Ethanol in perspective
The current
February 28, 2008 at 10:50PM
Leave it to the Minneapolis-based Great Plains Institute to find common ground between the corn lobby that loves ethanol as a growing motor fuel supplement and its detractors who find it a government-subsidized boondoggle that doesn't save much energy.
A February article by a University of Minnesota scientist in the journal Science suggests that conventional corn ethanol may actually make climate change worse by displacing woodlands and idled acres that already were storing carbon, the big contributor to greenhouse gases.
Great Plains, which brings adversaries together to try to move toward a cleaner, alternative-fuels future, notes that few experts believe that corn-based ethanol can or should replace more than about 10 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline we burn every year.
Cellulosic alcohol, made from switchgrass, garbage or other sources, could deliver another 77 billion gallons annually, once it's fully commercialized, the institute points out. Together with corn-based ethanol, that adds up to 87 billion gallons -- or 62 percent of 2005 gasoline consumption.
"The solution is not to spend a great deal of time and effort quibbling about corn ethanol, but instead to focus public and private investment and ingenuity on moving ... as quickly as possible along an evolutionary path toward sustainably produced biofuels, electricity and hydrogen to power our vehicles," Great Plains said in a recent statement.
NEAL ST. ANTHONY
Back to basics for BP?
The CEO of BP PLC, Tony Hayward, hinted on Wednesday that the oil company may offload part or all of its green business unit, reversing a central part of its previous strategy.
Hayward, giving his first annual presentation to analysts since taking over from former CEO John Browne last May, said BP intends to expand its alternative energy business "predominantly for its equity value." The green unit is worth between $5 billion and $7 billion, Hayward said.
Selling the business would drop a key plank of Browne's strategy, the rebranding of the former British Petroleum under the "Beyond Petroleum" slogan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
about the writer
No new breakthroughs were reported Saturday in the intensive hunt for the person who shot the Minnesota health care executive in New York City. The NYPD has offered a reward of up to $10,000.
