 |
Energy Independence and Climate Change are strange bedfellows indeed
The latest exhibit is an bold bill by Senators Lugar, Harkin, Barak, Dorgan, and Biden to re-introduce the Biofuels Security Act of 2006, which was an ambitious plan to establish a Renewable Fuel Standard of 30% by 2030 (hat tip to GreenCarCongress). It also mandates E-85 distribution at US gas stations and the production of more flex fuel vehicles. Big initiatives and long terms goals are precisely what is needed to fight climate change, so we applaud the Senators’ vision. However, digging into the details, we don’t find much to cheer about for the fight against climate change. The problem, as we have pointed out before, is that blunt policy picks a technology instead of the goal. The US can produce biofuels in a variety of ways from a variety of crops, with huge consequences on the environmental impact. The current method of producing ethanol from corn kernels results in modest carbon reductions; 10% - 20% is the consensus view. Therefore, despite the massive volume of fuel replacement involved, the program would shave gasoline based CO2 emissions by a little over 2%. Clearly, not the moonshot that we need to tackle climate change. There are concerns over simple feasibility. To produce that amount, even from cellulosic corn process, according to new analysis by Harvard professor Michael B. McElroy, would require 225 million acres, or 60% of the current land under active crop cultivation. Add to that the fact the legislation doesn’t even prohibit coal-powered ethanol plants that quickly erase any global warming benefits, and its clear that climate is not the goal here. Is that a problem? We’re not sure. Certainly, renewable fuels have the potential to be a weapon in our fight against climate change. Our concern is that this bill doesn’t reward the climate fighting aspects of biofuels. Our hope is that it will at least provide a base market from which low-carbon biofuels can flourish. Another silver lining — the 2006 version of the bill aims to slowly close the flex fuel vehicle loophole in CAFE. That Chevy Tahoe that gets a CAFE calculation credit of 30 mpg slowly ratchets down to a number closer to reality. Comments
The comments section is now closed. |
|
© 2004-2010, TerraPass Inc. All rights reserved. TerraPass is a trademark of TerraPass Inc.
|
|
|
And that doesn't even address the increasing use of coal to manufacture ethanol - in order to get ethanol to market faster, the production plants are coal-burning. Biofuels are somehow immune to the emissions discussion - hearing a story on biobutanol this morning, the commentator waxed rhapsodic about how much more "efficient" it was than ethanol - meaning easier to blend with gasoline, can be distributed via pipeline, runs better than gas - but not a word about emissions.
Reply
Sue: We've covered butanol before, and it looks like some processes are 30% more efficient than ethanol from corn.
Reply
Excellent point of focus Tom. To quote Winston Churchill - "America always does the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities." The current policies and 'efforts' towards biofuels are reactions rather than actions - i.e. not thought through. Some important info on this can be found here and here.
We seriously need to push for monitoring and certification of both national and offshore biofuel products, so consumers can know the carbon footprint of what they're buying. If U.S. consumers demand actual green products, rather than just a perception of green, then priority may start to shift away from profits and lean towards actual conservation. At the moment the rampant rush to build biofuel plants worldwide is mostly politically motivated (from a desire for energy independence), and financially motivated (cashing in on a naive understanding of energy issues). You'd think we were planning just for the next five years, rather than the next fifty. Oh, wait a minute - maybe we are?
I think Lester Brown's recent call for a "pause to catch our breath" is just the calm voice of reason we need to be listening to at the moment.
Reply
Isn't there a concern about the petroleum based fertilizer that is used to grow the corn nowadays?
Reply
Jackie -- that's in most of the models on energy savings. Going organic would help, but a lot less than you would think.
Reply
For far too long the focus around the energy issue has been around the supply/demand equation, with economics as the driving force. On the efficiency question the formula is energy input divided by energy output multiplied by 100%, meaning that if we tweak the factors within the formula, we can make it appear that "something positive" is being done. Economics and efficiency formulas aside, the heart of the long term benefit of any "eneregy policy" should be based on carbon input divided by carbon debt, not MPGs or BTUs. Its our continuous accumulation of the carbon debt, that pushes us ever closer to the brink of no return.
Reply
The young kids that are fighting this war in Iraq are doing so because they need a job. They've lose their jobs, They have lost their farmers and for what? So are Pesident,the oil man can get even richer and the vice President, The Halibertan Exec, can get even richer rebuilding the distruction. We had no business being in there the first place. Our children our dying and being wounded for oil! There is no way I see it any other way. I love the Army and will always be a soldier but this has got to stop. We don't need opeq and their oil we need to support our family farmers. E85 does that. Oh by the way I'm a medically retired veteran recieving zero of my 30% disability that has lost a family farm twice in my life time. Once when I was five years old and the other when I was in a Leadership Acadamy serving my country. Both days were the worst of my entire life. Now my family farm that has been in my family for a 150 years sits abandond. I'm stuck working in a General Motors factory like my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father did before me all farmers. And I feel lucky and proud to do so because General Motors' flex fuel tecninology could save this country plus help save the enviroment. I've never heard of a corn field contaminating the groud water but oil wells contaminate everything. Please buy flex fuel cars from General Motors or anyone else and save our soldiers
Reply