Beyond Oil: Transportation Fuels That Can Reduce Global Warming
Many alternative fuels designed to wean America off of oil will cause a whole host of other problems and increase global warming pollution, according to an Environment Ohio report released in June with Audubon Ohio, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. The report cites liquid coal as one of the worst alternative fuels, producing almost double the global warming emissions than conventional gasoline. The report shows that the best solution to lowering emissions from vehicles is to combine the approaches that offer the greatest environmental benefits. For example, an efficient plug-in hybrid vehicle operating on electricity and cellulosic ethanol made from crop waste has emissions that are at least 70 percent lower than gasoline.
The report, Beyond Oil: The Transportation Fuels That Can Help Reduce Global Warming, evaluates the leading contenders in the alternative fuels race, with a specific focus on their impact on global warming and the environment. Key findings include:
• Liquid Coal Fuel - Liquid produced from coal creates at least 80 percent more global warming pollution than gasoline. The fuel starts with a high-carbon energy source and requires heavy processing.
• Tar Sands and Oil Shale - These fuels have extremely high life-cycle global warming emissions, their production creates extensive environmental damage potentially destroying thousands of acres of habitat, and they have little potential to displace much imported oil.
• Plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles - Because electric motors are far more efficient than internal combustion engines, vehicles that use electricity almost always produce less global warming pollution than gasoline vehicles, even when the electricity used to fuel them is generated from coal. Plug-in hybrids powered by the average U.S. electricity mix are 50 percent less polluting than gasoline. The benefits are far greater when vehicles are fueled with renewably-generated electricity.
• Cellulosic Ethanol - Producing cellulosic ethanol from certain feedstocks can reduce global warming pollution. Cellulosic ethanol made from crop waste, prairie grass grown on abandoned or marginal cropland can have emissions well below that of gasoline.
“As the race for alternative fuels accelerates, we must focus on a clean energy economy,” stated Josh Mogerman of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We need to put the brakes on the rush to short-sighted dirty fuels like tar sands oil and move towards a green economy that will create jobs while heading off the devastating effects of climate change,” he added.
In Ohio, proposals for both tar sands and coal-to-liquid plants are in the works. The coal-to-liquid plant is proposed for Wellsville, Ohio and the company behind it, Baard Energy, has already submitted permits to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) to reserve the right to pollute Ohio’s air and water. Preliminary review of the Baard coal to liquid proposal raised numerous red flags. For instance, its water pollution permit left out several water pollutants and the company neglected to require water pollution monitoring on weekends and holidays. Comments from the Natural Resources Defense Council to the OEPA requested that the Baard withdraw their pollution permit.
“Baard’s really playing a dirty trick on Ohioans,” said Nachy Kanfer, Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign representative in Ohio. “We could be investing in new energy jobs that are clean and green, and meanwhile Baard is wasting our time with this inefficient, dirty idea of liquid coal. And they’ve used the tax payers’ money to study this $5.5 billion rusty pipedream.”
The report makes a number of recommendations to local state and federal policymakers for achieving large reductions in global warming pollution from cars and light trucks and reducing our oil dependence; including:
• Adopting requirements to lower the carbon content of transportation fuels, including amending the recently passed federal renewable fuels standard to require that all ethanol sold be subject to a low carbon fuel standard.
• Rejecting policies that promote or subsidize fuels that would make the problem worse.
• Requiring that by 2020, all new vehicles are capable of using lower carbon fuels, whether electricity or bio-fuels.
• Supporting additional research into cultivation techniques for cellulosic feedstock and into technologies for converting cellulosic feed-stocks, especially waste, into fuel.
• Improving vehicle fuel economy and pursuing measures to reduce total driving. These measures would further cut global warming emissions and reduce our vulnerability to rapid changes in the global petroleum market.
“By committing to an approach that combines the best technologies, sets rigorous environmental standards for alternative fuels, and that promotes more sustainable communities, America can improve its energy security, while cutting global warming pollution and protecting our environment,” said Jerome Tinianow, Executive Director of Audubon Ohio. “One thing is clear: America has little time to lose in addressing these challenges. And we cannot afford false starts.”
For more information, contact Amy Gomberg at Environment Ohio at 614-460-8732; agomberg@environmentohio.org or visit www.environmentohio.org.
August/September 2008 Contents