For the longest time we have been told that ethanol fuel (E85) made from corn or cellulose was the future to replacing our dependance on oil. In fact, the US and Canadian Governments believed it so much, they passed bills to set a certain percentage of corn farming to be designated for E85 biofuel.
It turns out that ethanol is not that great after all. According to a study by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, ethanol is the worst type of renewable energy. Jacobson’s study, the first of it’s kind in this area, involved pitting E85 fuels against other forms of renewable energy such as solar, wind, nuclear and clean coal. The study was a quanititative approach assessing delivery, environmental impacts, personal health, pollution, etc. Jacobson determined that even though alternative energy sources such as ethanol, clean coal and nuclear may sound like the best and logical solution, they are far from it. In fact, he determined that ethanol fuel sources were more poluting than current fosil fuels.
The promising winner in Mark Jacobson’s study was wind power. The polution generated from making wind turbines is quickly recovered and wind turbines take up much less land space than solar.
Read the full article on Jacobson’s study here.
Sources: autobloggreen, Renewable Energy World
For the longest time we have been told that ethanol fuel (E85) made from corn or cellulose was the future to replacing our dependance on oil. In fact, the US and Canadian Governments believed it so much, they passed bills to set a certain percentage of corn farming to be designated for E85 biofuel.
It turns out that ethanol is not that great after all. According to a study by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, ethanol is the worst type of renewable energy. Jacobson’s study, the first of it’s kind in this area, involved pitting E85 fuels against other forms of renewable energy such as solar, wind, nuclear and clean coal. The study was a quanititative approach assessing delivery, environmental impacts, personal health, pollution, etc. Jacobson determined that even though alternative energy sources such as ethanol, clean coal and nuclear may sound like the best and logical solution, they are far from it. In fact, he determined that ethanol fuel sources were more poluting than current fosil fuels.
The promising winner in Mark Jacobson’s study was wind power. The polution generated from making wind turbines is quickly recovered and wind turbines take up much less land space than solar.
Read the full article on Jacobson’s study here.
Sources: autobloggreen, Renewable Energy World