- As toll crosses 100, Trump puts Hurricane Helene at election center stage
- US Fed Chair sees 'further disinflation' in economy
- Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over app store
- Officials see no shortages from likely US port strike
- UK families of Gaza hostages warn Lebanon attack 'takes focus away'
- Shares in Stellantis, Aston Martin skid on profit warnings
- Dali prints found in London garage sold at auction
- ECB chief backs bank mergers amid UniCredit, Commerzbank talk
- China stocks soar on stimulus, but US and Europe retreat
- 100 dead in storm Helene damage, flooding across US southeast
- China stocks soar on stimulus, Europe slides on automaker woes
- German antitrust watchdog steps up monitoring of Microsoft
- Nepal's urban poor count cost of 'nightmare' floods
- E.Guinea, Gabon clash at ICJ over oil-rich islands
- New blow for UK's Starmer as growth data disappoints
- China's top banks to tweak mortgage rates to boost housing market
- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
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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.
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.
X.Cheung--CPN