The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has introduced a new corn ethanol carbon intensity calculator to help its members understand the carbon intensity (CI) of their farms and ethanol operations along with a simplified version of the tool to raise awareness about factors impacting the CI of ethanol.
Launched at the 38th annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo (FEW) currently being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (MN), these tools help illustrate corn ethanol’s ability to attain net-zero and net-negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
When I first looked at the GREET model’s ‘Midwest average’ carbon intensity for corn production, I immediately saw the potential for rapid reductions with more accurate modeling that reflected actual climate-smart production practices being employed by tens of thousands of farmers across the Midwest, said Ron Alverson, Calculator Creator, Farmer, Dakota Ethanol and ACE Board Member.
The topic of carbon intensity can generate confusion because various regulatory bodies including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and California Air Resources Board (CARB) apply different approaches to derive carbon scores.
What’s more, some regulatory bodies use outdated lifecycle factors to overstate ethanol’s CI, causing understandable apprehension from producers about new clean fuel policies.
ACE is focused on highlighting how climate-smart farming practices, efficiencies at ethanol plants, and the capture and sequestration of CO2 from facilities put ethanol on a trajectory to reach both net-zero and net-negative emissions; a trajectory unique to ethanol, said Brian Jennings, CEO of ACE.
ACE’s detailed calculator allows users to break through this confusion by using their own corn farming and ethanol production information to estimate a carbon score and compare it to the Argonne National Laboratory’s (ANL) Greenhouse gases Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model and average scores used by the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (CLCFS).
The CI calculator we developed at ACE is a tool for farmers and ethanol producers to see for themselves what their potential is to lower their carbon score, Ron Alverson said.
The calculator is not only useful for farmers and ethanol producers who want to know their CI score, but it also helps ACE highlight the need for farm-level practices to receive carbon benefits in clean fuel markets, ended Brian Jennings.
