Ethanol Fuels: Energy Balance, Economics, and Environmental Impacts Are Negative

Several studies suggest that the $1.4 billion in government subsidies are encouraging the ethanol program without substantial benefits to the U.S. economy. Large ethanol industries and a few U.S. government agencies, such as the USDA, support the production of ethanol. Corn-farmers receive minimal profits. In the U.S. ethanol system, considerably more energy, including high-grade fossil fuel, is required to produce ethanol than is available in the energy-ethanol output. Specifically about 29% more energy is used to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy in a gallon of ethanol. Fossil energy powers corn production and the fermentation/distillation processes. Increasing subsidized ethanol production will take more feed from livestock production, and is estimated to currently cost consumers an additional $1 billion per year. Ethanol production increases environmental degradation. Corn production causes more total soil erosion than any other crop. Also, corn production uses more insecticides, herbicides, and nitrogen fertilizers than any other crop. All these factors degrade the agricultural and natural environment and contribute to water pollution and air pollution. Increasing the cost of food and diverting human food resources to the costly inefficient production of ethanol fuel raise major ethical questions. These occur at a time when more than half of the world's population is malnourished. The ethical priority for corn and other food crops should be for food and feed. Subsidized ethanol produced from U.S. corn is not a renewable energy source.     

Ethanol Production Using Corn,Switchgrass, and Wood; Biodiesel Production Using Soybean and Sunflower

Energy outputs from ethanol produced using corn, switchgrass, and wood biomass were each less than the respective fossil energy inputs. The same was true for producing biodiesel using soybeans and sunflower, however, the energy cost for producing soybean biodiesel was only slightly negative compared with ethanol production. Findings in terms of energy outputs compared with the energy inputs were: • Ethanol production using corn grain required 29% more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel produced. • Ethanol production using switchgrass required 50% more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel produced. • Ethanol production using wood biomass required 57% more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel produced. • Biodiesel production using soybean required 27% more fossil energy than the biodiesel fuel produced (Note, the energy yield from soy oil per hectare is far lower than the ethanol yield from corn). • Biodiesel production using sunflower required 118% more fossil energy than the biodiesel fuel produced.     

A Geosystem Perspective in Landscape Archaeology Studies: Ancestors' Occupations in Ilhéus,Brazil

Past occupations in the Brazilian geographic area showed experiences of particular relations with natural resources. In this sense, landscape archaeology attempts to have a better understanding of the lifestyle of ancestral populations by analyzing archaeological traces. The study approach that translates the natural systems and their relations with the anthropic systems is known as geosystem theory, which helps landscape archaeology in patterns of past occurrences resulting from environmental characteristics. The objective of this study was to show the geosystem landscapes of Ilhéus, in Bahia, Brazil, that defined land occupation since the precolonial period in Brazil. Four geosystems have been identified; they defined how precolonial groups lived in the area and favored colony growth starting in the nineteenth century with local sugarcane production in sugarcane mills. Key Words: geoarchaeology, GIS, natural systems, northeastern Brazil.     

Fertilizer Consumption and Energy Input for 16 Crops in the United States

Fertilizer use by U.S. agriculture has increased over the past few decades. The production and transportation of fertilizers (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; potassium, K) are energy intensive. In general, about a third of the total energy input to crop production goes to the production of fertilizers, one-third to mechanization, and one-third to other inputs including labor, transportation, pesticides, and electricity. For some crops, fertilizer is the largest proportion of total energy inputs. Energy required for the production and transportation of fertilizers, as a percentage of total energy input, was determined for 16 crops in the U.S. to be: 19–60% for seven grains, 10–41% for two oilseeds, 25% for potatoes, 12–30% for three vegetables, 2–23% for two fruits, and 3% for dry beans. The harvested-area weighted-average of the fraction of crop fertilizer energy to the total input energy was 28%. The current sources of fertilizers for U.S. agriculture are dependent on imports, availability of natural gas, or limited mineral resources. Given these dependencies plus the high energy costs for fertilizers, an integrated approach for their efficient and sustainable use is needed that will simultaneously maintain or increase crop yields and food quality while decreasing adverse impacts on the environment.     

