A soon-to-be-completed study by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory concludes that the use of fuel ethanol decreases greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles between 30 to 60 percent.
The study,
conducted
by Michael Wang of Argonne's Center for Transportation Research, found
a 30 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions with the use of E85,
a blend of 85 percent ethanol/15 percent unleaded gasoline, produced from
corn with natural gas as the process fuel. Greater reductions in the range
of up to 60 percent could be achieved with the production of ethanol from
cellulosic biomass and the use of ethanol to power fuel cell vehicles,
according to the study. The study found that the production and consumption of gasoline produces 10 to 40 percent more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases than ethanol. In addition, research showed that producing and consuming gasoline uses 40 to 60 percent more fossil energy than growing, harvesting, distilling and then consuming ethanol. "Contrary to oil industry claims, this new research demonstrates that even after accounting for all the fuel and energy that is required to grow corn and convert that corn into ethanol, ethanol production uses less fossil fuel than gasoline," said Governors' Ethanol Coalition Chair Governor Terry Branstad.
This latest research complements similar work completed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1995 and 1996 that concluded ethanol production is energy efficient. "Current corn farming and ethanol production practice requires less energy to produce fuel ethanol than it contains," said Wang. "Based on this thorough scientific research, we can finally put to rest the inaccurate and misleading claims that producing ethanol is less efficient and more polluting than gasoline," said Branstad.
When the study, "Fuel-Cycle Fossil Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Fuel Ethanol Produced from U.S. Midwestern Corn," is completed, contact Jerry Loos at 402-471-2867 or fax 402-471-3064.
