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Mexico and the US analyze gasoline-ethanol blends

The governments of Mexico and the United States analyzed the possibility of coordinated policies on blends of gasoline with ethanol.

This Wednesday, the United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai; the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mexico, Víctor Villalobos, and the Secretary of Economy, Tatiana Clouthier, held a meeting in Mexico City on the first anniversary of the USMCA.

«The three officials discussed the potential mutual benefits of aligning US and Mexican policy on gasoline-ethanol blends,» the USTR said in a statement.

In relation to this, the annual production of corn ethanol in the United States has multiplied by 10 since 2000, with a national production now of 16,000 million gallons and ethanol represents almost 40% of the national corn production, according to data from the USDA, as of 2019.

At the same time, in percentage terms, US biodiesel production (primarily from soybean oil) has increased 200-fold during that period and now stands at 1.7 billion gallons annually.

There are many more examples of direct economic benefits that agricultural and forestry companies derive from expanding markets for renewable energy products (including transportation fuels, electricity and heat) and their raw materials.

Gasoline with ethanol

While the production of corn ethanol and biodiesel reduces the US dependence on imported petroleum products by billions of gallons per year, the use of renewable resources for energy production can increase the resilience of agricultural companies in the face of outages. of energy in the network.

Also, according to a USDA report, renewable energy technologies can improve the environment compared to conventional energy technologies.

Recent studies have evaluated the life cycle GHG emissions of corn ethanol at almost 40% less than the life cycle emissions of gasoline.

Among power technologies, solar, wind, and sustainably produced biomass replace zero GHG emission sources with conventional electricity production that is heavily reliant on fossil fuels in much of the United States.

Counterpoint

There are also potential negative land use and environmental impacts associated with the growth of renewable energy.

For example, expanding the production of bioenergy feedstocks, such as corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, can lead to the conversion of pastures and rangelands into actively managed cropland.

Doing so can negatively affect soil quality, water quality, water availability, and land use patterns in some regions.

Among power technologies, negative impacts can include large amounts of water consumption during operation of biomass power generation systems, increased bird and bat mortality, and disrupted migration patterns of wind turbines, land conversion for agriculture and other uses to house utility scale photovoltaic systems and the introduction of hazardous materials into the environment if photovoltaic panels and batteries are not disposed of or recycled carefully.

In each case, there are mitigation practices that can be followed to reduce or eliminate negative environmental or land use effects that might otherwise accompany the future growth of these renewable energy technologies.

 

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