The Pros And Cons Of Fighting Air Pollution

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 4.6 million people die due to the exposure of air pollution each year. Shocking as it is, the cause is not new. The world has been fighting air pollution from as far back as The Middle Ages, and as the years grew on, so did pollution. Since the invention of the internal combustion engine, automobiles have been known to be the single largest source of air pollution. The reason: gasoline. In the fight against the gas emissions from these gasoline-powered vehicles, scientists, researchers, governments, and organizations alike have been searching and funding for safer, healthier, and cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels. One of these alternatives, ethanol, has grown to become one of the best choices to fighting air pollution today. “In 2014,” the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) states, “the use of ethanol in gasoline reduced CO2-equivalent gas emissions from transportation by 39.6 million metric tons. That’s equivalent to removing 8.4 million cars from the road for an

In a report by Frank Rusco, director of Natural Resources and Environment for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), “ethanol cannot generally be transported in existing multi-fuel pipelines because ethanol is a strong solvent, which can potentially cause corrosion of pipelines and degradation of seals and other pump components.” Trains and trucks, then, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, transport ethanol to ethanol production facilities. The U.S. has about 215 ethanol plants, most of which are concentrated in the Midwest, where corn is predominant (“Ethanol Production and Distribution” par. 1). Fueling stations for alternative fuels are becoming more available across the U.S. There are now over 2,000 fueling stations offering E85 in more than 40 states, and the numbers continue to increase (“Ethanol Fuel Basics” par.