Ethanol is the worst form of renewable energy.
Posted by Carlos C. on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 2:33 amMark Jacobson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University, recently conducted a study that ranked alternate energies from best to worst.
Ethanol was put to the test against, “Solar-photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.”
After looking at reports of air pollutants from energy types on climate and air quality, and comparing how well each energy type was able to power vehicles, the study showed that Ethanol came in dead last.
It seems that the report found that wind-powered battery electric vehicles as well as wind-powered hydrogen fuel cells were the greenest ways to go.
The immediate problem now, is the fact that driving a wind-powered battery electric vehicle is horrendously expensive, let alone impractical.
And for its part, Ethanol has already received huge support from the automotive industry and the U.S. government.
Finding an appropriately sized role for ethanol, with adequate support for the greener of the new green-tech is easier said than done.
I always knew that ethanol was a worthless technology, and now I have backing from a professor at Stanford University.
Ethanol has a carbon footprint, has less energy in it than either gasoline or diesel, is expensive to produce, and the production of ethanol creates pollution.
Solution? Drill, baby, drill! Yes, American oil companies should drill in America and drill in America’s territorial waters (such as off the coast of Florida and California) for our own oil. Oil will most likely see America through its energy needs for at least the next 200 years. No time like the present to start drilling for our future.
Check out Professor Mark Jacobson’s paper at RSC.org.
UPDATE 1: Auto Blog Green reports that an ethanol-powered Mustang reached 252.78-miles-per-hour!
Many corn-starved children died for this ethanol breakthrough.
Filed Under: Science
Join the Discussion: 1 Comment »