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Page added on May 6, 2014
Ethanol fuels ozone pollution
Running vehicles on ethanol rather than petrol can increase ground-level ozone pollution, according to a study of fuel use in São Paulo, Brazil.
Ozone (O3) is a major urban pollutant that can cause severe respiratory problems. It can form when sunlight triggers chemical reactions involving hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted by vehicles.
Ethanol has been promoted as a ‘green’ fuel because its combustion tends to produce lower emissions of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and NOx than petrol. But the impact on air quality of a wholesale transition from petrol to ethanol has been difficult to assess, with different atmospheric chemistry models predicting a variety of consequences.
Alberto Salvo, an economist at the National University of Singapore, and Franz Geiger, a physical chemist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have now answered the question with hard data. Their study, published today in Nature Geoscience1, unpacks what happened when the motorists of São Paulo — the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere — suddenly changed their fuel habits.
4 Comments on "Ethanol fuels ozone pollution"
Davy, Hermann, MO on Wed, 7th May 2014 7:20 am
Nature.com, a Subaru environmentalist group of environmental loving folks who live in the wooded gorgeous areas of the country wanting to maintain that existence of having your cake and eat it too. You can’t preach environmental talk and live within BAU and expect BAU to run properly if your policies are followed. If you want to be green do not drive period, do not use A/C, do not eat from the industrial food mafia cabal sources, and do not shop at malls or Amazon. I am a tree hugger living on the land in nature but I am still part of BAU. I want the environmental rape to end but I am going to tell you this want of the end of BAU could be my end. I am admitting the end of BAU will be the end of much of the world’s population and maybe me and my family. Personally I need 3 more years to complete my prep work. I am ready now short term but not enough for the long haul of postindustrial man. Environmentalist are angles with iron wings. I feel for their concern for the environment but what I don’t like is the preaching of an alternative that just aint so. There will be no shiny AltE world, no environmentally friendly alternative, and no future of such a large population post BAU. OK, ethanol pollutes. It is one of the many options needed to mitigate the energy decent. It should be a localized product used in farm growing areas. The nationalization of its use is a negative EROI. Basically the stuff cannot be shipped without becoming a negative. It is useful locally in a declining BAU setting where some excess grain or sugar ethanol production can be used in a local economy. It is not environmentally friendly or a good energy choice but it is a local option especially now that so much infrastructure is built out.
rockman on Wed, 7th May 2014 10:41 am
“Running vehicles on ethanol rather than petrol can increase…pollution”. Wow! There’s a shocker: burning a hydrocarbon compound produces air pollution. Who would have thunk?
Boat on Wed, 7th May 2014 12:09 pm
Ethanol is just a subsidy for farmers under the guise of energy independence. To be for it helps in New Hampshire where the first primary is held. My conspiracy theory.
In 2000, over 90% of the U.S. corn crop went to feed people and livestock, many in undeveloped countries, with less than 5% used to produce ethanol. In 2013, however, 40% went to produce ethanol, 45% was used to feed livestock, and only 15% was used for food and beverage.
rockman on Wed, 7th May 2014 6:18 pm
Boat – As so typical: follow the money and the truth will usually become very apparent.