Bio-electricity may offer better mileage for cars than ethanol

[The Straight Story]

Bio-electricity may offer better mileage for cars than ethanol

WASHINGTON: A new study by scientists
has suggested that biomass converted into electricity could be more efficient than ethanol.

The study was conducted by University of California, Merced, Assistant Professor Elliott Campbell and two other researchers.

In the study, Campbell, along with Christopher Field of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology and David Lobell of Stanford University, the scientists found that biomass converted into electricity produced 81 percent more transportation miles and 108 percent more emissions offsets compared to ethanol.

In other words, according to Campbell, vehicles powered by biomass converted into electricity "got further down the road" compared to ethanol.

"As a result, we found that converting biomass to electricity rather than ethanol makes the most sense for two policy-relevant issues, transportation and climate," he said.

The scientists based their study on two criteria: miles per area cropland and greenhouse gas offsets per area cropland. In both cases, scientists considered a range of feedstock crops (corn and switchgrass and vehicle types (small car, midsize car, small SUV and large SUV).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Bio-electricity-may-offer-better-mileage-for-cars-than-ethanol-/articleshow/4503702.cms

[msongs]

1. ethanol is a loser - except for the corn-industrial complex nt

[Mopar151]

2. Don't be so sure

Part of the value of ethanol is it's ability to replace HIGH OCTANE fuels, while reducing emissions IN EXISTING EQUIPMENT. The conversion is relatively simple, and costs a few hundred dollars.

I would agree that corn is too expensive, and agriculturally inefficent, to be an optimum feedstock for fuel ethanol.Takes too much water to grow,needs tillage....
And the big agri-gangsters are all about the money.