why is corn ethanol bad for the environment

Brazil has a large sugar and corn market . Ethanol is purely an attempt to burn off all the corn overproduction that is poisoning our environment. 169 Words1 Page. Now it takes hardly any petroleum and chemical inputs from the farmer in order to grow a crop if corn for ethanol. Pros and Cons of Ethanol in Gas - AxleAddict Industrial corn farming is ruining our health and polluting our watersheds. )Cellulosic ethanol could someday replace gasoline use entirely. 1. They thrust with a two pronged argument: that too much good food producing corn is being used for fuel, and that ethanol is driving up the cost of corn and, thus, food. Corn is grown not only for food, it is also an important renewable energy source. Corn is the main crop used in the U.S. to produce biofuel. Credit: Jim Deane /Flickr Most gasoline sold in the U.S. contains some ethanol, and the findings, published in Climatic Change , were . Biodiesel - The Good. This characteristic also lessens the possibility of spills compared to spills from petroleum. It lacks the environmental credentials of other renewable energy sources (e.g., celulosic ethanol, wind energy, and solar energy). With rising fuel prices and Earth's rising temperature, people are looking anywhere to find an inexpensive way to fill up for their cars that will have minimal impact on the environment. Though ethanol and other biofuels are often promoted as clean, low-cost alternatives to gasoline, industrial corn and soy farming still have a harmful impact on . One of the bad things that happens with ethanol is that your mileage will actually decrease. This characteristic also lessens the possibility of spills compared to spills from petroleum. Corn field in Ontario (Source: Illustratedjc [CC BY-SA 3.0]via Wikimedia Commons). The New York Times stated that E10 gasoline, which is the gas we use in America, actually gives you 2-3 miles per gallon less than gasoline. In addition to the effect of latent heat of evaporation, the . Ethanol's reputation as an environmentally friendly fuel is overblown, say researchers who claim that large-scale farming of sugar cane or corn for alcohol is damaging the planet. Ethanol can reduce pollution Producing and burning ethanol results in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. In light of the strong evidence that growing corn, soybeans, and other food crops to produce ethanol takes a heavy toll on the environment and is hurting the world's poor through higher food prices, consider this astonishing fact: This year, more than a third of the U.S.'s record corn harvest of 335 million metric tons will be used to produce corn ethanol. Not only is corn ethanol more expensive to produce than gasoline, it actually causes many environmental problems. Nowadays, no one can claim with a straight face of the necessity to grow corn to produce ethanol, thereby increasing domestic energy supply, and loosening the noose of… The bad economics of ethanol are clear, and the bad environmental science behind its usage is even more evident. Unfortunately, both uses wreak havoc on the environment. While biofuels produced from agricultural crops can generate less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil fuels, in practice . That is a rotten deal. But new research says that the global effects of losing agricultural land for . When I first looked at the environmental impact of corn ethanol, I thought it was simple: Growing an acre of corn for fuel means you have to grow another acre elsewhere for food, which ultimately . Reducing air pollution along with the associated health risks to the public. Starch is a complex carbohydrate. E85 decreases the emissions of CO2, as well as the emissions of many harmful toxics, such as benzene—a known carcinogen. (The ethanol currently used in the U.S. is largely produced from corn. In addition to the extra ozone pollution from burning 15 percent ethanol fuel blends during the summer, increased demand in corn production for ethanol puts a strain on the environment, from increased soil erosion to pesticide and fertilizer use to water pollution, while diverting land that could be used for food Producing ethanol also releases harmful chemicals into the air. A study released on Monday by the University of Minnesota has come up with some hard facts for ethanol supports: Corn ethanol is just as bad for polluting the air as gasoline. Here are three reasons why. Why does sugarcane produce more ethanol than corn? The Ethanol Disaster America's renewables policy is bad for consumers, the environment, and the global poor. I think the primary flaw in the ethanol program is that it ignores all the environmental issues, and is in existence only because a lot of scientifically illiterate people wanted to do something to help out farmers. At least in the short-term, the corn-residue biofuels release about 7% more greenhouse gases than traditional fuels, according to a federally funded, peer-reviewed study that appeared in the journal Nature Climate Change last month. Ethanol lowers your gas mileage-a lot. Ethanol is a type of biofuel made from corn. 1. Learn more about the problems of this biofuel. Data show that corn ethanol can reduce greenhouse gases by about 18 percent. gasoline and is therefore comparable to that of coal. Proponents of corn ethanol posit that the organic make-up of this renewable fuel source makes it highly biodegradable, thus, safer for the environment. By suspending unwise renewable-fuel standards, the Environmental Protection Agency could divert vast amounts of corn from inefficient ethanol production back into the food chain. It remains a bad idea whose time has passed.

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why is corn ethanol bad for the environment