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By now anyone with any knowledge of the water and land demands of growing corn for ethanol realizes that corn ethanol is a bad biofuel. But that fact is not preventing the corn-ethanol industry from making a fuss about a new study that says the fuel is not as horrible as previously thought.

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Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
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Specifically, ethanol producers are brandishing the study as evidence that California's low-carbon fuel standard unfairly penalizes their product.


Using an updated economic model, the new study, led by Purdue University agricultural economics professor Wallace Tyner, found that the effect of switching forests and cropland to producing corn for ethanol would result in 13.9 grams of excess carbon dioxide per megajoule of energy produced, over 30 years of production from a given area.


A study published in BioScience last month found 27 grams per megajoule (g/mj). Interestingly, the two studies used the same model, produced by Purdue University's Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP).


The new study reflects recent changes to GTAP, such as the inclusion of cropland pasture in the United States and Brazil, assumed increases in crop yield, and the assumption that trees felled to clear cropland will not release all of their carbon into the atmosphere, as some will be retained in wood products.
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Tags: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Legislation, California, Corn Ethanol, Corn-Based Ethanol, Cropland, Ethanol Industry, Legislation, Purdue, Study

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Replacing Forests With Corn for Ethanol Not as Bad as Had Been Thought - Study was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.