News tagged with corn ethanol

Related topics: biofuel , ethanol

Food vs. fuel: Scientists say growing grain for food is more energy efficient

Using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel is more energy efficient, Michigan State University scientists concluded, after analyzing 17 years' worth of data to help settle the food versus fuel debate.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 19, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Switch from corn to grass would raise ethanol output, cut emissions

Growing perennial grasses on the least productive farmland now used for corn ethanol production in the U.S. would result in higher overall corn yields, more ethanol output per acre and better groundwater quality, ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jul 12, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (9) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

US looks ahead after ethanol subsidy expires

After a series of bitter political fights, the US Congress allowed a subsidy for ethanol fuel to expire at the end of 2011, ending a program harshly criticized by environmentalists and others.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jan 15, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 36

Meeting biofuel production targets could change agricultural landscape

Almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. would have to be devoted to raising corn for ethanol production in order to meet current biofuel production targets with existing technology, a new study has found. An alternative, ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 1

US ethanol subsidy caused corn price surge: study

US ethanol subsidies pushed up corn prices as much as 17 percent in 2011, according to a study released Wednesday at a time when Washington's policies on biofuels are coming under heightened scrutiny.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jun 22, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Study critiques corn-for-ethanol's carbon footprint

To avoid creating greenhouse gases, it makes more sense using today's technology to leave land unfarmed in conservation reserves than to plow it up for corn to make biofuel, according to a comprehensive Duke University-led ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 02, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 8

Is ethanol better for the environment than gas?

Dear EarthTalk: Where does ethanol as an automobile fuel fit into the alternative energy mix? Is it better for the environment than gasoline? (Donna Allgaier-Lamberti; Pullman, Mich.)

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jun 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 5

USDA report shows improving corn-ethanol energy efficiency

Harry Baumes, Acting Director of USDA's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, says a report that surveyed corn growers in 2005 and ethanol plants in 2008 indicates the net energy gain from converting corn ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Sep 21, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn

(AP) -- One of the nation's most widely planted crops - a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide - may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4

Ethanol Production Methods More Efficient Now: Study

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new University of Illinois at Chicago study of facilities that produce most of the nation's ethanol found that the energy needed to make a gallon of the corn-based fuel decreased on average by about 30 ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created May 27, 2010 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Grasses have potential as alternate ethanol crop, study finds

Money may not grow on trees, but energy could grow in grass. Researchers at the University of Illinois have completed the first extensive geographic yield and economic analysis of potential bioenergy grass crops in the Midwestern ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 01, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Biofuels production has unintended consequences on water quality, quantity in Mississippi

Growing corn for biofuels production is having unintended effects on water quality and quantity in northwestern Mississippi.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

The evolution of ethanol: Promising new research goes beyond corn

Fueling up your car with ethanol produced from blue-green algae may sound far-fetched. But Bill Gibbons, a professor and researcher in SDSU’s Department of Biology and Microbiology, says it is close to reality – ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2

Fill 'er up with tobacco? Berkeley lab-led team explores new path to biofuels

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mention biofuels and most people think of corn ethanol. Some may think of advanced biofuels from switchgrass or miscanthus. But tobacco? Not likely.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Ethanol test for Obama on climate change, science

(AP) -- President Barack Obama's commitment to take on climate change and put science over politics is about to be tested as his administration faces a politically sensitive question about the widespread ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 03, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 17