A groundbreaking study says yes. We can eat it, process it into syrup and use it as a sweetener, fuel our cars with it, and feed it to our animals. As it turns out, the data show that the last decade was a time of great innovation and productivity improvement in both corn production and ethanol refinery technologies. All rights reserved. PREVIOUS STUDIES: In the face of these tribulations, the revisionist ethanol narrative makes a number of shaky assumptions. The American Automobile Association (AAA) has objected to ethanol blend increases even to 15 percent, noting that it could cause accelerated engine wear and failure, as well as fuel-system damage. Copyright 2020, Environmental Working Group. 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. Washington-based award-winning journalist covering agriculture and energy including competition, regulation, federal agencies, corporate consolidation, environment and climate, racial discrimination and labour, previously at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Innovation is Driving Down Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Corn-based Ethanol Ethanol, on the other hand, makes up about 10% of U.S. gasoline supply, and ethanols share of gasoline is slowly increasing. Washington, DC 20005. All rights reserved, First used in 1826 to power internal combustion engines, Congress provide a tax exemption for ethanol-blended gasoline, that is, produced by fermenting the sugars contained in corn kernels, mandated that by 2012, 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels, cellulosic ethanol is not yet ready for prime time. Another study published last year in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics found that between 2003 and 2014, increases in ethanol demand alone led to a 3 percent increase in corn acreage, and less than one percent increase in total crop acreage in the United States by 2012 compared to 2008. Meat-producing animals consumed an average of 38 percent of the U.S. corn crop from 2012 to 2016, about the same as used for ethanol. Oil isn't America's only fuel addiction. 2. By Douglas Fischer, The Daily Climate on February 12, 2010 The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel - in apparent contradiction to. However, in a country like Brazil, they use sugarcane as the primary substance. Environmental advocates have long warned that incentivizing ethanol production could be a net loss for the planet. Unauthorized use is prohibited. . Spike in Food Prices. The higher the price of corn, the more expensive it is to divert from feeding animals or making high-fructose corn syrup and instead distill it as alcohol fuel for cars and trucks. From the statistics and evidences above, the question on whether corn-based ethanol fuel is doing its job remains debatable. This was a far smaller impact than previously projected. The Energy Policy Act mandated that by 2012, 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels be blended annually into gasoline. The idea that ethanol demand has no effect on corn prices would come as news to economists documenting its continuing pivotal role. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. America and Corn Cob Ethanol: The Beginning of a New Love Affair? Corn ethanol is ethanol produced from corn biomass and is the main source of ethanol fuel in the United States, mandated to be blended with gasoline in the Renewable Fuel Standard.Corn ethanol is produced by ethanol fermentation and distillation.It is debatable whether the production and use of corn ethanol results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline. From: Food Industry Wastes, 2013. A study we just published in the journal Biofuels found that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from corn ethanol are about 39 percent lower than gasoline on energy equivalent basis. The Science study concluded that ethanol releases "modestly lower total emissions" than gasoline but only if people are eating less; not if growing and harvesting more corn is required to feed them. Since 2010, ethanol refineries have evolved by adopting more efficient processes to produce more ethanol per bushel of corn. But because virtually all ethanol generated for Americas automobiles is corn-based that is, produced by fermenting the sugars contained in corn kernels the subsidies have been a boon to the corn industry [pdf]. In 2005, spurred by rising oil prices and perceptions that corn ethanol was a renewable, carbon-neutral fuel, Americas love affair with corn ethanol grew. In fact, thanks to the corn ethanol mandate, we have lost more than wetlands and grasslands in the last four years than in the previous 40. Corn ethanol is uniquely positioned to play a larger role in the future of transportation fuels. Please be respectful of copyright. Affinity For Water. