Fed Study: Fuels from corn waste worse than gasoline

You may recall that the EPA established requirements that gasoline sellers use "cellulosic ethanol," produced from corn waste and other materials, even though it was not commercially available.
Now, a federal study of federally-subsidized cellulosic biofuel plants reveals that production of that type of ethanol puts more CO2 into the environment than gasoline does otherwise!

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.

The conclusions deal a blow to what are known as cellulosic biofuels, which have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have struggled to meet volume targets mandated by law. About half of the initial market in cellulosics is expected to be derived from corn residue.

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It wasn't that long ago that the Obama administration and its MSM echo-chamber declared new government subsidies a key to the development of cellulosic ethanol plants across the Midwest and into the South as part of a "green biofuels revolution."

The Energy Department plans to provide a $105 million loan guarantee for the expansion of an ethanol factory in Emmetsburg, Iowa, to make motor fuel from corncobs, leaves and husks.
The loan guarantee is the first by Energy for cellulosic ethanol. But the Department of Agriculture announced $405 million in loan guarantees in January. Coskata, a company backed by General Motors and Khosla Ventures, got a guarantee for $250 million for a plant in Boligee, AL. Enerkem, in Montreal, got an $80 million guarantee for a plant in Pontotoc, MS. Ineos Bio got a $75 million guarantee for a biorefinery in Vero Beach, Fla.

U.S. Backs Projects to Produce Fuel From Corn Waste

Now, it turns out that the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted developing these "alternative" and "renewables" are actually worse for the environment than fossil fuels they were meant to replace!

Of course, the Obama administration, which gave away taxpayer money to subsidize "green" companies to build and operate the plants, and funded the peer-reviewed study published in Nature Climate Change, has rejected the study's findings!

First, they pay for a "green" operation that isn't green; then, they pay for a study that tells them so, and reject it out of hand.

The biofuel industry and administration officials immediately criticized the research as flawed.

The research is among the first to attempt to quantify, over 12 Corn Belt states, how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere when the stalks, leaves and cobs that make up residue are removed and used to make biofuel, instead of left to naturally replenish the soil with carbon. The study found that regardless of how much corn residue is taken off the field, the process contributes to global warming.

"I knew this research would be contentious," said Adam Liska, the lead author and an assistant professor of biological systems engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I'm amazed it has not come out more solidly until now."

EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said that the study "does not provide useful information relevant to the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from corn stover ethanol." But an AP investigation last year found that the EPA's analysis of corn-based ethanol failed to predict the environmental consequences accurately.

"The study says it will be very hard to make a biofuel that has a better greenhouse gas impact than gasoline using corn residue," which puts it in the same boat as corn-based ethanol, said David Tilman, a professor at the University of Minnesota who has done research on biofuels' emissions from the farm to the tailpipe.
Tilman said it was the best study on the issue he has seen so far.

Study: Fuels From Corn Waste Not Better Than Gas

Just another example of "green" idiocy in the quest for "alternatives" that make neither environmental nor economic sense.
Add cellulosic biofuels to the list of such debacles as A123, Solyndra, AboundSolar, and Fisker.
After all, it's only taxpayer's money, and there's plenty to go around in the homage to the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming religion.

jw

a reply to: jdub297

seems to me TPTB will do anything to avoid speaking about zero point energy & everything possible to bring about a full global carbon tax..

Since plain old pond scum produces vastly much more fuel than corn wastes....why don't we see some of that cash going towards that.....
I don't really know if its any less toxic to the environment though......
If bio fuels wont do it...well need to have a new breakthrough sooner than later....

Does anyone believe a word from "the feds" anymore?

I mean, this government will lie through its teeth about anything that could possibly help we the people or starve the parasitic system. This is a system that promotes cancer-causing GMO and the tell you to avoid vitamins and supplements that are proven to keep people healthy, all to prop up the health-care industry and promote their soft form of eugenics. All these bastards do is lie.

So when TPTB tell me fuels from corn are worse than gasoline, believing them is the last thing I'll do. Instead, I just look for the truth behind the deception. And... oh, there it is! America is in bed with the Saudis and big oil companies. TPTB never want us to get off our oil (heroin) habit, which is prob why they also killed the water-powered car

More like the feds want to keep the money they make from petrol .. cant have competition or worse more viable and efficient alternatives that cost less ..

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