why is corn ethanol bad for the environment
Learn more about the problems of this biofuel. Corn is high in starch, meaning it contains lots of energy. (The ethanol currently used in the U.S. is largely produced from corn. In the United States, a majority of ethanol is made from corn. Ethanol Damages The Environment, EPA Says — Isn't It Time ... We need to be selecting food products free from high-fructose corn syrup. E85 decreases the emissions of CO2, as well as the emissions of many harmful toxics, such as benzene—a known carcinogen. Industrial corn farming is ruining our health and polluting our watersheds. One of the bad things that happens with ethanol is that your mileage will actually decrease. It is a high-octane fuel that generates more power in higher . Making best use of the remaining limited supplies of fossil fuels. Last summer's Lake Erie toxic algae outbreak shut down the water supply for almost half a million people in Toledo and . Biofuel: Bad for the Environment? - ABC News Corn for Fuel or Corn for Food? | SciJourner It's worse for biofuel made from vegetable oils like soy or canola, because increasing the prices of these oils leads food and soap manufacturers to switch over to palm oil, which drives . Ethanol Is Bad Science And Bad Policy | American Council ... Is ethanol really more eco-friendly than gas? | HowStuffWorks Why is corn ethanol bad for the environment? The Brazilian ethanol industry uses more than 240,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer per year [TP note: compared to about 1.9 million tons for corn-based ethanol] at a cost of about $150 million. Ethanol is purely an attempt to burn off all the corn overproduction that is poisoning our environment. Ethanol is purely an attempt to burn off all the corn overproduction that is poisoning our environment. The New York Times stated that E10 gasoline, which is the gas we use in America, actually gives you 2-3 miles per gallon less than gasoline. E85 is a flex-fuel with 85% ethanol loses 7-8 miles per gallon. Brazil has a large sugar and corn market . Here are three reasons why. Ethanol. Obviously, corn ethanol is presenting ethanol by corn. Why does sugarcane produce more ethanol than corn? I think the primary flaw in the ethanol program is that it ignores all the environmental issues, and is in existence only because a lot of scientifically illiterate people wanted to do something to help out farmers. Ethanol's reputation as an environmentally friendly fuel is overblown, say researchers who claim that large-scale farming of sugar cane or corn for alcohol is damaging the planet. While biofuels produced from agricultural crops can generate less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil fuels, in practice . A recent Environmental Protection Agency report says ethanol made from corn and soybeans is environmentally dirty. Both gasoline and ethanol are produced using fossil fuel energy carriers: petroleum, coal and natural gas. We need to be selecting food products free from high-fructose corn syrup. The Case Against More Ethanol: It's Simply Bad for Environment. Corn is one of the easiest plants to ferment and distill because of its high sugar content, but that does not mean that fermenting other plants to create an alternative ethanol fuel is impossible. That mandate hurts consumers, is bad for the environment and does effectively nothing to reduce America's need for foreign oil. Thanks to America's plentiful corn . Gas mileage decrease. Why is most ethanol made of corn? Starch is a complex carbohydrate. It is used to produce many common food and industrial products such as corn-based ethanol, corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, corn cereals, corn-made alcoholic beverages, corn-made paper towels, and corn-made adhesives. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that between 2015 and 2024, Americans are on the hook for $26 billion in subsidies. 1. This report reflects the current scientific understanding of the Section 204 impacts as presented in the published literature about biofuel . So why do we continue to require its use in cars and trucks? Cellulosic ethanol is made from nonfood products such as corn stalks, wood chips and switchgrass. Unfortunately, both uses wreak havoc on the environment. Corn field in Ontario (Source: Illustratedjc [CC BY-SA 3.0]via Wikimedia Commons). When I first looked at the environmental impact of corn ethanol, I thought it was simple: Growing an acre of corn for fuel means you have to grow another acre elsewhere for food, which ultimately . "Although ethanol was once promoted as a way to slow climate change, a study published in Science magazine Feb. 29 concluded that greenhouse-gas emissions from corn and even cellulosic ethanol . That is a rotten deal. Not exactly! Corn is grown not only for food, it is also an important renewable energy source. Different Environmental Impact . On a pure energy basis corn based Ethanol uses about 110% more energy to refine the ethanol from the mash into fuel than it produces. The Administration announced today that for 2017 the Renewable Fuel Standard will require blending 14.8 billion gallons of corn ethanol with gasoline. Brian Westenhaus, over at New Energy and Fuel, has been telling me what a good product corn ethanol is.He is very familiar with raising corn for ethanol, and can see how the process has been improved in recent years. With rising fuel prices and Earth's rising temperature, people are looking anywhere to find an inexpensive way to fill up for their cars that will have minimal impact on the environment. In addition to the extra ozone pollution from burning 15 percent ethanol fuel blends during the summer, increased demand