A new Rice University study misses some facts on ethanol, and more specifically corn-based ethanol production. The report ("The Water Footprint of Biofuels: A Drink or Drive Issue?") says that "to meet the mandated increased production of biofuels, increased agricultural activity such as tilling more land and higher agrichemical application is inevitable." This statement misses a couple of important facts.
First, the Renewable Fuels Standard in the 2007 energy bill was written in such a way to recognize the role of biofuels produced from different sources, and to balance those sources according to their potential size. The RFS calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuel use by 2022, with corn-based ethanol being capped at 15 billion gallon of that total by 2015. The balance will come from cellulosic sources. There is a limit to how much corn can and should be used for ethanol production, and the RFS schedule respects that. This amount of corn-based ethanol can be made available in a sustainable way, keeping an ample supply of corn for feed and food purposes.
Also, the production of corn has changed dramatically, with farmers achieving higher yields with fewer inupts. Farmers are growing five times as much corn as they did in the 1930s on 20 percent less land. Irrigation, soil loss, emissions, and net energy inputs per bushel of corn are all down double-digits in the last 20 years. The ethanol production process itself has dropped its water consumption per gallon of biofuel by more than 26 percent since 2001. There are lots of new efficiencies both in farming and in ethanol production that need to be recognized.
And please note: the Rice University study comes via funding from Shell Oil's "Center for Sustainability."
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