Ethanol dirtier than gasoline.

From The American Chemical Society...

Under the base-case emission scenario derived, which accounted for projected improvements in gasoline and E85 vehicle emission controls, it was found that E85 (85% ethanol fuel, 15% gasoline) may increase ozone-related mortality, hospitalization, and asthma by about 9% in Los Angeles and 4% in the United States as a whole relative to 100% gasoline. .... Due to its ozone effects, future E85 may be a greater overall public health risk than gasoline. However, because of the uncertainty in future emission regulations, it can be concluded with confidence only that E85 is unlikely to improve air quality over future gasoline vehicles. Unburned ethanol emissions from E85 may result in a global-scale source of acetaldehyde larger than that of direct emissions.

The paper, Effects of Ethanol (E85) versus Gasoline Vehicles on Cancer and Mortality in the United States, by Stanford Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mark Jacobson, will no doubt be roundly ignored by Al Gore and the Global Warming chicken littles, since it demonstrates the dangers of their kind of pseudo-scientific, leap before you have all the facts, approach. When enviro-wackos put a grinding halt to nuclear energy research and development in the 1970's, they cut off the only reasonable source of clean energy, and now want everyone to forget that they are the very reason we are still so dependant on fossil fuels. As of October 31, 2005, there were 104 commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. The last time there was any serious problems with any of them was the Three Mile Island incident in which no one died, and all contamination was contained. In the entire history of nuclear energy plants in the US exactly zero (0) people have died from exposure to radiation. Yet we have so few plants because enviro-nuts prevent them with lawsuit, protests and lobbying, then complain because we remain dependant on the only alternative.

For years they've been whining that we need to shift our energy to renewable resources, but apparently never actually bothered to check the safety of the most common resource they called for, ethanol.

Posted by Danny Carlton at April 25, 2007 5:39 AM