A very critical analysis of biofuels

[GliderGuider]

Here's a little hand grenade to toss into the discussions on ethanol and biodiesel:

The Dirty Truth about Biofuels by Dale Allen Pfeiffer.

He relies heavily on Pimentel and Patzek, as well as George Monbiot. Here are some of the conclusions about ethanol:

When you take into account all of the fossil fuel inputs, one hectare of corn-for-ethanol generates 7475 kg of CO2, or 2200 kg more CO2 than would be generated by burning an energy equivalent amount of gasoline. In other words ethanol generation produces 42% more atmospheric CO2 than gasoline.

Let me restate this for emphasis. The main reason why we are currently subsidizing ethanol production is the mistaken belief that ethanol contributes less CO2 than gasoline. There is also talk about ethanol being a renewable fuel source. However, in reality, ethanol produces 42% more atmospheric CO2 than an equivalent amount of gasoline, and it requires 10% more energy to produce than it provides. What is more, to remediate all the pollution of corn-ethanol production would require a minimum of 7 times the maximum amount of work that ethanol can produce in a car engine.

Industrial corn-ethanol production is not renewable and it is far from sustainable. Furthermore, analysis shows that there are no process changes that can make the system viable. We would be better off to abandon corn ethanol production right now.

Snip

Not only does ethanol not reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, ethanol burning contributes notable amounts of atmospheric nitrogen oxides, which then combine with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to produce ozone. Studies show conclusively that ethanol leads to an increased ozone problem. Within half a year of switching entirely to ethanol additives, California ozone levels rose 22%, and exceedences of the 8 hour standard rose to a maximum concentration of 40%.

I'm sure there are holes to be poked in some of the arguments, but this is one of the most exhaustive and devastating popular articles I've read about the scam of green fuels.