Anti-Ethanol Studies Flawed
Posted: February 15, 2008
We noted last Friday that the Science Express studies on land conversion and biofuels were kicking up the dust. Now, reputable members of the research community are speaking out and questioning the conclusions of Timothy Searchinger and Joseph Fargione that ethanol is twice as bad for global warming than gasoline.
It’s clear from the reactions of those concerned with the environment and prominent experts, including David Morris, Dr. Bruce Dale and Dr. Michael Wang, that several flaws exist in the papers. The popular press may fail to report on this, so let us help shed some light on the flaws.
In his comments, Wang, of Argonne National Labs, notes that Searchinger uses the model developed by Argonne.
“Many critical factors determine GHG emission outcomes of land use change. First we need to clearly define a baseline for global food supply and demand and cropland availability without the U.S. biofuel program. It is not clear to use what Searchinger et al. defined in their modeling study.”
In a press release issued by David Morris, author of Ethanol and Land Use Changes, he states:
“The studies usefully estimate how much carbon will be released when new land is brought into crop production. But the authors’ declarations that ethanol increases greenhouse gas emissions, a conclusion that has made headlines around the world, is not supproted, and may be contradicted by their own data.”
Morris, who has served as an energy advisor to presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush, notes the studies erroneously conclude that when countries import less food and feed from the U.S. and grow more themselves that greenhouse gases increase.
“The conclusion is not only counterintuitive, but will undoubtedly stir up considerable opposition by farmers and advocates of local food around the world.”
And Bruce Dale, notes in his letter to Science:
“There are no real verifiable data in either of these papers on the land use changes that actually occur as more corn is processed into ethanol–hence these papers on not lifecyle analysis studies.”