| Climate change and health costs of air emissions from biofuels and gasoline. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 19188587 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Environmental impacts of energy use can impose large costs on society. We quantify and monetize the life-cycle climate-change and health effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) and fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) emissions from gasoline, corn ethanol, and cellulosic ethanol. For each billion ethanol-equivalent gallons of fuel produced and combusted in the US, the combined climate-change and health costs are $469 million for gasoline, $472-952 million for corn ethanol depending on biorefinery heat source (natural gas, corn stover, or coal) and technology, but only $123-208 million for cellulosic ethanol depending on feedstock (prairie biomass, Miscanthus, corn stover, or switchgrass). Moreover, a geographically explicit life-cycle analysis that tracks PM(2.5) emissions and exposure relative to U.S. population shows regional shifts in health costs dependent on fuel production systems. Because cellulosic ethanol can offer health benefits from PM(2.5) reduction that are of comparable importance to its climate-change benefits from GHG reduction, a shift from gasoline to cellulosic ethanol has greater advantages than previously recognized. These advantages are critically dependent on the source of land used to produce biomass for biofuels, on the magnitude of any indirect land use that may result, and on other as yet unmeasured environmental impacts of biofuels. |
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Authors:
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Jason Hill; Stephen Polasky; Erik Nelson; David Tilman; Hong Huo; Lindsay Ludwig; James Neumann; Haochi Zheng; Diego Bonta |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2009-02-02 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 106 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2009 Feb |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2009-02-11 Completed Date: 2009-03-10 Revised Date: 2009-11-18 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 2077-82 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. hill0408@umn.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Air Pollutants
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adverse effects,
economics Energy-Generating Resources / economics* Ethanol Gasoline / adverse effects, economics* Greenhouse Effect* Health Care Costs* Humans Vehicle Emissions |
| Chemical | |
Reg. No./Substance:
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0/Air Pollutants; 0/Gasoline; 0/Vehicle Emissions; 64-17-5/Ethanol |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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