Autoblog

Jon Markman at MSN Money doesn't hold back when he says "Corn-based ethanol production is sure to go down as one of the greatest mistakes ever in U.S. energy policy." It's even more provoking when he writes "replacing fossil fuels with corn-based ethanol would double greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades. The studies show that switchgrass, an alternative to ethanol that's more weed than plant, would boost emissions by 50%."

The problem isn't with the cars, the problem is with what it takes to grow the biofuel in the first place. Clearing the land, harvesting, and refining the crops, plus the loss of forest and wild lands and habitats, amounts to creating a carbon footprint worse than fossil fuels. According to the Science article which, admittedly, posits an extreme scenario, it would take 423 years to even out the carbon debt if Indonesia's peat lands were converted to palm oil fields.

The research is starting to give some people pause, such as the folks at the European Union who declared they wanted ten-percent of the block's transport fuel to come from plants. And Joe Fargione of the U.S. Nature Conservancy asks, "Is it worth it? ...[S]urprisingly the answer is 'no'. These natural areas store a lot of carbon, so converting them to crops results in tons of carbon emitted into the atmosphere."

Thanks for the tip, Zo!

[Source: MSN Money]

Volkswagen just announced that it will team up with Carbonfund.org to help new VW purchasers clean up their carbon footprints. Every new Volkswagen purchased in the United States from September 1, 2007 through January 2, 2008 will come with one year of carbon emission offsets, courtesy of Volkswagen. It looks like money for each vehicle purchased will be donated to help reforest areas of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) in Northern Louisiana.

The trees help reduce the amount of CO2 in the air, but also provide other environmental benefits like wind and water breaks, as well as shelter for local wildlife. We're not sure if that includes rabbits or not. DaimlerChrysler's smart ran a similar campaign a year or so ago, as did Peugeot. We're also not sure what impact those had on climate change, but at the rate rabbits multiply, we think Volkswagen might make a bigger impact on the offset front.

Full release with more info about the program and about Carbonfund.org after the jump. Also, follow the read link or click on the image to go to Carbonfund.org to calculate your vehicle's carbon footprint.

[Source: Volkswagen]