Making fuel from crops could be good for the
planet—after a breakthrough or two.
National Geographic Staff
Photograph by Robert Clark
When Dario Franchitti steered his sleek, 670-horsepower,
orange-and-black Indy car to victory at this year’s Indianapolis 500,
the ebullient Scotsman chalked up an odd footnote in sports history. He
became the first driver ever to win the iconic American auto race on
pure ethanol—the gin-clear, high-octane corn hooch that supporters from
midwestern farmers to high-ranking politicians hope will soon replace
gasoline as America’s favorite motor fuel.
Indy’s switch back to the old bootlegger’s friend is just one
indicator of the mad rush to biofuels, homegrown gasoline and diesel
substitutes made from crops like corn, soybeans, and sugarcane.
Proponents say such renewable fuels could light a fire under our
moribund rural economy, help extract us from our sticky dependence on
the Middle East, and—best of all—cut our ballooning emissions of carbon
dioxide. Unlike the ancient carbon unlocked by the burning of fossil
fuels, which is driving up Earth’s thermostat by the minute, the carbon
in biofuels comes from the atmosphere, captured by plants during the
growing season. In theory, burning a tank of ethanol could make driving
even an Indy car carbon neutral.
The operative word is “could.” Biofuels as currently rendered in
the U.S. are doing great things for some farmers and for agricultural
giants like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, but little for the
environment. Corn requires large doses of herbicide and nitrogen
fertilizer and can cause more soil erosion than any other crop. And
producing corn ethanol consumes just about as much fossil fuel as the
ethanol itself replaces. Biodiesel from soybeans fares only slightly
better. Environmentalists also fear that rising prices for both crops
will push farmers to plow up some 35 million acres (14 million hectares)
of marginal farmland now set aside for soil and wildlife conservation,
potentially releasing even more carbon bound in the fallow fields.
Read More Here