Bioethanol fuel ‘as big a health risk as gasoline’, published by Royal Society of Chemistry, research done at Stanford University

December 18, 2007 in education, environment, health, science, science and society, sustainability. 3 Comments
Tags: air pollution, bio-ethanol, bioethanol, ethanol worse than gasoline, health risk of bioethanol, research, respiratory disease

“Bioethanol – ethanol derived from the fermentation of crops such as maize or sugar – is becoming increasingly available as a ‘green’ and sustainable alternative to gasoline. It is often sold at the fuel pumps as E85 – an 85:15 mixture of ethanol and gasoline. Now, however, Mark Jacobson of Stanford University is calling into […]

Treehugger.com – The basics of ethanol

December 18, 2007 in biodiesel, education, environment, health, science, science and society, sustainability. Leave a Comment
Tags: Brazilian sugar cane, cellulosic ethanol, corn ethanol, damage to US environment, effect of biofuels on the environment, ethanol fuel, exploitatio n of Brazilians, heath problems with ethanol fuel, rain forest destruction

Treehugger.com is an excellent site for environmental issues. In this case, the Treehugger article gives a good introduction to ethanol as fuel, and discusses the differences between corn ethanol (US) and ethanol derived from sugar cane (as in Brazil). Note that the best form of ethanol production IMHO, from cellulose and other biomass, is not […]

Why Corn Ethanol is Bad

December 16, 2007 in education, environment, science, science and society, sustainability. 21 Comments
Tags: Bush policy, conservation, corn ethanol, environmental damge, ethanol from biomass, tax subsidies for ethanol from corn

Why President Bush’s corn ethanol subsidy plan, supported by numerous governors and state legislatures as well as Congress, is terrible for the environment and US taxpayers, doing nothing but sending tax money down the drain, or more literally up in smoke. Independent opinions from another site, that I am not connected to, but which I […]

So What’s So Bad About Corn

November 23, 2007 in environment, science, science and society, sustainability. 7 Comments
Tags: biofuels, corn, corn ethanol, environment, environmental economics, food vs. energy

These comments are my analysis and discussion of an article on various sides of the “corn ethanol story” published by Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post, with farmers telling us they can’t survive without the subsidies. I guess they’ll inherit the earth when the rest of us have no water to drink. The fact that […]

An Unfortunate Truth about Bioethanol (from Corn)

October 7, 2007 in environment, science, science and society, sustainability. 25 Comments
Tags: , bioethanol, biofuels, corn ethanol, food prices, grain prices, oil prices, rising food prices, The Economist

With thanks to George L. in St. Louis for the heads up, here is what The Economist has to say (in regard to US corn-ethanol efforts): “Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong” The article does not dismiss all bioenergy, and it reports on new […]