New study gives much lower estimate for release of carbon dioxide from ethanol production

A new Purdue University study reports that the amount of carbon dioxide released by ethanol production may be less than half as much as previous studies have found. Industry officials are using the new findings to argue that California's low-carbon fuel standards unfairly penalize ethanol, Debra Kahn of Environment & Energy Daily reports. The new study, led by Purdue agricultural economics professor Wallace Tyner, estimates switching forests and cropland to produce corn for ethanol would result in an increase of 13.9 grams of carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced, compared to previous estimates of 37 grams of the greenhouse gas.

The next most recent study, published in BioScience last month, and the new study both use the model produced by Purdue's Global Trade Analysis Project. The difference in the two estimates results from the most recent study's incorporation of "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," Kahn reports. (Read more)

President Obama once again emphasized the need for ethanol production in revitalizing rural economies during his remarks at a Poet Biorefining factory in Macon, Mo., Alex Kaplun of E&E reports. "I may be president these days, but I used to be a senator from Illinois. I didn't just discover the merits of biofuels like ethanol when I first hopped on the campaign bus," Obama said. "I believe in their potential to contribute to our rural economies and our clean energy economy." (Read more)