Over the weekend, I filed a story based on the contents in this briefing note, a memo to Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt from her deputy minister, Cassie Doyle. (See: Environmental impact of ethanol use overstated, government warned, Oct 1, 2009) Feel free to download the briefing note yourself.
Here's some key chunks:
- The Gcvemment of Canada must fully assess the implications of actively promoting the production and use of E85 in Canada.
- The voluntary Company Average Fuel Consumption (CAFC) program in Canada provides a fuel consumption credit for the production and sale of alternative fuel vehicles. The vast majority of the credits currently being allocated to manufacturers are for the production of [Flex Fuel Vehicles] FFVs. Given that E85 is not sold in significant quantities, these credits are not tied to actual GHG emission reductions because Canada's FFVs are fuelled almost exclusively with gasoline.
- NRCan's life-cycle analysis of E85 fuel shows GHG emission reductions in the order of approximately 35-40 percent, depending on the feedstock used to produce the ethanol (e.g. com, wheat, ete.). for FFVs operating on E85 compared to these same vehicles operating on gasoline. However, the regulated mandate for renewable alternatives to gasoline will deliver an equivalent GHG emission reduction regardless of whether it is through the use of E10 or E85 ethanol blends.