Though popular with Midwestern farmers and long hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative to imported oil, ethanol made from corn isn’t actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds.

But UW-Madison researchers say there are home-grown alternatives being developed at laboratories in Madison.

Corn-based ethanol, which accounts for virtually all U.S. biofuels, doesn’t really reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is likely making climate change even worse than simply burning fossil fuels, according to the paper published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.