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. But this would mean further EPA regulatory backing for E30 to assure its availability. The test for biofuels should be to see if the energy required to produce it is less than the output energy. Ethanol has had its highs and lows. Most drivers are already using ethanol-blended fuels. The federal Conservation Stewardship Program, or CSP, spends little of its billions in funding on practices and enhancements that reduce farmings greenhouse gas emissions. Reuters and Bloomberg both reported that against a backdrop of lower crude oil prices, ADM is looking at strategic options in its ethanol business after spending $1.3 billion since 2006 to build two new ethanol plants and seeing its fourth-quarter 2015 profits fall. Refinery efficiency improvements can have benefits beyond reducing GHG emissions as well, such as producing co-products like corn oil. Additionally, corn is incredibly versatile. Yet even though a portion of the corn product distilled into ethanol can be recovered for animal feed, this does not mean that corn directly available for feed has not been reduced by allocating close to 30 to 40 percent to ethanol. @Tibor Nemeth - thank you for your inquiry. The EPA's own data show that corn ethanol is worse for the environment than conventional gasoline. Ethanol sales are actually projected to decline, according to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, from 135 billion gallons to 125 billion gallons in 2022, which is one reason behind the urgency of the ethanol industry to adopt higher blend levels. It remains a bad idea whose time has passed. So why is Congress continuing to force consumers to use a fuel that increases food and gas prices and is bad for the environment and public health? Today, Teflon-like compounds called PFAS are found in the blood of almost all Americans. For example, in corn ethanol plants, dried distiller's grains with solubles, syrup, and corn stover can be used to produce electricity and process steam in order to reduce GHG emissions. Not to mention that the batteries used in electric cars are at times dangerous they have the ability to explode. Fermentation. Having too much dependence on corn ethanol has a large potential to contribute to a huge loss of grassland ecosystems and reduce the positive impact of environmentally friendly programs designed to decrease soil erosion. While any amount of ethanol blended below the 15-billion-gallon intention of the RFS is detrimental to American corn farmers, as well as the environment, there were a few bright spots coming from Washington today. The biomass in the ethanol adds fermentation, a system that breaks down any chemicals or other substance in any liquid. Ethanol is better for the environment, helps keep fuel dollars here at home and it supports rural communities because that's where most ethanol Skip to content info@wicorn.org 262-372-3289 N77W24707 Century Court Growers Join | Member Benefits Under the RFS, Congress set blending requirements through 2022, but not beyond, giving the EPA authority to impose reforms. These studies demonstrate that although there were additional acres brought into corn production as a result of ethanol demand, the land use change impacts werent nearly as drastic as we once thought. Over the past two decades, the demand for renewable fuels including corn-based ethanol has helped drive a strong domestic market for corn, and supported rural America by generating jobs (PDF, 1.5 MB). But eventually we came upon a more sober application of alcohol: fuel. Spurred by the absurd biofuel volumes mandated by the Federal Renewable Fuels Standard, farmers in recent years have plowed over 5 millions of. On the bright side, America's farming and ethanol communities have heroically risen to a great challenge and defeated all the naysayers. Is ethanol fuel good for . Ethanol may be good for the agricultural community that gets to divert crops to supplement gas but it may not be too good for the environment. Ethanol is the second-largest customer for U.S. corn. Even so, removing federal support of corn ethanol has proved difficult. Ethanol in the United States is dominated by corn. How corn is produced on farms and how refineries operate can also have a large impact on greenhouse gases, from the changes in soil carbon and the emissions associated with growing crops, to the GHG emissions from producing the fuel. Pros. Australia's corporate watchdog is investigating several companies and financial institutions for "greenwashing", or exaggerated claims regarding environment-friendly investment and products, a senior official said on Tuesday. In 2010, the agency published a 1,100-page document that detailed the environmental and economic effects of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is the federal mandate that requires retailers to blend ethanol into the fuel they sell to the public. Each year, roughly 30% of field corn goes into fuel ethanol. You used the term methanol in the text of your question but linked to a USDA blog post on ethanol. Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by David Gregorio. By C.FordRunge "corn-based" ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Excellent. Download as PDF. A 2015 study published in the Annual Review of Resource Economics showed that although higher corn prices gave an incentive to farmers to grow more corn, farmers responded with increases in double-cropping and planting in fields that were fallow, and reducing temporary pasture to increase corn productionand far less land use change than originally predicted. Of course, taking these changes into account further drives down ethanols lifecycle GHG emissions. But when corn prices rise and oil prices fall, ethanol margins are flat. But this alcohol-based fuel struggled to find a toehold in Americas fossil-fuel dominated energy budget. Nevertheless, the tide may be turning. Today, oil prices remain low and corn prices are strengthening again. Over recent decades the use of cover crops as part of the "sistema plantio direto" has become an important feature of Brazilian agriculture. However, when it comes to GHGs, the evidence demonstrates that corn ethanol is a net positive compared with gasolineand there is room for continued improvement. Given that ethanol typically comprises 10 percent of commercially available gasoline, that means. Does the oil industry have deep pockets ? He is former director of the university's Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy and has written for Foreign Affairs. If growing biofuel has more earning power, land meant for growing food will likely be diverted for biofuels. If passed, the victory would likely be Pyrrhic: with the renewable fuels standard regulations intact and corn ethanol being the only game in town, its unlikely that corn-ethanol producers will suffer very much. Currently, we use approximately 40 percent of corn grown in the U.S to create ethanol, and 36 percent to feed animals. While the overall impacts on climate remain uncertain, there is no clear evidence that ethanol is part of the solution rather than the problem. For example, in the US, corn is the primary material in the production of ethanol. Ethanol's Economic Impact High Octane - Low Carbon In support, they cite studies related to the impacts of aromatic hydrocarbons from gasoline additives used to boost octane, which lead in turn to secondary particulates with impacts on human health. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. It also causes a problem for air pollution in cities and rural areas. Enter the Tea Party In 2007 alone the U.S. sank more than $6 billion in subsidies to support the production of corn ethanol. But in recent years, its economic benefits have been questioned (see here, here, here and here). And so theres a lot more feedstock for making cellulosic ethanol than for making traditional, grain-based forms of ethanol. Corn ethanol LCA in US (Far more per capita land and other resources) and sugar cane based ethanol are not comparable. At present, though, fewer than 2 percent of filling stations in the U.S. sell higher than 10 percent ethanol blends. Is either good for the environment? E30 advocates seem to have recently made a novel discovery: Conservation tillage is turning corn growing into a carbon sink and is now practiced on nearly two-thirds of all U.S. cropland. What are the benefits of using ethanol? Next year, Congress will renew the farm bill, which provides funding to our farmers and ranchers. Our article in the journal Biofuels also assessed the GHG impacts of improved technologies. In the second of our two-part series on ethanol, Julie Grant reports that some of that conservation is being stalled: A good hard rain can wash a lot of valuable soil off a . This analysis found that corn ethanol plants produce 2.1 Btu of ethanol for every Btu of energy input. 3) It's better for the environment. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of . Production of ethanol is a drain on resources and pollutes the environment. Something to chew on. Hill said the study confirms long-held suspicions about corn ethanol's environmental impact and could affect how the EPA decides to move forward with biofuel blending requirements. New research is confirming that corn ethanol also has more greenhouse gas benefits than previously thought. Tilling fields releases carbon stored in soil, while other farming activities, like applying nitrogen fertilizers, also produce emissions. Ethanol is proving terrible for the environment. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act set a new bar of 9 billion gallons for 2008 to be increased annually toward a 36 billion gallon goal by 2022 with up to 15 billion gallons coming from corn ethanol. It is also represents an environmental hazard, threatens nutritional balance by raising the cost of key . Cellulosic biofuel has more biomass to work with, and, because it comes from inedible stuff, it shouldnt impact food supplies, right? The benefit of an ethanol fuel burning cleaner than pure gasoline is enough of an interest to consider using it for many people. It was forwarded to the Office of Energy and Environmental Policy. The revisionist effort to increase the percentage of ethanol blended with U.S. gasoline continues to ignore the major environmental impacts of growing corn for fuel and how it inevitably leads to higher prices for this staple food crop. One main reason we use corn ethanol . But that research underestimated the emissions impact of land conversion, Lark said. Furthermore, producing ethanol from domestic corn stocks achieves a net gain in a more desirable form of energy, which helps the United