Al Gore: I Was Wrong About Corn-Based Ethanol

Former House speaker was lobbying coalition's highest-paid consultant

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich earned more than $300,000 acting as a consultant to a coalition of ethanol lobbying groups in 2009, according to IRS records. The possible GOP 2012 candidate—who declared "I am not a lobbyist for ethanol" during a spat with Wall Street Journal editors over his support for ethanol subsidies—was described as someone who "will speak positively on ethanol related topics to media" in a Growth Energy publication, i Watch notes. More»

(NEWSER) - Once considered a win-win for the environment and energy independence, America’s biofuel industry is sputtering to a halt, the Wall Street Journal reports. Thanks to the recession, lower oil prices, and government delays, two-thirds of American biodiesel refineries—dozens of plants—are idle, and companies across the country are shutting down. The crisis could scare investors away from newer technologies more promising than much-maligned corn-based ethanol. More»

Turns out, it's greener to burn plants than to make ethanol

(NEWSER) - Plants consume carbon dioxide, so growing corn to produce ethanol should be at worst a zero-sum game, emissions-wise, right? Wrong, says the EPA. There's another factor involved: Turning food crops into fuel drives up their prices, which raises demand for farmland worldwide. In places like Brazil, that means chopping down the rainforest, which produces massive emissions, NPR reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Feeding cows parts of corn plants that farmers currently discard could eventually lead to American energy independence, Wired reports. An ammonia treatment applied to corn “stover” could make it palatable to cattle, freeing up more land for the production of ethanol, a Michigan State researcher says. That could, in turn, protect untouched land from cultivation for biofuels. More»

Brewer Sierra Nevada gets in on plan to produce alternative fuel

(NEWSER) - Brewer Sierra Nevada is part of an effort to turn byproducts of the beer-making process into usable, alternative fuel, CNET reports. E-Fuel sells a $10,000 portable ethanol refinery that the brewer will feed with its yearly output of 1.6 million gallons of “bottom of the barrel” waste. The company will first use the ethanol to power its own fleet, then supply workers and sell it on the market. More»