Ethanol Won't Solve Energy Problems

Responding to public outcries about high gasoline and crude oil prices, members of Congress as well as the Bush administration, see ethanol as the alternative to gasoline in helping push the country to energy independence. Research is now showing that this is likely not the answer, a closer solution would be biodiesel, but this is still not going to provide energy independence. Ethanol is not environmentally friendly, and would only supply 12 percent of U.S. motoring fuel, even if every acre of corn were used.

WASHINGTON — Ethanol is far from a cure-all for the nation’s energy problems. It’s not as environmentally friendly as some supporters claim and would supply only 12 percent of U.S. motoring fuel — even if every acre of corn were used.

A number of researchers, the latest in a report Monday, are warning about exaggerated expectations that ethanol could dramatically change America’s dependence on foreign oil by shifting motorists away from gasoline.

As far as alternative fuels are concerned, biodiesel from soybeans is the better choice compared with corn-produced ethanol, University of Minnesota researchers concluded in an analysis Monday.

But “neither can replace much petroleum without impacting food supplies,” the researchers concluded in the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper said development of nonfood materials such as switchgrass, prairie grasses and woody plants to produce cellulosic ethanol would be a major improvement with greater energy output and lower environmental impacts.

But creation of cellulosic ethanol remains in the laboratory research stage. And even nonfood sources of ethanol would fall far short of replacing gasoline, most researchers agree.

Biofuels such as ethanol are “not a practical long-term solution,” and their widespread use — even from nonfood crop sources — could…

Posted by supercanuk