Well, this is a hell of a thing
(Detroit Free Press) The multi-billion-dollar U.S. biofuels industry — promoted and expanded for over a decade by the federal government — may be built on a false assumption, according to a new University of Michigan study published today that is sure to stir all sides in the contentious debate over the industry.
Despite their purported advantages, biofuels created from crops such as corn or soybeans cause the emission of more climate change-causing carbon dioxide than gasoline, according to the study from U-M Energy Institute research professor John DeCicco.
The study is the latest salvo in the expanding battle over whether biofuels, and the farmland increasingly devoted to them, are actually providing the environmental and climate benefits many expected.
Reading on, once the entire life-cycle of biofuels is factored, it is worse for “carbon emissions” than gasoline. Not discussed is whether any of them actually make much of a difference in causing the current Holocene warm period, but, that is a debate for a different day.
There’s also a handy dandy graphic of where corn is going
Also not discussed in the article is the notion that using food for fuel is a bad idea, something even the NY Times noticed a few years back. Using more and more of it helps increase the costs of other foods. Perhaps it is time that the federal and state governments, along with both Republican and Democratic supporters, jump off the food for fuel bandwagon.
