Ethanol: An eco-friendly fuel or another green mirage?
In the early 20th century, Thomas Midgley Jr, a chemist, introduced tetraethyl lead to gasoline, promising to revolutionize the automobile industry by reducing engine knock. It seemed like a miracle solution at the time, and Midgley was hailed as a hero. However, the dark side of this innovation soon became apparent as leaded gasoline caused widespread environmental damage and severe public health issues, including brain damage in children.
This tragic episode reminds us that what initially appears to be a groundbreaking solution can have unforeseen and devastating consequences. In our quest for cleaner energy, we have turned to ethanol, championing it as a green alternative to fossil fuels. On the surface, it seems like a perfect solution—renewable, ostensibly cleaner and easily integrated into our existing fuel infrastructure.
But as we delve deeper, we must ask ourselves if ethanol is truly the environmental saviour it’s touted to be, or are we being misled by yet another green mirage? There are six main issues with mandating ethanol as fuel. First, the life-cycle energy demand for ethanol production from sugarcane stands at 4.99 megajoules per litre. Although ethanol’s energy return on investment (EROI or the ratio of energy obtain to what’s spent on obtaining it) is 4.26, it pales in comparison with other biofuels.
Its modest EROI indicates that ethanol production is not as energy-efficient as it might seem. Studies have shown that sugarcane cultivation’s energy-intensive nature, coupled with ethanol’s processing needs, significantly undermines its net energy balance. Second, according to a study published in Elsevier’s Bioresource Technology journal, ethanol’s carbon footprint (CF) at 0.295kg CO2 equivalent per
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