This month’s Stewardship Advocate is partially adapted from an article from the Illinois Corn Growers Association entitled “A Farmer’s Guide to the GREET model”. Recently, there has been a lot of information and confusion about the GREET model, especially as it relates to tax credits like 45Z and 40B.
The GREET Model
The GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies) model was created in 1995 by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory as a tool to evaluate the lifecycle analysis and calculate the environmental impact of technologies or products.
The DOE states GREET can calculate:
– Total energy consumption (non-renewable and renewable)
– Fossil fuel energy use (petroleum, natural gas, coal)
– Greenhouse gas emissions
– Air pollutant emissions
– Water consumption
In agriculture, GREET is critical to Renewable Fuel Standard, low carbon fuel standards and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
Other Models Compared to GREET
GREET accurately depicts agriculture’s carbon emissions. However, other models penalize agriculture claiming the industry has a large environmental footprint. Some international and state specific models were created for areas with less productive farmland and saddle agriculture for land use change emissions. Argonne National Laboratory updates the GREET model annually with the newest documented data.
Why is GREET So Important Now?
In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included tax credits for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The fuel could increase demand for corn if the SAF is produced from ethanol. Without the ability to use the GREET model to accurately calculate ethanol’s carbon intensity (CI) score, corn-based ethanol could be excluded from the credit and SAF production.
Why Should Farmers Care?
SAF could open unprecedented demand for corn. In 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard created a growth in ethanol demand and increased the need for corn. In 2021, the Administration announced the goal of increasing SAF production to three billion gallons by 2030. The sustainable aviation fuel industry is still in its infancy, but experts estimate SAF could create significant economic benefits to corn farmers.
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