Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals.
To study the potential effects of increased biofuel use, we evaluated six representative analyses of fuel ethanol. Studies that reported negative net energy incorrectly ignored coproducts and used some obsolete data. All studies indicated that current corn ethanol technologies are much less petroleum-intensive than gasoline but have greenhouse gas emissions similar to those of gasoline. However, many important environmental effects of biofuel production are poorly understood. New metrics that measure specific resource inputs are developed, but further research into environmental metrics is needed. Nonetheless, it is already clear that large-scale use of ethanol for fuel will almost certainly require cellulosic technology.
Farrell
Alexander E
AE
Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3050, USA. aef@berkeley.edu
Plevin
Richard J
RJ
Turner
Brian T
BT
Jones
Andrew D
AD
O'Hare
Michael
M
Kammen
Daniel M
DM
D001709:Biotechnology; D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources; D004777:Environment; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism
D000431:Ethanol; D002482:Cellulose