Ethanol fuels hopes and debate in Michigan

LANSING — Could ethanol be the key to Michigan’s renewable energy future?

Ethanol has become more popular as a renewable energy source. It’s promoted as an eco-friendly tool to reduce air pollution because it can be made from common crops such as sugar cane, potato and corn.

In Michigan, ethanol production has increased significantly. The number of gas stations selling E-85 – fuel mixture that typically contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline – also has risen from 2 in 2003 to 117 in 2008.

Currently, there are five ethanol plants in Michigan — in Caro, Woodbury, Albion, Marysville and Riga. They’re able to produce nearly 50 million gallons per year.

However, plans have been abandoned to build more ethanol plants – in Corunna, McBain, Alma, Watervliet and Niles – except for one in Ithaca, where work stopped several months ago, said James Byrum, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association.

There’s an ongoing debate over how useful ethanol will be in replacing gasoline, said Stanley Pruss, director of the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, “because we need to utilize food products to make fuel, and it’s questioned whether ethanol has an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Western Michigan University chemistry Professor Steve Bertman said ethanol from corn is not a long-term solution to transportation fuel.

“This is a very important issue that ties into the entire future energy question,” he said. “We can’t grow enough corn for ethanol. We should be searching for alternative liquid fuels from something other than corn.”

A report on biofuels by environmental advocacy groups — Food and Water Watch, the Network for New Energy Choices and the Vermont Law School Institute for Energy and the Environment — says fuel made from corn may have been oversold without considering possible ozone problems.

In 2007, about 3 billion bushels, equivalent to 23 percent of the country’s corn crop, were used for ethanol, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. That figure is up from 20 percent in 2006. In 2009, the ethanol industry expects to use 4.25 billion bushels.

Even if all the corn grown in the United States were used to make fuel, however, it would offset only 15 percent of gasoline used, the groups reported.

The report said the same reduction could be achieved by increasing fuel efficiency standards by 3.5 mile per gallon for all vehicles.

In addition, a Stanford University scientist found that E-85 creates at least as much greenhouse gas emissions as gasoline, resulting in ozone-related asthma, hospitalization and deaths.

However, Byrum said ethanol still helps minimize the burning of fossil fuels.

He cited a recent study that found corn-ethanol to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about 50 percent over gasoline. “Unlike oil, ethanol from any source has a positive net energy balance – meaning it gives more energy than what’s needed to produce it.”

Cellulosic ethanol is better for carbon dioxide emissions than corn-based, Byrum said, because it could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 87 percent.

Cellulosic ethanol is produced from wood, grasses or the non-edible parts of plants. It’s a second-generation ethanol fuel and has little or no impact on food supplies, said Steven Pueppke, director of the Office of Biobased Technologies at Michigan State University.

Pueppke said a 2007 federal energy law is a good example of renewable energy promotion. “It anticipates slight increases in ethanol production from corn over the next dozen years or so, while mandating very aggressive increases in the use of second-generation fuels.”

The issue of greenhouse gas emissions from various renewable fuels is contentious, particularly with corn, Pueppke said.