Converting Brazil's pastures to cropland: An alternative way to meet sugarcane demand and to spare forestlands

Brazil seeks to rapidly increase its agricultural production to meet future demands, especially for sugarcane, which is an agricultural commodity and a biofuel source. In this paper, we explore how to achieve this increase without compromising existing forestlands. We propose that it is possible to substantially expand sugarcane production in Brazil while avoiding further environmental losses and the indirect land use changes often associated with them, such as deforestation. This task could be accomplished by converting existing pasturelands with agricultural potential into cropland. A great deal of pastureland exists in Brazil. Thus, we addressed the following questions in this study: (1) where are the most suitable pasturelands for sugarcane located geographically and (2) what potential do these pasturelands have for sugarcane production regarding their physical suitability and other significant factors, such as infrastructure availability and socioeconomic factors. We conducted a land suitability analysis using a spatial location model based on multicriteria decision-making and geographic information systems (GIS) to identify the cultivated pasturelands most suitable for conversion to sugarcane production in Brazil. “What if” scenarios were built to determine how changes in the subjectively derived weights of the priority criteria would modify the spatial distribution of the suitability classes relative to the MCDA model and demonstrate the robustness of the crop suitability assessment. The most suitable pastureland areas for conversion to sugarcane production were predominantly located in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and Pará. These zones have large contiguous areas of pasture with moderate and high agricultural potentials for sugarcane production. The total estimated area of cultivated pasturelands with moderate or high suitability for sugarcane production was 50 million hectares, which is much larger than the area currently used for sugarcane production in Brazil.     

Water Footprints of Cassava- and Molasses-Based Ethanol Production in Thailand

The Thai government has been promoting renewable energy as well as stimulating the consumption of its products. Replacing transport fuels with bioethanol will require substantial amounts of water and enhance water competition locally. This study shows that the water footprint (WF) of molasses-based ethanol is less than that of cassava-based ethanol. The WF of molasses-based ethanol is estimated to be in the range of 1,510–1,990 L water/L ethanol, while that of cassava-based ethanol is estimated at 2,300–2,820 L water/L ethanol. Approximately 99% of the water in each of these WFs is used to cultivate crops. Ethanol production requires not only substantial amounts of water but also government interventions because it is not cost competitive. In Thailand, the government has exploited several strategies to lower ethanol prices such as oil tax exemptions for consumers, cost compensation for ethanol producers, and crop price assurances for farmers. For the renewable energy policy to succeed in the long run, the government may want to consider promoting molasses-based ethanol production as well as irrigation system improvements and sugarcane yield-enhancing practices, since molasses-based ethanol is more favorable than cassava-based ethanol in terms of its water consumption, chemical fertilizer use, and production costs.     

An Analysis of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Fossil Fuel Production in the U.S. from 2001 to 2015

The production and burning of fossil fuels is the primary contributor to CO₂ emissions for the U.S. We assess the impact of producing coal, crude oil, and natural gas on the environment and economic well-being by analyzing state-level data from 2001 to 2015. Our findings show that coal production has led to more CO₂ emissions and no significant benefit to economic well-being. Crude oil production has a non-significant impact on CO₂ emissions but is related to a lower poverty rate, a higher median household income, and a higher employment rate. Natural gas withdrawals have a positive impact on median household income. We discuss these findings in the context of current U.S. energy policies and then provide directions for future research.     

Context and contingency: the coffee crisis for conventional small-scale coffee farmers in Brazil

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee. Smallholders are the predominant producers of Brazilian coffee and have been significantly impacted by post-ISI (import substitution industrialisation) neoliberal reforms that swept the nation's agricultural sector beginning in the 1980s. These reforms stimulated increased coffee production while simultaneously diminishing state interventions, including agricultural subsidies, farmer credits, research and development programmes, extension services, and rural development initiatives. These changes were closely followed by major restructuring of the global coffee market and the elimination of international coffee export quotas. Our research joins a growing body of recent literature exploring how changes related to market liberalisation and globalisation affect localities and regions where producers supply coffee for conventional markets. Through a case study, we describe the impacts of neoliberal globalisation on the lives, livelihoods, and environment of small-scale coffee producers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We explore how neoliberal reform, reflected in the specific historical, geographical, and environmental context of Brazilian coffee production, has resulted in the increased marginalisation of small-scale farmers, the degradation of soils, and overall rural decline.     

