Ethanol not so wasteful, report says

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10548320

Published Tuesday January 27, 2009
Ethanol not so wasteful, report says
BY LESLIE REED
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Midwestern corn growers and ethanol producers have received a power boost in their battle to keep corn-based fuel at the forefront of America's effort to replace fossil fuels.

Ethanol took a beating this year from its critics, and President Barack Obama and others have given more emphasis to wind and solar energy.

But a new study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers bolsters the energy-efficiency and environmental claims of the gasoline blend that is used in nearly four out of five tanks in Nebraska.

Thanks to better farming practices and more efficient manufacturing, corn-based ethanol today emits much less greenhouse gas and produces significantly more energy than previously thought, the study suggests. The report appears in last week's edition of sthe Journal of Industrial Ecology.




Todd Sneller, executive director of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, said the study goes a long way toward healing ethanol's black eye: a public perception that the biofuel is no better than fossil fuels in terms of climate effects and energy output.

"It's important that that notion be quickly dispelled using good data and good science," he said.

However, an environmentalist cautioned that the United States still cannot rely solely on corn ethanol to eliminate American reliance on foreign oil.

FULL story at link.

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. Study available here

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121647166/HTMLSTART

…

Conclusions

Recent improvements in crop production, biorefinery operation, and coproduct utilization in U.S. corn-ethanol systems result in greater GHG emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and ethanol-to-petroleum output/input ratios compared to previous studies. Direct-effect GHG emissions reductions were found to be 48% to 59% compared to gasoline, which is two to three times greater than estimated in previous reports (Farrell et al. 2006). The NER has improved from 1.2 in previous studies to 1.5 to 1.8 on the basis of updated data. Ethanol-to-petroleum ratios were 10:1 to 13:1 for today's typical corn-ethanol systems but could increase to 19:1 with progressive crop management that increases both yield and input use efficiency. A closed-loop biorefinery with an AD system reduces GHG emission by 67% and increases the net energy ratio to 2.2. Such improved performance moves corn-ethanol much closer to the hypothetical estimates for cellulosic biofuels.

…

[excess_3]

2. impressive ethanol:petroleum ratio

I'm sure the oil company shills will want to comment