanol is not cheaper than gasoline. It is more expensive. American Consumers pay less because the US government heavily subsidizes the cost of gasohol. Maybe saves a few cents a gallon in the short term but it accelerates the time for when the government runs out of other peoples money
Nothing but the best for my baby. Give the cattle my share of the corn.
Well documented fact that ethanol uses more energy to produce than you get back out of it by burning it. Google David Pimentel ethanol
The short story is that the reduced performance your vehicle gets w ethanol, results in the same amount of pollutants per mile, but at a higher cost to produce.
The petroleum industry likes to make money as do all industries as an obligation to their stockholders least they be fired. They do not invest in windmills nor solar or corn as they know it is a cost negative for them and the guy that fills his tank with this substandard fuel.
Corn is a most excellent substrate for making alcohol which can be put in old charred oak barrels for years to make fine Kentucky Bourbon. It has no place in my trucks gas tank. My truck likes gasoline and not alcohol, but for me give me alcohol not gasoline.
An amusing aside is British Petroleum. They invested hundred of millions of dollars promoting themselves as environmental friendly. It was all BS. They are not environmentally friendly or against such. It was just all advertising and nothing else. Then came their disaster in the Gulf which spewed millions on barrels of crude oil. It was an environmental disaster we were told. It was not. Those that were harmed were compensated more than justly.
Most non-FFV rated cars can’t take E15 without expensive fuel system damage.
If ethanol is desired, growing switchgrass makes a lot more sense than corn.
That said, if grain exports from Russia and Ukraine are seriously reduced by the current war, we may have no choice but to grow as much grain as practical — for FOOD.
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