Zürcher Nachrichten - Biden's biofuel: Cheaper at the pump, but high environmental cost

EUR -
AED 3.984634
AFN 77.56712
ALL 99.127792
AMD 424.348269
ANG 1.9421
AOA 994.80399
ARS 1163.850307
AUD 1.724277
AWG 1.955435
AZN 1.84319
BAM 1.964894
BBD 2.189735
BDT 131.789976
BGN 1.954188
BHD 0.408889
BIF 3174.259686
BMD 1.084846
BND 1.457345
BOB 7.493684
BRL 6.174294
BSD 3.791537
BTN 92.699048
BWP 15.010474
BYN 3.549127
BYR 21262.983544
BZD 2.178382
CAD 1.554102
CDF 3114.593484
CHF 0.957911
CLF 0.027022
CLP 1036.939387
CNY 7.884769
CNH 7.897935
COP 4506.711059
CRC 544.821651
CUC 1.084846
CUP 28.748422
CVE 110.708861
CZK 24.942826
DJF 192.799023
DKK 7.461441
DOP 68.69784
DZD 145.046656
EGP 54.860122
ERN 16.272691
ETB 140.867604
FJD 2.519556
FKP 0.839492
GBP 0.836509
GEL 2.993805
GGP 0.839492
GHS 16.765734
GIP 0.839492
GMD 78.247558
GNF 9383.574349
GTQ 8.36766
GYD 227.763243
HKD 8.443102
HNL 27.734028
HRK 7.530571
HTG 141.513386
HUF 403.884833
IDR 18137.082926
ILS 4.016192
IMP 0.839492
INR 92.813311
IQD 1419.303152
IRR 45676.669083
ISK 144.340882
JEP 0.839492
JMD 169.594287
JOD 0.76914
JPY 162.827792
KES 140.213378
KGS 93.877209
KHR 4332.047762
KMF 494.139489
KPW 976.382987
KRW 1596.067609
KWD 0.33449
KYD 0.902322
KZT 546.155529
LAK 23469.732242
LBP 96901.234981
LKR 319.672018
LRD 216.908012
LSL 19.946564
LTL 3.203268
LVL 0.656213
LYD 5.219212
MAD 10.446638
MDL 19.481946
MGA 5066.424805
MKD 61.773965
MMK 2277.645242
MNT 3776.765703
MOP 8.693874
MRU 43.065507
MUR 49.495241
MVR 16.752302
MWK 1878.820351
MXN 22.180926
MYR 4.812883
MZN 69.305178
NAD 19.946564
NGN 1667.293007
NIO 39.879762
NOK 11.291355
NPR 148.570907
NZD 1.892415
OMR 0.41766
PAB 1.084846
PEN 3.980195
PGK 4.437134
PHP 62.094626
PKR 303.356658
PLN 4.200668
PYG 8621.05341
QAR 3.949115
RON 4.999724
RSD 117.693617
RUB 91.701374
RWF 1538.711624
SAR 4.068095
SBD 9.221526
SCR 15.713848
SDG 651.412459
SEK 10.754909
SGD 1.457422
SHP 0.852519
SLE 24.767132
SLL 22748.681451
SOS 618.7805
SRD 39.98303
STD 22454.123957
SVC 9.492628
SYP 14105.677435
SZL 19.946564
THB 37.086899
TJS 11.82506
TMT 3.794538
TND 3.366507
TOP 2.612129
TRY 41.140982
TTD 7.341352
TWD 36.069618
TZS 2870.619072
UAH 44.756125
UGX 3959.2121
USD 1.084846
UYU 45.72442
UZS 14006.747164
VES 75.49409
VND 27816.269894
VUV 133.843548
WST 3.077784
XAF 658.852652
XAG 0.032126
XAU 0.000347
XCD 2.937115
XDR 0.816598
XOF 658.852652
XPF 119.331742
YER 266.878728
ZAR 20.438512
ZMK 9764.917148
ZMW 30.531693
ZWL 349.320001
  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    68

