Biofuels vs. Biomass Electricity
Findings show that turning biomass into electricity is more beneficial than turning it into transportation fuels.
A study published today in Science concludes that, on average, using biomass to produce electricity is 80 percent more efficient than transforming the biomass into biofuel. In addition, the electricity option would be twice as effective at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The results imply that investment in an ethanol infrastructure, even if based on more efficient cellulosic processes, may prove misguided. The study was done by a collaboration between researchers at Stanford University, the Carnegie Institute of Science, and the University of California, Merced...
...Burning biomass, says Jacobson, "is not necessarily an efficient way of generating electricity, but it's more efficient than making biofuel." It just makes sense, he adds: "Electric vehicles are four to five times more efficient than combustion vehicles."...
