The Problem with Transportation: From Ethanol to Electric
Ethanol was first blended with gasoline during World War 2 due to fuel shortages, and today’s ethanol industry began in 1970 however it was not required in fuel until 2006, when President George W. Bush created the Renewable Fuels Standard. Ethanol was introduced into fuel originally due to cost concerns over petroleum-based fuels and environmental concerns of leaded gasoline and petroleum gasoline. While ethanol is still cheaper than petroleum gasoline this margin is closing due to falling oil prices (The Illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine did raise oil prices but are back down to pre-invasion levels). According to some research by Dr. Tyler Lark ethanol is likely to be around 24% more carbon intensive than gasoline, however, this research has since been shown to be an absolute worst case full of cherry-picked data and worst-case assumptions made through the article. (1) While land usage changes can cause huge net carbon emissions mainly from the remov...