Friday, February 08, 2008

And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you darn facts!

Tyler Cowen points out:

The tax credit for ethanol is an example of a cost ineffective subsidy. The cost of reducing CO2 emissions through this subsidy exceeded $1,700 per ton of CO2 avoided in 2006 and the cost of reducing oil consumption over $85 per barrel.

I am not shocked, but it is worse than I had thought. Here is the full paper. But the funny thing is, that's not even the worse thing I read about biofuels today. Courtesy of Daniel Akst, try this article:

...a growing body of scientific evidence suggests these gasoline alternatives will actually boost carbon-dioxide levels and thereby aggravate the problem of global warming. A study published in the latest issue of Science finds that corn-based ethanol, instead of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by a hoped-for 20%, will nearly double the output of CO2 and other gases that trap the sun's heat. A separate paper in Science concludes that the clearing of native habitats around the world to grow more biofuel crops will lead to more carbon emissions.

I've been sounding the alarm on corn ethanol for some time.

UPDATE: Don Surber has more.

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