Word: lande
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...every acre of land planted with an energy crop - like corn or switchgrass - turning that biomass into electricity gives you more "miles per acre" than converting it to liquid ethanol, which is how biomass is used today, according to the study. A small SUV powered by bioelectricity could travel nearly 14,000 miles on the energy produced by an acre of switchgrass, while an ethanol-powered SUV could go only 9,000 miles. "It looks like converting biomass to electricity, instead of using it to make ethanol, makes the most sense for both transport and the climate," says Elliott Campbell...
...Science study doesn't take into account other impacts that bioelectricity might have compared to ethanol, like water consumption or air pollution. Growing biomass, even on marginal agricultural land, does require water, as does making electricity. There's a bigger problem - electric cars still remain few and far between, while there are already millions of U.S. vehicles on the road that can run on an ethanol blend. Creating the sort of infrastructure that can support electric cars on a mass scale won't be cheap, and it's not a cost that Campbell and his colleagues included in their study...
Still, the ethanol industry's days may be numbered. Ethanol wouldn't exist but for government subsidies, yet in the 2007 energy bill, Congress ruled that to be eligible for support, corn ethanol has to emit 20% less climate pollution than gasoline. If you include the indirect land-use effects of ethanol - the increase in deforestation caused by using land to grow fuel - it's unlikely to hit that target. On May 5, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rule that would take into account indirect land-use effects when judging just how green corn ethanol is. Unless...
...Colorado, Salazar was a rancher more attuned to the idea of using nature rather than protecting it, and he angered greens early by removing the Western gray wolf from the endangered species list. As the head of Interior, he'll be making decisions on whether to open up new land to oil and gas development, and the polar bear ruling has some environmentalists worried. "This does raise a red flag," says Noah Greenwald, program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which is fighting the polar bear ruling in court. "You worry this means he is not going...
...model with a tiny bedroom. In addition to the modest proportions, Tata is relying on economies of scale and careful sourcing of materials to keep costs low. The Mumbai project, for instance, will get its steel from group company Tata Steel, which has plant at nearby Tarapore. Land-acquisition costs will be minimized by giving the original landowner a percentage of each project's returns. The homes will occupy cement buildings no more than two stories high, because construction costs go up as buildings get taller. There will be eight to 12 homes per building...