A Statistical Analysis of the Theoretical Yield of Ethanol from Corn Starch

  This paper analyzes the Illinois State Variety Test results for total and extractable starch content in 708 samples of 401 commercial varieties of corn. It is shown that the normally distributed extractable starch content has the mean of 66.2% and the standard deviation of 1.13%. The corresponding maximum theoretical yield of ethanol is 0.364 kg EtOH/kg dry corn, and the standard deviation is 0.007. In the ethanol industry units, this yield translates to 2.64 gal EtOH/nominal wet bushel, and the standard deviation is 0.05 gal/bu. The U.S. ethanol industry consistently has inflated its ethanol yields by counting 5 volume percent of # 14 gasoline denaturant (8% of energy content) as ethanol. Also, imports from Brazil and higher alcohols seem to have been counted as U.S. ethanol. The usually accepted USDA estimate of mean ethanol yield in the U.S., 2.682 gal EtOH/bu, is one standard deviation above the rigorous statistical estimate in this paper.

生物质能源生产的生态环境影响(英文)

生物质能源生产是能源发展领域的重大挑战,在解决新的替代能源中扮演着重要角色。本文着重论述了美国生物能源生产的生态环境问题。从经济、环境和战略方面考虑,生物能源有望提高国家安全,因而受政策驱动的美国生物能源生产技术备受注目。尽管生物能源具有诸多潜在效益,但是在北美,生物原料供应、高强度经营的土地上农药使用及其对陆地野生动物的潜在影响等令人担忧,我们分析了其中的原因。通常认为,未来生物能源的环境、经济效应是正面的;然而,谨慎地审视和发展生物能源经济以保护生态系统的可持续性显得至关重要。     

Recycling in the metals industry

In 1990, scrap was a major feedstock component of U.S. metals production. Steel scrap represented 56% of raw steel production, old lead scrap was 66% of total lead production, and purchased aluminum scrap represented 37% of total production. Copper scrap makes up 44% of total U.S. copper consumption annually. Although some recycling operations, such as past (but now obsolete) lead-acid battery breaking and the use of high salt fluxes on aluminum drosses have created environmental problems, the recovery of obsolete autos, cast or extruded products, appliances, lead-acid batteries, beverage containers, and drosses represents major environmental benefits in terms of reduced litter, landfill wastes, and energy savings. Evolving technologies, marketing concepts, and regulations promise even higher levels of recycling in the future. The cumulative amounts of aluminum, copper, lead, and ferrous scrap that would have had to be absorbed by our environment as discards during the period 1965–1990 had they not been recycled totaled more than 2.2 billion tons, just for the four metal groups. Concurrently, huge energy savings were realized and environmental benefits achieved through reduced emissions associated with generating that energy.Correspondence should be directed to: Earle B. Amey, U.S. Geological Survey, National Center 983, Reston, Virginia 20192.     

A Regionally Based Energy End‐Use Strategy: Case Studies from Centre County,Pennsylvania*

The production and use of fossil fuels and nonrenewable electricity creates many forms of environmental degradation. To reduce degradation, this research suggests an energy strategy based on energy end‐use analysis and regional geography. Energy end‐use analysis and regional geography are used to match renewable energy resources with site‐specific, end‐use needs. Fieldwork conducted within Centre County, Pennsylvania, demonstrates that small‐scale solar, wind, and micro‐hydropower resources could displace a proportion of household electricity use. Such an approach meets energy end‐use needs, while conserving fossil fuels and reducing environmental degradation.     

An assessment of oil supply and its implications for future prices

This paper examines three issues related to both the U.S. and world oil supply: (1) the nature of the long-term, postpeak production profile for the U.S. and, by inference, other regions (the Hubbert curve is used as a “strawman” model); (2) implications on U.S. energy security of using a modified Hubbert-type conceptual model of prepeak production, testing the adequacy of Latin America to be the primary source of U.S. oil imports; and (3) the cyclic behavior of oil prices. it shows that U.S. production will exhibit a more attenuated decline than that simulated by the Hubbert curve and not decline to zero. it asserts that U.S. production is better predicted by past reserves than past production, but that this argument does not apply to nations that keep a much larger proportion of reserves in the ground. Such nations could considerably expand production without any growth in reserves. The paper concedes that the potential total production for these nations could be examined with a Hubbert curve model linked to reserves, but with great uncertainty. Such an uncertain optimistic forecast predicts that the cumulative production of Latin America could far exceed that of the United States. Nevertheless, a statistical model of oil prices since 1870 implies that real wellhead oil prices in the United States are on a long-term upward path, underlying a much more “noisy” cyclical pattern estimated to include 22- and 27-year cycles. The statistical model predicts a severe oil shock within a few years (of 1998) but also predicts that through 2030, real oil prices will not reach 1981 levels again. The paper examines U.S. and world trends in seismic exploration, drilling locations and depths, drilling costs, oil/gas reserves, oil/gas use rates, and oil demand. After taking these factors into consideration, it concludes that the statistical model of oil prices cannot be disputed, despite its lack of basis in economic theory.     

