Study: Biofuels could Cause More Carbon Emissions than Gasoline

That’s quite the counternarrative, if the study’s results hold up in future studies conducted on the same subject:

Motor vehicle “biofuels” like ethanol made from corn and soybeans may cause more carbon emissions than gasoline, based on a new study from John DeCicco, a professor and researcher at the University of Michigan Energy Institute, challenging claims by environmentalists that vehicles using biofuels are better for the environment than cars and trucks running on traditional gasoline and diesel fuel made from crude oil.

The research, which measures absorption of carbon dioxide by crops during the farming phase of biofuel production, was published not long after the North Carolina General Assembly gave a green energy tax credit “carve-out” to Biochemtex, a Wilmington-based global technology company. The action exempted Biochemtex from a law that ends the state’s renewable tax credits on Jan. 1, 2017. While the tax credit will expire, Biochemtex will receive an additional $50 million in tax credits for use in a Sampson County biofuel plant building project to be completed by 2020.

Photo by eXtension Farm Energy

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