RFA releases updated mythbusting handbook

March 29, 2017 |

In Washington, the Renewable Fuels Association has launched its annual handbook, a key tool for mythbusting about ethanol. Included in the handbook are the following statistics:

• 200 operating ethanol biorefineries in 28 states produced a record 15.25 billion gallons of high-octane renewable fuel in 2016, along with roughly 42 million metric tons of high-protein animal feed.

• The production of 15.25 billion gallons of ethanol supported 74,420 direct jobs in renewable fuel production and agriculture in 2016, as well as 264,756 indirect and induced jobs across all sectors of the economy.

• Corn ethanol from a typical dry mill reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent compared to gasoline, according to a new analysis conducted for the USDA—even when hypothetical land use change emissions are included. Data from USDA and EPA show that agricultural land use is actually shrinking, undermining the indirect land use change theory. The USDA study found that by 2022, corn ethanol could reduce GHG by 76 percent compared to gasoline.

• Net petroleum dependence was 25 percent in 2016, but would have been 33 percent without the addition of 15.25 billion gallons of ethanol to the fuel supply. Looked at another way, 2016 ethanol production displaced an amount of gasoline refined from 540 million barrels of crude oil.

Category: Fuels

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