Researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Merced, studied the lifecycle of plant-based electricity, or “bioelectricity,” and ethanol technologies to determine which delivered more miles of transportation with fewer environmental impacts. They concluded battery-powered vehicles that used electricity derived from biomass provided an average of 80 percent more miles of transportation per crop acre than internal combustion engine vehicles running on ethanol made from corn or switchgrass.
"The internal combustion engine just isn't very efficient, especially when compared to electric vehicles," Co-author Eliott Campbell of U.C. Merced said in a statement last week. "Even the best ethanol-producing technologies with hybrid vehicles aren't enough to overcome this."
A small SUV with an internal combustion engine can travel roughly 9,000 highway miles on the net energy produced from an acre of switchgrass, compared to nearly 14,000 highway miles for a small SUV powered by bioelectricity.
Electric cars fueled by bioelectricity avoid twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as ethanol-powered internal combustion engine vehicles, according to the study.
"We found that converting biomass to electricity rather than ethanol makes the most sense for two policy-relevant issues: transportation and climate," Co-author David Lobell of Stanford's Program on Food Security and the Environment said in a statement. "But we also need to compare these options for other issues like water consumption, air pollution, and economic costs."
In addition to Lobell and Campbell, the research team included Chris Field, a Stanford professor and director of the department of global ecology at the Carnegie Institution. The trio’s study appeared in the May 8 issue of the journal Science.
Switchgrass -- CC licensed by Flickr user AdsitAdventures.
Ethanol is a false comparison
Ethanol has enough problems to be a bad comparison. Why not instead compare methanol production with its byproduct of fertilizer versus burning, with no fertilizer. We need a replacement for oil-based fertilizers and I'd rather explore multiple options for transit than just cars.
Synchronicity
It makes sense to further explore avenues of electricity infrastructure for transportation considering the steady rise and obvious applicability of solar power for vehicles. Bioelectricity could appropriately complement PV for electric vehicles. Once the cost of PV decreases and the grid is ready to handle additional renewables, consumers will hopefully demand electric vehicles more so than today.
100 mp/gallon? miles per kilowatt??-how do we refer to distance per unit of power?