Ethanol in Perspective

QUICK AGRO-FUEL FACTS

• Increasing fuel efficiency by just 3% would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil more than all of the agrofuels combined.
• The amount of grain it takes to fill an average gas tank with ethanol would be enough to feed a person for a year (source: Foreign Affairs)
• If the United States stopped growing food and converted its entire grain harvest into ethanol, it would satisfy less than 16 percent of its automotive needs. (source: Earth Policy Institute)
• The majority of U.S. biofuels are produced from pesticide intensive genetically engineered crops (soy, corn).
• Monocultures of soy and sugar cane in Latin America and palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia have led to massive deforestation and the loss of invaluable biodiversity.
• Current methods of industrial-scale biofuel production worsen global warming by increasing deforestation and degradation of peatlands and soils, while also creating more nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use.

SUSTAINABILITY NEWS OF THE WEEK:
NEW STUDIES TIE AGRO-FUELS TO GLOBAL WARMING
Two new studies published in the journal Science will hopefully Force Congress and the Bush Administration to think twice about the billions of federal tax dollars used to subsidize corn-based ethanol instead of other tried and tested programs such as energy conservation and solar or wind power. One study, conducted by Princeton University and Iowa State, concluded that over 30 years, use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline. A companion study found that the current process of converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas and grasslands in Southeast Asia and Latin America to produce biofuels from soybeans and palm oil will increase global warming pollution for decades, if not centuries. In the last issue of Organic Bytes, the OCA called on readers to sign its ago-fuels petition.