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With new energy-focused bills, Stevens delights enviros and Obama disappoints

Among the barrage of energy-related bills already unleashed by the 110th Congress, one of the most progressive comes not from the newly empowered Democrats, but from Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, a zealous proponent of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Just as peculiar, one of the bills that most rankles environmentalists comes […]

Readers write in about coal’s villainy, eating locally, sexy eco-geeks, and more

  Re: One Nation, Under Terry Dear Editor: I read Terry Tamminen’s book, and overall I think it’s a very credible effort by a very good guy. He does a bang-up job laying out the case against petroleum. But he’s guilty of a serious (possibly fatal, given his position and influence) error in saying that […]

The meme all the kids are talking about!

I got to thinking (again) about an elevator pitch for greens — the "What Greens Want" that can be explained in a short elevator ride. Ideally the message would be simple enough to communicate, but meaty enough to imply some real choices and policies. The second part of my Tom Paine piece is an attempt […]

You listen

Our food/ag writer and all-around smart guy Tom Philpott recently did a short interview with PBS’s Now. I think it shows an almost mustachian ability to distill large, complex messages down to their memorable essence. For instance: Frankly, our addiction to cheap and easy energy explains why so much of the current political discussion of […]

Everybody loves lists!

Way back at the beginning of the year (is that already two weeks ago?), I meant to do a bit of a round-up of year-end lists appearing on other sites. The moment has probably passed, but what the hell, I still have all the tabs open in Firefox, so for nostalgia if nothing else, here […]

Wonder Twin powers, activate!

Interesting. I interviewed famed biologist E.O. Wilson, who talked about the need for scientists to reach out to religious leaders, to ask them to lend their moral credibility to the fight against biodiversity loss and other environmental ills. And I interviewed evangelical mega-church pastor Joel Hunter, who talked about the need to reach out to […]

Bait and switchgrass, again

I've only just seen this study by Tiffany A. Groode, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, and not looked at it in detail, but several statements in the press release stand out:

Now a new MIT analysis shows that the energy balance is actually so close that several factors can easily change whether ethanol ends up a net energy winner or loser.

Regardless of the energy balance, replacing gasoline with corn-based ethanol does significantly reduce oil consumption because the biomass production and conversion process requires little petroleum.

Groode incorporated into her analysis the uncertainty associated with the values of many of the inputs. Using a methodology developed by a recent MIT graduate, she used not just one value for each key variable (such as the amount of fertilizer required), but rather a range of values along with the probability that each of those values would occur.

Based on her "most likely" outcomes, she concluded that traveling a kilometer using ethanol does indeed consume more energy than traveling the same distance using gasoline.

So why does the press release proclaim, "MIT ethanol analysis confirms benefits of biofuels"? Because cornstarch ethanol forms part of a continuum, you see:

From Blue to Blackbird

H to the WTF Dear Jay-Z, Why you frontin’? We were big pimpin’ your efforts to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis. But we’re not crazy in love with your latest venture. A “Jay-Z Blue” gas-guzzler? Seriously? Excuse me, mister, but we thought your color was green. Photo: John Shearer / WireImage.com The pen […]

Says smart stuff

A while back, in a post semi-defending Gore et. al’s backing of science showing a connection between hurricanes and climate change, I invoked a study by Tom Wigley and colleagues. It occurred to me that it might be nice to hear what Wigley himself had to say, so I asked him. He responded, and I’m […]

King for a Day

Daily Grist takes a break for equality’s sake, resumes on Tuesday So many Monday holidays, so little time: just when you got used to having us back, Daily Grist will be taking a break on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will march and discuss and reflect, yes — and we might also start counting […]