    0%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    22.48

    +0.18%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    22.83

    +0.04%

  • BCC

    2.4650

    101.375

    +2.43%

  • GSK

    -0.2850

    37.585

    -0.76%

  • NGG

    -0.0350

    65.745

    -0.05%

  • BCE

    -1.0050

    21.775

    -4.62%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    11.36

    +0.35%

  • RIO

    -0.4550

    59.775

    -0.76%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2700

    9.78

    -2.76%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13

    +0.15%

  • RELX

    0.2400

    50.91

    +0.47%

  • AZN

    -0.4200

    72.18

    -0.58%

  • VOD

    -0.1300

    9.14

    -1.42%

  • BTI

    -0.9050

    40.195

    -2.25%

  • BP

    0.0150

    33.825

    +0.04%

Advertisement Image
Biden's biofuel: Cheaper at the pump, but high environmental cost
Biden's biofuel: Cheaper at the pump, but high environmental cost / Photo: MANDEL NGAN - AFP

Biden's biofuel: Cheaper at the pump, but high environmental cost

In an effort to ease Americans' pain at the gas pump, President Joe Biden has announced his administration will ease restrictions on the sale of E15 -- gasoline that includes 15 percent ethanol -- and new investments in biofuels as a whole.

Advertisement Image

Text size:

But the decision hasn't pleased scientists who study the environmental impact of ethanol.

- What is ethanol? –

Fuel ethanol is based on the same type of alcohol used in beverages, but with "denaturant" additives that make it unsuitable for drinking.

Blending ethanol with gasoline eases reliance on crude oil.

Most gas now sold in the United States is E10. American ethanol is generally produced by fermenting sugar from corn starch. Other countries such as Brazil rely on sugar from sugar cane.

In 2011, the US Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of E15 following research on its pollution impact.

But it is currently offered at just 2,300 gas stations in the country, according to officials.

- What has Biden announced? -

Speaking at a bioethanol production plant in the Midwestern state of Iowa, Biden said Tuesday that the EPA would lift a restriction prohibiting the sale of E15 between June 1 and September 15 -- a constraint that was imposed to limit air pollution.

That's because ethanol evaporates more easily and turns more readily into smog, which is particularly problematic in the high heat and sunlight of summer.

In 2018, then president Donald Trump also wanted to lift this restriction, as a concession to farmers in the midst of a trade war with China.

But a court decision eventually overturned Trump's decision.

According to the White House, at today's prices, E15 can save an average of 10 cents per gallon of gasoline (4.5 liters).

- Environmental consequences -

Though biofuels have been touted for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, assessing the environmental impact of bioethanol requires including greenhouse gas emissions related to the crops needed for its production.

And "the carbon balance of ethanol relative to gasoline isn't as good as it was originally anticipated," Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told AFP.

In 2005, Congress passed a "Renewable Fuel Standard," which required transportation fuel to include a volume of biofuel that increased over time.

The law was further expanded in 2007. As a result, 2.8 million additional hectares of corn were grown between 2008 and 2016, according to a study published in February in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Lark. the first author of the PNAS study, said the consequences of converting land to corn cultivation were underestimated at the time.

"When you do that, you plow up other types of land that may have been sequestering carbon and you apply extra nitrogen fertilizer to grow that corn," he said.

In addition, some of the fertilizer used to grow corn emits nitrous oxide (N2O), a very powerful greenhouse gas.

Thus, greenhouse gas emissions related to gasoline or ethanol are ultimately comparable, concludes the study.

There are other harmful consequences, too -- including leaching of fertilizers into ground water, and the destruction of wildlife habitats to make way for corn fields.

- Health dangers -

Once in the tank, bioethanol emits less CO2 per liter than traditional fuels, but there's less energy per volume and so more is needed.

In addition, "it produces acetaldehyde which is a carcinogen, formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen and both of those are two of the five most potent ozone producers in photochemical smog," explained Mark Jacobson, a professor of environmental engineering at Stanford University.

Ground-level ozone represents a major health hazard, causing numerous respiratory problems including asthma. For Jacobson, both gasoline and biofuels are "horrible."

"It's bad for both climate and air pollution, and spending money on it is taking money away from real solutions" such as electric vehicles, he concluded.

O.Pereira--NZN

Advertisement Image