Increased use of grain for bioethanol in the U.S. and Europe is indirectly causing farmers to convert rainforests and other native ecosystems over the world to expand cropland which indirectly is increasing GHG emissions.
Despite increased demand, the land dedicated to grain production globally has actually fallen steadily since the early 1980s. From 2008 to 2009 alone, the global cropland area for grain dropped nearly 9 million acres as a result of significant increases in productivity per unit of land. In the US, corn yield per acre has increased by 38% just in the last 20 years (*).
90% of the incremental agricultural production in the world for the oncoming years will come from existing crop land through yield increases and agricultural infrastructure
investments (**).
US corn exports have actually increased despite record bioethanol production, achieving record levels in the 2007/08 marketing year and remaining well above the 10-year average the following year. Corn export levels for 2009/10 are forecasted to be among the highest on record. Additionally, record amount of distillers grains from bioethanol was exported in 2009 to livestock producers around the globe (***).
Bioethanol crops are replacing food crops.
Neither bioethanol nor food crops will experience farmland shortages in the European Union and the United States. Additional production potential by 2020 will be coming from
yield improvements.(*)
No new or forest land should be converted in the US or outside the US to meet 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol in 2015.(**)
Second-generation cellulosic biomass will gradually replace traditional food-based bioethanol. (***)
Bioethanol releases more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels.
A blend of 85% bioethanol (E85) enables a 45% to 70% reduction in greenhouse gases for each kilometer driven.(*)
Bioethanol is not a real alternative fuel for the future.
Bioethanol is currently the only real alternative for eliminating our addiction to oil. It improves energy independence and diversification, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and guarantees fuel supply.(*)
The production of bioethanol may lead to world
poverty and extreme hunger.
The production of bioethanol contributes to the growth of local economies and to the global redistribution of income, creating jobs in rural areas and allowing farmers to raise their incomes.
Also, there is enough land in the world to produce cereal-based bioethanol in a sustainable
way for years to come.
In the near future, second-generation ethanol from biomass will significantly exceed the production of cereal-based bioethanol.(*)
Imagine a cheaper energy with lower GHG emissions.
Today bioethanol can do both.
Bioethanol is cheaper than gasoline, thus saving consumers expenses at the pump (*).
A blend of 85% bioethanol (E85) enables a 45% to 70% reduction in greenhouse gases for each kilometer driven (**).
