Re:Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate
by hugh on Friday July 18, 2008 @11:05AM
(#249798)
Biofuels aren't a disaster in general. It's only corn-based ethanol that's a disaster. Ethanol from sugarcane is significantly less of a disaster, though unfortunately not much sugarcane is grown in the US. Ethanol from switchgrass or other random biomass is an even better idea, if we can get it working.
Re. your second point: we don't have smogs in most western nations today, but there are other effects specifically from motor fuels, particularly diesel, which creates more particulate matter than petroleum. This has been implicated in the increased incidence of asthma in western nations, and is also thought to exacerbate hay fever.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18280198?dopt=AbstractPlu...