GreenField Ethanol's Chatham facility
Local MP Dave van Kesteren on Friday announced the funding from the federal government’s ecoEnergy for Biofuels program for GreenField Ethanol’s facility at Chatham, Ont.
Posted by Ian:
Have posted info on this in the past, but growing evidence that ethanol use in marine engines, generators and off-road vehicles poses hazards. And now more documentation, this time from Sydney, Australia …
Ethanol blend fuel poses a risk for boat owners and is “potentially disastrous” for any vessels that use petrol fuel tanks more than a few years old, industry experts say.
Government and industry adviser Gary Fooks said the blended fuel might be all right for 60 per cent of cars but was a “no-no” for 99 per cent of boats.
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Canada currently has 1.4 billion liters in ethanol production capacity, with another 600 million liters under construction – all adding up to the 2 billion liters of ethanol production required to meet the federal government’s five-percent renewable fuels standard (RFS) by 2010.
Canada currently has 15 operating plants with a combined total capacity of approximately 1.4 billion liters.
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Corn ethanol’s future is already muddied by concerns that it requires a substantial amount of energy to produce and that heightened demand makes corn more costly in human food and livestock feed. Now, with climate change concerns mounting and drought becoming more of a problem in many areas, the water-intensive nature of creating ethanol also is a growing concern.
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Global warming could scorch the corn economy to the tune of about $1.4 billion a year, according to a report that compiles data from academia and government. The damage would come in the expected places: the Midwest and South, according to the Environment America study released Thursday.
The report contradicts assurances from climate-change skeptics that warming would have a net benefit on agriculture by increasing growing seasons and crop yields.
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A new Congressional Budget Office study estimates that one-quarter of all corn grown in the U.S. is now used to make ethanol, and the CBO found that production is pushing up food prices.
However, the CBO did find a reduction in vehicle emissions from the increased ethanol use. Full story
Scientists from the University of Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol — often regarded as a clean-burning energy source of the future — may consume up to three times more water than previously thought.
“Water Embodied in Bioethanol in the United States,” scheduled for publication in the April 15 issue of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) journal Environmental Science & Technology, comes at a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, the ACS said in a press release about the study.
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Permolex, Red Deer, Alberta
“This investment is an example of how our Economic Action Plan is working for families in Red Deer,” said Mr. Dreeshen. “This will help create local jobs and economic opportunities for local businesses, both of which are more important than ever given the current global recession. In the long run, increasing our supply of cleaner fuels will also reduce greenhouse gasses and contribute a healthier environment for all Canadians.”
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Nearly half of Americans believe the production of ethanol puts pressure on the nation’s food and water supplies.
“In the beginning we were told that it is a clean, green fuel that could energize the U.S. agriculture sector and reduce our imports of foreign oil,” said Dulce Fernandes, associate director of the New York-based Network for New Energy Choices, an organization dedicated to environmentally responsible energy.
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