木薯燃料乙醇的碳效应分析

出于能源安全的考虑及对温室气体减排的关注,世界各国近些年大力发展生物液体燃料,我国政府提倡以木薯等非粮作物为原料生产燃料乙醇。但一直以来科学家们对生物液体燃料的碳效应争论激烈,争论的焦点在于原料种植对土壤碳库的影响及不同技术条件下副产品利用的评估。本文通过建立碳平衡分析模型,将原料种植对土壤碳库影响及副产品利用的替代效应纳入研究体系,评估了我国木薯燃料乙醇生命周期内的碳排放,研究结果显示：我国每生产单位质量（1kg）木薯燃料乙醇,在新旧两种技术条件下的碳排放分别为0.457kg和0.647kg。碳排放主要来自于氮肥的使用、木薯种植对土壤碳库的破坏及木薯燃料乙醇加工转化过程能源投入,在新技术条件下分别占总排放量的9%、29%和50%。以汽油的碳排放为参照,在旧技术条件下我国木薯燃料乙醇碳排放呈现负效益,在新技术条件下其碳排放为汽油的90%,倘若能避免对土壤碳库的破坏,则这一比例将下降到64%。因此,为了促进我国木薯燃料乙醇的发展,首先应该引导农民合理施肥,利用边际土地种植木薯,不转换林地、草地等土地类型的利用方式;此外,要开发高效节能的燃料乙醇转化技术及加强对副产品的二次利用。     

Wood burning for residential space heating in the United States: an energy efficiency analysis

Biomass combustion is commonly perceived as an alternative energy source which will reduce reliance on, and thus conserve, conventional non-renewable fuels. However, in the United States wood collection is energy intensive and requires the expenditure of high-quality fossil fuels to support the technology. The efficiency of an energy collection or delivery system can be estimated by using a net energy analysis (NEA). An energy accounting framework is employed to compare the total output of energy (in joules) delivered for residential space heating to the total energy input required to make the wood energy available. Energy inputs are either direct, such as the petrol used to power the transport vehicle, or indirect, such as the energy required to manufacture the transport vehicle. This study analyses the energy efficiency of three wood-gathering strategies commonly practised in the United States. Energy output-input ratios, calculated for each of the three cases, indicate that the ratios are strongly influenced by situation-specific variables, particularly (1) the distance fuelwood must be transport, (2) the load capacity of the transport vehicle and (3) the combustion efficiency of the wood-burning unit. Incorporating indirect energy costs significantly reduces the energy ratio but, in some situations, burning renewable wood can be as energy efficient as conventional heating systems based on non-renewable fossil fuels, thus providing a locally viable alternative.     

Toward a Spatial Understanding of Staple Food and Nonstaple Food Production in Brazil

Brazilian agricultural census data at the municipal level are used to develop and map a simple index of staple food versus nonstaple food agriculture for Brazil over time (1996–2006). The results show spatial variation in the direction and degree of the shift toward or away from staple food cropping across Brazil. The index is presented as an important methodological step toward a systematic geographic understanding of crop share changes surrounding food versus fuel and other nonfood crop production.     

