New Study Weighs Impacts of Corn Ethanol

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A new study from the University of Minnesota finds that biofuel made from corn can be as harmful to the environment as gasoline, and that the combined costs to climate-change and health exceed that of gas.

The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also finds that the benefits of second-generation cellulosic ethanol, made from grasses and crops like jatropha, are markedly greater than corn ethanol or gasoline.

The research is the latest in the debate of the merits of first generation biofuel made from corn.

According to the study, for each billion ethanol-equivalent gallons of fuel produced and combusted in the U.S., the combined climate-change and health costs are $469 million for gasoline, $472 million to $952 million for corn ethanol depending on biorefinery heat source