Corn Ethanol More Environmentally Harmful than Gasoline, Says Study
Kevin Stone
March 2, 2022
Adding ethanol to or substituting corn-based ethanol for gasoline increases greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline sans ethanol, reports a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study found that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which specifies the amount biofuels be added to transportation fuel in the United States, thereby guiding nearly half of all global biofuel production, resulted in 24 percent higher greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector than would have occurred absent the mandated substitution of ethanol required by the federal government.
Other Ancillary Costs
Aside from higher greenhouse gas emissions, the study also reported a variety of ancillary negative impacts resulting from the government’s ethanol mandate.
The ethanol mandate caused corn prices by to rise by 30 percent and the prices of other crops by 20 percent. Higher prices resulted in corn cultivation growing 8.7 in the years following the ethanol mandate’s enactment in the 2005 Energy Policy Act as expanded under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
https://heartlanddailynews.com/2022/03/corn-ethanol-more-environmentally-harmful-than-gasoline-says-study/
