What is the environmental impact of converting biomass materials to ethanol (or other products)?
Besides improving energy security and reducing our dependency on oil, bioethanol has the clear benefit of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector. Today first-generation ethanol can reduce GHG emissions by 30–70% – cellulosic ethanol will be able to deliver GHG reductions of up to 90% compared to gasoline. But production of bioethanol faces the same sustainability issues as agriculture in general. These include the impacts of land use change, soil depletion, water use, release of nitrous gases, biodiversity, etc. In Novozymes we believe that biofuel production must be done in a sustainable way – and therefore needs to rest on generally sustainable agricultural practices. Ensuring sustainability will require a concerted effort of the ethanol industry, the agricultural sector, and of policy-makers. In Novozymes we help drive the development of more and more efficient conversion technologies – and we actively participate in certification efforts to ensure su
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- What is the environmental impact of converting biomass materials to ethanol (or other products)?
