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Biofuels, the next generation: cheaper, cleaner, better for you
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Corn is good for squirrels, but not for biofuel (AP)
A new study deals another blow to corn-based ethanol—the biofuel accused last year of driving up food prices and spurring deforestation—by finding it more costly to human health and the environment than petroleum. But the study also raises hopes for what it calls "the next generation" of biofuels.
"We found that cellulosic ethanol has a much lower cost to society than gasoline or corn ethanol, both from the greenhouse gas standpoint and the air pollution standpoint," said Jason Hill, a biofuels expert in the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.
Cellulosic ethanol is made from agricultural waste, grasses and weeds, which can be grown cheaply on land unsuitable for agricultural use. The scientists calculated the total environmental and health costs of gasoline are about 71 cents per gallon, while an equivalent amount of corn-ethanol fuel costs from 72 cents to about $1.45, depending on the technology used to produce it. But the same amount of cellulosic ethanol costs 19 cents to 32 cents.
The scientists examined the pollution produced during the full life cycle of all three fuels—not just during consumption, but during harvesting and production. They used government models from the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency to estimate the financial impact of the pollution on the environment and human health.
"These costs are not paid for by those who produce, sell and buy gasoline or ethanol," said Stephen Polasky, a University of Minnesota economist who co-authored the study. "The public pays these costs."
Hill and other scientists from Minnesota, Stanford University and Argonne National Laboratory published the study Feb. 3. in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
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