New study predicts rising irrigation costs, reduced yields for U.S. corn

Published on July 17, 2013 03:57 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Non Profit

If the climate continues to evolve as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United States stands little to no chance of satisfying its current biofuel goals, according to a new study by Rice University and the University of California at Davis. The study published online in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology suggests that in 40 years, a hotter planet would cut the yield of corn grown for ethanol in the U.S. by an average of seven per cent while increasing the amount of irrigation necessary by nine per cent. That could sharply hinder a mandate set by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) that by 2022 the nation derive 15 billion gallons per year of ethanol from corn to blend with conventional motor fuels, according to principal investigator Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor and chair of Rice's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Alvarez is a member of the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and chair of Rice's Energy and Environment Initiative.

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