Purdue research shows biodiesel may have more benefits than previously thought

In Indiana, a new academic paper published in Biotechnology for Biofuels shows biodiesel’s benefits are even better than previous models suggest. More data is available now than ever before, and that data shows farmers are producing more on fewer acres. This means that penalties for indirect land use change by EPA and CARB overestimate emissions from creating new farm land.

Without the controversial indirect effects, biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 85 percent compared to fossil fuels. Using modeling that includes predicted indirect emissions lowered biodiesel’s advantage to just more than 50 percent cleaner than diesel fuel. That is, according to the modeling done by EPA in 2010 and CARB in 2014. Purdue University’s latest research shows these models underestimated the carbon benefit of biodiesel by 10 percent.