A Carbon Cloud Hangs over Green Fuel

A CARBON CLOUD HANGS OVER GREEN FUEL

Abstract:

To save costs, some fuel refineries burn coal instead of using natural gas to turn corn into ethanol. The choice could nullify ethanol’s very purpose – to reduce environmental damage. According to David Hawkins, climate director for the National Resources Defense Council, if conversion plants unleash large amounts of CO2 into the air – the result of burning coal – that could erase the positive effects of ethanol on global warming. The ethanol industry, which already produces 4 billion gallons a year, is slated to double over the next six years. Many factors contribute to ethanol’s increasing popularity: tax incentives, energy security concerns, environmental protection and climbing gasoline prices. About 40 ethanol plants are under construction, with 150 more planned, but if burning coal becomes the mode of operation for the next generation of refineries, the much-vaunted future benefits of the fuel could vanish. Ethanol industry officials claim that coal is one alternative for producing the renewable fuel that is merely being investigated. But the dilemma will dishearten any who count on ethanol delivering a clean environment.

Late last year in Goldfield, Iowa, a refinery began pumping out a stream of ethanol, which supporters call the clean, renewable fuel of the future. There's just one twist: The plant is burning 300 tons of coal a day to turn corn into ethanol -- the first US plant of its kind to use coal instead of cleaner natural gas. An hour south of Goldfield, another coal-fired ethanol plant is under construction in Nevada, Iowa. At least three other such refineries are being built in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The trend, which is expected to continue, has left even some ethanol boosters scratching their heads. Should coal become a standard for 30 to 40 ethanol plants under construction -- and 150 others on the drawing boards -- it would undermine the environmental reasoning for switching to...