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Indirect land use change for ethanol production is minimal

The Renewable Fuels Association says a soon-to-be published paper from the Department of Energy concludes indirect land use change from ethanol production over the past decade has been “minimal to zero.” Matt Hartwig with RFA says two researchers at the DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee used real world data on land use from 2001 to 2008, a period when U.S. ethanol production more than quadrupled. “If ever this idea of indirect land use was going to be proven, one would think it would be during that time.” But Hartwig says the researchers found it just wasn’t happening.

Along with that, researchers at Michigan State University have found that significantly larger volumes of biofuels can be produced without pulling marginal land into production.

AUDIO: Listen to Hartwig’s comments