Junk Science: Ethanol

So who benefits from the Conservatives push for Ethanol? Big Agri-business, the opponents of the Wheat Board, and the Blogging Tories and their pals run the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.

You have seen the CRFA ads on TV complete with a nerdy goof promoting Harpers 5% promise. That we will have 5% ethanol for cars in Canada. The guy has to be a Blogging Tory.

Gee I have heard that 5% promise before,about the GST, but that still hasn't happened either.

But does ethanol help the environment? Well like the Conservative government's Clean Air Act, the answer is no.

Mowhak and Petro-Canada have been selling Ethanol for years in Canada as an additive, and we still have air pollution and greenhouse gas.

Ethanol auto emissions no greener than gasoline: study

The federal Conservative government committed $2 billion in incentives for ethanol, made from wheat and corn, and biodiesel in last week's budget.

But based on Ottawa's own research, critics say the investment is based more on myth than hard science.

Scientists at Environment Canada studied four vehicles of recent makes, testing their emissions in a range for driving conditions and temperatures.

"Looking at tailpipe emissions, from a greenhouse gas perspective, there really isn't much difference between ethanol and gasoline," said Greg Rideout, head of Environment Canada's toxic emissions research.

"Our results seemed to indicate that with today's vehicles, there's not a lot of difference at the tailpipe with greenhouse gas emissions."

The study found no statistical difference between the greenhouse gas emissions of regular unleaded fuel and 10 per cent ethanol blended fuel.

Although the study found a reduction in carbon monoxide, a pollutant that forms smog, emissions of some other gases, such as hydrocarbons, actually increased under certain conditions.

Bill Rees, an ecology professor at the University of British Columbia and longtime opponent of ethanol, has read the report and thinks Canadians need to know its conclusions.

"I must say, I'm a little surprised at that, because it seems to fly in the face of current policy initiatives," he said.

"People are being conned into believing in a product and paying for it through their tax monies when there's no justifiable benefit and indeed many negative costs."

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