风电场对环境的影响研究进展

风能作为清洁和环境友好的可再生能源,可以减少对化石燃料的依赖,因而近年来发展迅速。但风电设施在安装和运行过程中,评价其对环境产生的影响却尚未得到足够的重视。本文综述了风电场施工和运行过程对气候变化及陆地生态系统的可能影响,同时探讨了风电设施所产生的噪声污染及辐射效应,认为未来风电研究的重要方向为：①评价风电场对气候的影响,还需要建立或改进更精细的气候模型;②探讨风电场对动物的影响,需要识别到底哪些环境因子对动物活动起到了决定性的作用,这些因子在不同风电场中是否具有普遍性;③分析风电场对植被的影响,需要综合利用遥感监测及生态学调查方法,才能准确识别不同陆地生态系统植被对风电场的响应机制;④研究风电场对生态系统碳、氮循环的影响,要加强地表实测数据的获取,尤其是连续多年的数据获取,形成长期的观测序列,进行时空尺度的分析;⑤风电场在全球不同区域,对各环境要素的影响并不完全一致,通过对典型区域的研究来反映风电场对环境影响的共性问题,是目前较为可行的方法;⑥在确保风能作为新能源发展重点的同时,还需保护整个陆地生态系统的生产力和生物多样性,在此基础上才能准确评价、处理风电场与可持续发展的关系;⑦在风电场建设前的环评阶段,需要补充完善现有环评导则和标准,充分考虑风能、太阳能等新兴能源对环境长期而复杂的影响;⑧中国作为世界风能利用的第一大国,需要适时建立长期定位观测试验站,以期开展风电场对环境影响的定量化、全过程、时空尺度的细致研究。本文可为人类科学合理的利用风能、处理风电场建设与可持续发展的关系是提供一些思路。     

The Impact of U.S. Government Antiterrorism Policies on Canada‐U.S. Cross‐Border Commerce: An Exploratory Study from Western New York and Southern Ontario

This article examines the extant and potential impact of U.S. antiterrorism policies on Canada‐U.S. cross‐border commerce. Particular attention is focused on the cross‐border trade that takes place between southern Ontario (Canada) and western New York (United States). Evidence from a survey of Canadian and U.S. exporters suggests that U.S. antiterrorism measures have inflated the business costs of exporters on both sides of the border. These measures have also created shipment delays that ultimately imply lost revenues for producers, as well as higher prices for consumers. Security‐related initiatives motivated by a genuine concern for the well‐being of U.S. citizens may nevertheless act as nontariff barriers to bilateral trade. We argue that a potential long‐run consequence of these additional costs is trade diversion. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the empirical findings for the geography of Canada‐U.S. bilateral trade.     

THE FARMLAND CONVERSION DEBATE: NALS AND BEYOND*

The need to protect high quality agricultural land through public policies and programs at various levels of government has been debated in the U.S. for at least three decades. This article reviews the evolution of the debate before 1979, the ill-fated attempt of the National Agricultural Lands Study (NALS) (1979–1981) to resolve the debate, and the current status of the land conversion issue. Articulation of the issue has been impeded by confusion of objectives, semantic problems, unreliability of land conversion data, and excess capacity in the American farm economy. Land conversion estimates published in 1977 by the Soil Conservation Service and relied upon by NALS have proven to be misleading in light of the 1982 National Resources Inventory. State and local programs to discourage farmland conversion are justifiable in terms of land use planning objectives, maintenance of a viable local farm economy, and avoidance of undue reliance upon marginal lands requiring costly technical inputs.     

A First-Law Thermodynamic Analysis of the Corn-Ethanol Cycle

This paper analyzes energy efficiency of the industrial corn-ethanol cycle. In particular, it critically evaluates earlier publications by DOE, USDA, and UC Berkeley Energy Resources Group. It is demonstrated that most of the current First Law net-energy models of the industrial corn-ethanol cycle are based on nonphysical assumptions and should be viewed with caution. In particular, these models do not (i) define the system boundaries, (ii) conserve mass, and (iii) conserve energy. The energy cost of producing and refining carbon fuels in real time, for example, corn and ethanol, is high relative to that of fossil fuels deposited and concentrated over geological time. Proper mass and energy balances of corn fields and ethanol refineries that account for the photosynthetic energy, part of the environment restoration work, and the coproduct energy have been formulated. These balances show that energetically production of ethanol from corn is 2–4 times less favorable than production of gasoline from petroleum. From thermodynamics it also follows that ecological damage wrought by industrial biofuel production must be severe. With the DDGS coproduct energy credit, 3.9 gallons of ethanol displace on average the energy in 1 gallon of gasoline. Without the DDGS energy credit, this average number is 6.2 gallons of ethanol. Equivalent CO₂ emissions from corn ethanol are some 50% higher than those from gasoline, and become 100% higher if methane emissions from cows fed with DDGS are accounted for. From the mass balance of soil it follows that ethanol coproducts should be returned to the fields.