WASHINGTON — Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration’s conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative.
A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes that bio-fuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.
While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says, they won’t meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.
The conclusions deal a blow to what are known as cellulosic bio- fuels, which have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have struggled to meet volume targets. About half of the initial market in cellulosics is expected to be derived from corn residue.
The biofuel industry and administration officials criticized the research as flawed. They said it was too simplistic in its analysis of carbon loss from soil and vastly overestimated how much residue farmers actually would remove once the market gets underway.
