Sierra Club's Focus on Biofuels. 

During the summer of 2006, the Sierra Club ran a series of articles in its Smart Energy Summer features.  Find out the answers to frequently asked questions about flex fuels v. hybrids; read articles about ethanol published in the Washington Post and the New York Times newspapers; plus much more.  Go to Sierra Club's site  here...

 

 

Ethanol Fuel from Corn Faulted as ‘Unsustainable Subsidized Food Burning’

David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year's supply of food for seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus, 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.

Mr. Pimentel concluded that "abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade automobile fuels amounts to unsustainable subsidized food burning".

Read more of Pimental's findings here...

 

 

 "Ethanol: Myths and Realities; Ten questions -- and answers -- about the fuel that's supposed to save the economy" -- Business Week, May 2006

"With high gas prices making alternative fuels increasingly attractive, no alternative fuel has received as much attention as ethanol. Some hail the fuel, which can be derived from plants including corn, wheat, barley and sugarcane, as a savior of American energy policy, while others see it as a fad popularized by its heavily subsidized corporate backers.

"The reality is complex. Though still a tiny industry compared to gas, ethanol could become a more prominent part of the U.S. and world fuel supply in coming years."

Read the entire article here...

 

 

EPA's Information on Alternative Fuels

EPA promotes and expands the use of environmentally beneficial alternative fuels and vehicles by providing the states with tools, such as benefits models, State Implementation Plan Credits, and the Clean Fuels Fleet program.  EPA also coordinates with the Department of Energy and Department of Transportation so that their Energy Policy Act and Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century programs promote alternative fuels and vehicles having the greatest environmental gains.

Find out more at EPA's website here...

 

 

U.S. Department of Energy Information on Biomass

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the Biomass Program (OBP) is helping to meet the President's goal of significantly increasing America's use of fuels, chemicals, materials and power made from domestic biomass on a sustainable basis. To reach this goal, the OBP has two primary objectives:

1. To reduce dependence on foreign oil by developing biomass based liquid fuels
2. To foster the domestic biomass industry

Read more about the DOE's Biomass Program here...