December 14, 2008

Ethanol worst energy option - Stanford Study

Mark Jacobson director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University published a study that appears in today's online edition of Environmental Science & Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society. Here

"Ethanol is being promoted as a clean and renewable fuel that will reduce global warming and air pollution...But our results show that a high blend of ethanol poses an equal or greater risk to public health than gasoline, which already causes significant health damage." from S.F. Gate

"The Tier-4 combinations (cellulosic- and corn-E85) were ranked lowest overall and with respect to climate, air pollution, land use, wildlife damage, and chemical waste. Cellulosic-E85 ranked lower than corn-E85 overall, primarily due to its potentially larger land footprint based on new data and its higher upstream air pollution emissions than corn-E85. See http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/12/22530/864
Wind with electric vehicles ranked first.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you notice that the two ethanol vehicles (corn and cellulosic E95) were the only two internal combustion engine vehicles tested? Also did you notice that the study didn't compare battery vehicles charged from coal fired plants to see where they ranked? Without the wind turbines in place that is what battery vehicles will be powered by. And if all the electricity from wind turbines goes to powering cars the homes will still be powered by coal fired plants.

anne said...

Wind turbines, hydro, solar, and tide generation (which we have down the road from me in Nova Scotia) are options for powering the grid. On what basis do you say coal fired plants will be the basis for an electric future?