Post by cjm on Aug 28, 2016 18:44:02 GMT
Are biofuels worse for the planet than gasoline?
A new study suggests that biofuels can mitigate only 37 percent of the CO2 released by burning the biofuel.
By Rowena Lindsay, Staff August 27, 2016
Janet S. Carter/AP/File
Corn ethanol and biodiesel biofuels may be more environmentally damaging than petroleum gasoline, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Energy Institute (UMEI),
The surprising finding comes after the research team, led by UMEI researcher John DeCicco, analyzed the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed as the crops grow and then released when they are burned as biofuel. They calculated that the aggregate US crop yield can remove only 37 percent of the CO2 that burning biofuel releases into the air.
“What we found is that when you actually look at how quickly crops like corn and soybeans pull CO2 from the air and compare that with the emissions that occur when the biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are burned, you find out that they are not carbon neutral like everyone has been assuming,” Dr. DeCicco tells The Christian Science Monitor.
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