And let's not forget some of the harmful biological and environmental impacts incurred by a shift to
more ethanol production: huge use of water, increased soil erosion, more fertilizer use and more herbicide / pesticide use.
Not exact matches
A
more realistic, if still optimistic, scenario sketched by the National Corn Growers Association anticipates that corn
ethanol production will quadruple to 16 billion gallons by 2015, not quite 7 percent of the likely demand.
By 2001 every BTU consumed in
ethanol production generated 67 percent
more energy, when coproducts like distillers» grains are taken into account.
Global
ethanol production tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to
more than 52 billion liters.
Since then, corn
ethanol production has
more than doubled to about 36.5 million gallons per day — meaning
ethanol already is nearly 10 percent of U.S. fuel supply.
«It is possible that lignin could turn out to be
more valuable than cellulose and could subsidize the
production of
ethanol from sustainable biomass.»
The 2015 Survey of Non-Starch
Ethanol and Renewable Hydrocarbon Biofuels Producers provides an inventory of the domestic advanced biofuels
production industry as of the end of calendar year 2015, documenting important... Read
more →
The staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted three new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications to the LCFS public comments website: one for corn
ethanol (from Heartland Corn Products in Minnesota) and one ARB staff - developed pathway (with two scenarios) for the
production of... Read
more →
«Since 2000, global wind energy generation has
more than tripled; solar cell
production has risen six-fold;
production of fuel
ethanol from crops have
more than doubled; and biodiesel
production has expanded nearly four-fold.
Now I oppose
ethanol production, but Clinton, Bush and the rest are correct that sugar
ethanol makes a little
more sense then corn base.
Overview: Mandates, Zero
Production, Penalties, and the Failure of the Current System In the previous post, I discussed the annual ritual of rolling back the cellulosic
ethanol mandates by 90 % or
more.
The Midwest does not have the highest solar potential in the country (that is found in the Southwest), but its potential is nonetheless vast, with some parts of the Midwest having as good a solar resource as Florida.75
More than one - quarter of national installed wind energy capacity, one - third of biodiesel capacity, and more than two - thirds of ethanol production are located in the Midwest (see also
More than one - quarter of national installed wind energy capacity, one - third of biodiesel capacity, and
more than two - thirds of ethanol production are located in the Midwest (see also
more than two - thirds of
ethanol production are located in the Midwest (see also Ch.
«One of our take - home messages is that conservation programs are currently a cheaper and
more efficient greenhouse gas policy for taxpayers than corn -
ethanol production,» said study leader and Duke biologist Robert Jackson.
But all of this is despite serious scientific concerns about biofuels, especially corn
ethanol - whose
production requires lots of land, and consumes lots of energy - some say
more than the fuel itself produces.
Throw in
more competition for these same crops due to an increase in
ethanol production and you have a recipe for higher gas prices, higher food prices and even possibly shortages of one, the other, or both.
The US has now crossed the point where
more corn is being used for
ethanol production than for feeding people producing 206.5 million barrels of
ethanol in 2010.
Bloomberg Businessweek explains
more clearly than EPA does why the agency had to back - peddle so furiously: «The Environmental Protection Agency proposed requiring less cellulosic
ethanol to be blended into gasoline next year than sought under U.S. law because
production of the alternative fuel hasn't reached commercial scale.»
They say the technological fixes also distract from
more challenging social reforms like slowing the rate of population growth, shifting away from crops like corn
ethanol that don't put food on the table, or ending subsidies for livestock
production, which currently eats up an appalling 75 percent of the world's agricultural land.
This summer, expensive and rare corn has left 26
ethanol plants idle — some for
more than a year — removing 1.5 billion gallons of
production, according to the industry trade group, the Renewable Fuels Association.
The proposed action would not affect corn or other
ethanol production and blending requirements, despite growing problems with incorporating
more ethanol into gasoline.
There are
more emissions from the total Corn
Ethanol production sequence and use as an alternative and additive to fossil fuels than if ordinary fossil originated fuels were just used to do the job.
