Articles by Grist staff

As mandates and government aid ramp up, the case for ethanol runs out of steam

As President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress mull a bailout for ethanol makers, the industry absorbed two body blows this past week.

1) The Environmental Working Group released a study revealing the profound opportunity costs associated with our government's generous support for ethanol.

The corn-based fuel grabs three-quarters of all federal renewable-energy tax credits, EWG reports. Ethanol gets more four times as much cheese as wind, solar, and geothermal combined. If you add in support for biodiesel, biofuels grab 80 percent -- four dollars in five -- of federal tax largesse to renewable fuels. In short, the dubious practice of turning corn and soy into liquid car fuel is crowding out other more energy-rich and sustainable energy sources.

2) A professor from Iowa State University -- ground zero of ethanol fervor -- has broken ranks and issued a scathing, cogent critique [PDF] of of the ethanol program. Here's a juicy sample from the paper, by Dennis Keeney, emeritus professor, Department of Agronomy and Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering:

About 6.7% of the gasoline used in the U.S. will be displaced by ethanol in 2009, when corrected for the lower energy content of ethanol and assuming an annual gasoline consumption of 140 billion gallons. Assuming a net energy gain in the conversion of corn to ethanol of 1.25, there is a net energy displacement of approximately 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline, about a 2% net energy gain. If the energy in nonfuel byproducts (e.g. distillers grains, which are used for cattle feed) is removed from the equation, the net energy gain is close to nil. In other words, ethanol from corn will do nothing to boost net energy supplies.

Let's put these two assessments together: We're handing three-quarters of the resources we have for alternative fuels to one that delivers precisely ... nothing. At a time of rapid climate change and mounting budget deficits.

Below, a few choice nuggets from the two papers.

U.N. says ignore the cold, warming is still a problem

GENEVA — Icy conditions that have claimed dozens of lives across Europe since November are partly due to La Nina, an upsurge of cooler water to the Pacific Ocean surface, the UN’s weather agency said Friday. “The cold snap currently being experienced can be partly attributed to the La Nina phenomenon, which is a cooling […]

Greenpeace grades gadgets unveiled at CES

LAS VEGAS — Consumer electronics manufacturers are making greener products than a year ago but more progress needs to be made before they can claim a truly environmentally friendly product, Greenpeace said Friday. In its second greener products survey, “Green Electronics: The Search Continues,” the environmental activist group assessed the progress made by consumer electronic […]

'Minimalist' cooking master connects the dots between food, climate, and bad health

The great Mark Bittman -- whose new book I am eager to get my paws on -- delivers a powerful spiel connecting the industrial food system with climate change and the health-care crisis. Watch it.