A recent study in the Natural Climate Change journal found that corn biofuels are worse for the environment in the short term than gasoline. This study strikes a heavy blow to President Barack Obama’s administration’s clean energy initiative, which supported corn ethanol as a viable energy source. Worse still, climate change has recently hit a new milestone: atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has remained above 400 parts per million over the past month. The demand for clean, sustainable energy is greater than ever, and it is the federal government’s responsibility to meet that demand.

The $500,000 study — ironically funded by the federal government — decided that corn-based biofuel does not qualify as renewable energy because it releases more greenhouse gas than oil. If accurate, the study’s findings are catastrophic for the incumbent government, which has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the alternative energy source. However, the validity of the research is up for question. There has been concern within the scientific community that the assumptions made — that corn-based biofuel will do harm to the environment in the long term — could leave the findings invalid. But, regardless of the accuracy of the conclusions, the study and the split response it has received have shown that more research is required before corn biofuel should be used as a replacement for oil. Such indecisiveness should not accompany an alternative energy source that the government has so aggressively supported in the past.

The spread of the climate change movement over the last decade has generated an array of alternative forms of energy, yet oil remains the world’s most used energy source, if only because its effectiveness is proven. The new study should be a signal that it is time to invest in testing practices that precisely determine the viability of new energy sources. Consider the worst-case scenario whereby corn biofuels are completely abandoned because they are too harmful to the environment. If that occurs, billions will have been wasted on the conversion to corn biofuel. For the sake of the nation’s economy and the world’s environment, the federal government should consider investing more heavily in research before committing to the implementation of untested alternatives.

That an inexpensive study could render the billions the government has spent on corn biofuels obsolete is disconcerting. This should be a wake-up call for the government. Energy funding must go to research and testing, not overzealous application of unproven alternatives. If the federal government does not heed the lesson learned from its own mistakes, the United States will not be alone in its suffering.