All Biofuels Aren't Created Equal
From the Sierra Club...
Biofuels can be made from nearly any organic material, but corn, which is the source of 95 percent of U.S. ethanol, would reduce global warming emissions only about 15 percent on average compared to gasoline. Cellulosic ethanol, made from switchgrass, slash, and agricultural byproducts, could cut emissions by more than 90 percent. But it's not commercially available.
And then there's sugarcane ethanol, which is booming in Brazil, soybean biodiesel, and cooking grease biodiesel, even biodiesel made from algae -- all with their various pros and cons.
Want help separating the wheat from the chaff? Check out "Bio-hope, Bio-hype" in the most recent issue of Sierra, complete with a useful chart comparing six different biofuels.
posted by kate @ 11:12 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Norway's Moose Population in Trouble for Belching
The poor old Scandinavian moose is now being blamed for climate change, with researchers in Norway claiming that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of methane a year -- equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.
DPA
Now poor moose are being blamed for global warming.
Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting.
Norwegian http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,501145,00.html
The number of innacuracies in this Sierra Club report on biofuels is astounding. Clearly there is a political agenda in the matrix (against the Bush ethanol plan, and deforestation). It is good to raise these issues.
However, this Sierra Club chart needs a fact check, and an update. It is also missing so many other elements in biofuels, such as alternative feedstocks for Biodiesel such as jatropha, castor oil, sunflower oil, tallow and alternative feedstocks for ethanol including sugar beets, wheat, barley and next-generation technologies such as biobutanol that are commercially available today.
Lots and lots of missing information and innacurate information. However, if you have a political agenda against biofuels you could use this chart to fool people that you have a valid argument, or impress your college professor with your uber-intel Sierra reference.
It's a sad state of affairs when we treat fertilizer (b.s.) as fact, and say it is true.
This Sierra chart needs an update!
Thanks
Biofuels Economist
Thanks for the info.
But just because those alternative feedstocks are available doesn't mean they'll be used.
I'm concerned we are creating more of a problem and The Sierra Club isn't the only one saying it.
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There's a guy who's a member in Rotary with me who's a engineer and we were talking about the ethenol fuel one day. In my area it's only a nickel cheaper than regular fuel, and according to him it isn't as engine friendly as regular gasoline. IOW, cost-wise I may spend a nickel less per gallon, but it's not costing me less in the long run because the ethenol fuel is creating costly engine repairs I wouldn't otherwise have.
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