The new Nanjing Tech process uses acetoin — a novel C4 platform molecule derived from new ABE (acetoin — butanol —
ethanol)- type fermentation via metabolic engineering — as a bio-based building block for the
production of the... Read
more →
•
Ethanol production using wood biomass required 57 % more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel pr
Ethanol production using wood biomass required 57 %
more fossil energy than the
ethanol fuel pr
ethanol fuel produced.
• Biodiesel
production using soybean required 27 %
more fossil energy than the biodiesel fuel produced (Note, the energy yield from soy oil per hectare is far lower than the
ethanol yield from corn).
•
Ethanol production using switchgrass required 50 % more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel pr
Ethanol production using switchgrass required 50 %
more fossil energy than the
ethanol fuel pr
ethanol fuel produced.
When we assume the
ethanol production process is fully renewable, it would take all the corn in the country to displace about 3.5 percent of our gasoline consumption — only slightly
more than we could displace by making sure drivers» tires are inflated properly.
U.S.
ethanol production shot up by
more than 3 billion gallons (150 %) between 2001 and 2006, and corn
production increased 11 %, while total U.S. harvested cropland fell by about 2 % in the same period.
While industrial
production of
ethanol may not be the savior as it was once heralded, home distillers are willing to tap into a
more parochial form of energy independence.
Cardayre argues that LS9's biofuels offer several benefits that make them
more attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels than do
ethanol - derived fuels, including higher cost - efficiency and lower energy consumption in
production (65 % less energy).
In years where we have a bumper crop of corn, and produce
more than we need for feed, the market to distilleries will provide built in price supports; the DDGS from the other
ethanol feedstocks will provide some cushion to food
production in years when the corn crop is bad.
The expo will draw
more than 40 college teams from all over the country to showcase the future of sustainable technology and will feature exhibits like generation of
ethanol from coffee
production wastewater and entrenching small glass spheres in house paint to deflect heat in the summer.
Indeed, an article in Popular Science cites a study by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University that predicts that U.S.
ethanol production could consume
more than half of corn, wheat and coarse grains by 2012, ratcheting up food prices and potentially causing massive shortages.
Furthermore, whether the
production of
ethanol can be greatly expanded without causing
more harmful secondary impacts is in doubt.
To meet some of the higher
ethanol production goals would require
more corn than the United States currently produces, if all of the envisioned
ethanol was made from corn.
Does it matter whether there is a net energy loss in the
production of corn - based
ethanol --- that is, it takes
more fossil fuel energy to produce
ethanol than the
ethanol itself produces?
There are a number of new approaches to producing corn - based
ethanol, using
more renewable energy in the
production of
ethanol (such as methane from waste products or wind energy).
The use of the renewable fuels in
ethanol production will tend to give corn - based
ethanol a
more positive energy balance and will reduce the use of fossil fuels.
The staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted three new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications to the LCFS public comments website: one for corn
ethanol (from Heartland Corn Products in Minnesota) and one ARB staff - developed pathway (with two scenarios) for the
production of... Read
more →
Ethanol Biofuel Feedstocks Gain a New Candidate: Kudzu Kudzu Harvesting for the
Production of
Ethanol, Redux
Ethanol: How the Fuel is Produced, Growing Corn and Other Feedstocks, and
More
Sugar cane is inherently
more viable for
ethanol production than is, say, corn.
The researchers conclude: «The energy discarded in wasted food is
more than the energy available from many popular efficiency and energy procurement strategies, such as the annual
production of
ethanol from grains and annual petroleum available from drilling in the outer continental shelf,» and so minimizing wasted food means minimizing overall energy consumption.
With increased
ethanol obligations and growing livestock operations needing
more feed, Iowa — the nation's «king of corn
production» — will have to import kernels to keep up with demand, an analyst tells the newspaper.
If
production improves, thanks to heat - resistant and alcohol - tolerant yeast,
more people may end up switching to
ethanol soon.
This has resulted in
more land and resources being diverted from feed / food crops into
ethanol crop
production, essentially lowering the availability of all other feed / food crops.