Logical Science | Corn Ethanol: The Great Boondoggle

Logical Science | Corn Ethanol: The Great Boondoggle

Harvard and Columbia University’s Professor Michael McElroy writes:The balance in terms of emission of greenhouse gases is close to a wash for the United States: the reduction in net emissions of carbon dioxide obtained by using corn rather than petroleum as a "feedstock" for motor fuel is largely offset by additional emissions of the several hundredfold more potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, formed as a byproduct of the nitrogen fertilizer used to grow the corn.


This is while we are using natural gas to make the corn. If we switch to coal for the distillation process then the situation will only get worse.