in corn production for ethanol puts a strain on the environment, from increased soil erosion to pesticide and fertilizer use to water pollution, while diverting land that could be used for food The growth of corn requires gallons of water as well as cropland, that could be preserved as wetlands. The effect that increased ethanol use has on net CO2 emissions depends on how ethanol is made and whether or not indirect impacts on land use are included in the calculations. Corn ethanol only supports the former, the energy independence goal. "The other value proposition is . Ethanol also reduces Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by up to 90% when compared to fossil fuels, performing better than any other liquid biofuel produced today on a commercial scale. Reducing air pollution along with the associated health risks to the public. By displacing agriculture for food—and causing more land clearing—biofuels are bad for hungry people and the environment. Taxpayers are no longer directly subsidizing ethanol producers, but the Renewable Fuel Standard requires retailers to blend about 13 billion gallons of corn ethanol a year into the gasoline they sell to the public. 2. The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel - in apparent contradiction to California's declaration last summer that the biofuel's . This report updates the findings of the first Report to Congress, published in 2011, with respect to environmental and resource conservation impacts, which together are intended to address the Section 204 statutory impacts since the passage of the EISA. But the Obama administration stands by it, highlighting . Currently, biodiesel, a common gasoline used to fuel many cars, is made from 80% petroleum oil, 10% ethanol fuel, and 10% other additives. The grain required to fill a 25-gallon gas tank with ethanol can feed one person for . Biofuels: Good or bad for the environment? Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is a type of biofuel produced from organic matter like corn, sugarcane, grasses, agricultural waste, and even garbage. 879 Words4 Pages. Some ethanol producers burn coal and natural gas for heat sources in the fermentation process to make fuel ethanol, while some burn corn stocks or sugar cane stocks. The growth of corn requires gallons of water as well as cropland, that could be preserved as wetlands. Nowadays, no one can claim with a straight face of the necessity to grow corn to produce ethanol, thereby increasing domestic energy supply, and loosening the noose of… As an alternative fuel, biodiesel would seem to be a very good alternative to fossil based fuels:-. David Biello explains the trade-offs to consider regarding Big Agriculture. By suspending unwise renewable-fuel standards, the Environmental Protection Agency could divert vast amounts of corn from inefficient ethanol production back into the food chain. And by driving up the price of food, corn ethanol is also costing all of us money - by increasing the cost of federal programs like food stamps and school lunches. Using a substance like corn for plastic instead of food is at the center of a debate over how resources should be allocated in an increasingly food-scarce world. Ethanol is typically made from corn and sugar cane, while biodiesel is made from the fruit of palm trees (more about palm oil), soybeans (more about soy), and canola (also called rapeseed). To produce ethanol, it must be broken down into simple sugars like dextrose and glucose. Now it takes hardly any petroleum and chemical inputs from the farmer in order to grow a crop if corn for ethanol. It remains a bad idea whose time has passed. The soil effec. The bad economics of ethanol are clear, and the bad environmental science behind its usage is even more evident. Mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Ethanol has a low . The law obliges fossil fuel providers to mix in biofuel, mainly biodiesel from oilseed and ethanol from corn. Answer (1 of 8): It depends on who "we" is. It gets worse when you consider the energy to raise the corn. Proponents of corn ethanol posit that the organic make-up of this renewable fuel source makes it highly biodegradable, thus, safer for the environment. Converting corn to ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of . In addition to the effect of latent heat of evaporation, the . This characteristic also lessens the possibility of spills compared to spills from petroleum. They thrust with a two pronged argument: that too much good food producing corn is being used for fuel, and that ethanol is driving up the cost of corn and, thus, food. Editorial: The EPA's mandate for corn-based ethanol biofuel is a bad idea A fuel nozzle for E-85, left, and traditional gasoline is seen at a gas station in Batesville, Miss. A process called fermentation then converts these sugars to ethanol. Why is corn ethanol bad for the environment? According to an article in today's Washington Post by Steven Mufson entitled "Global Food . If this tiny corner of the ethanol industry develops into a large enough producer, cellulosic ethanol could prove to be a viable, lower-cost compromise in the ethanol versus gasoline debate. In the United States of America, corn ethanol is the main raw material we use to move our vehicles to accomplish our daily goals. The non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) warns that continued production of corn ethanol is not only "worse for the climate than gasoline" but also bad for farmers, the land and consumers: "It is now clear that the federal corn ethanol mandate has driven up food prices, strained agricultural markets, increased competition for .
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