why do people love ethanol? why is it being mandated?
im sorry, ethanol is not a solution to anything, its not as efficent basically meaning it gets LESS mpg then gas, its also puts off more pollution then gas. on top of this lawnmowers and certain smaller engines (lawnmowers, snowblowers and so on) cannot take anything with ethanol in them.
here in wisconsin its 10% ethanol in allmost the whole state at all gas stations and also with the state giving gas stations grants to sell E85 along with regular gas with 10% ethanol.
food costs are going through the roof, corn has doubled in price if not allmost tripled as more farms are converting food crops to bio fuel crops.
why is this CRAP FUEL thats less efficent being force down my throwt without me getting to pick and decide if i want to use it on my own.
did i mention that theres a federal subsidy on e85? that means ethanol e85 is discounted 50 cents per gallon. so in all means minus the 50cents and its the same price as regular gas.
simply why?
let me also say this is a bi partisan tag team between the democrats and republicans whos pockets are getting fat off of ethanol.
let me also say we are sitting on billions of gallons of OIL on our own soil but we simply DO NOT drill for it. does it make any sense?
alaksa has oil, midwest has oil and not to mention the coast is LOADED with oil that mexico drills for so what are we waiting for?
we can LOWER the dependancy on forign oil buy drilling for our own on our own land. this would lower the price at the pump significantly perhaps up to 2 dollars or more.
thank a environmentalist.
maximac, we can eliminate ethanol, lower food costs and lower gas prices by simply drilling for the oil we have here.
we have so much here.
I would like to thank everyone for there insightful and informative answers!
to matthew smit,
I think YOUR the one brainwashed. Ethanol is NOT a clean or efficent fuel.
you didnt even say one word about drilling for our oil on our soil. You just buy into this its clean and better then oil concept that’s wron
let me ask you if have actually tried to run e85 in a lawnmower? I’ll take that as a big NO because I have and its ruined my mower. So please to read in defense of big oil and realize you have no idea about ethanol besides what your elected offical tells you.
seriously do a search for the article by cal Thomas called on defense of big oil to get a understanding.
Tags: Dependancy, Fuel Crops, Snowblowers
November 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Silly politicians voted for it based on the opinions of ignorant analysts and foolish constituents.
Ethanol, on top of being bad for your engine, is neither economical, nor environmentally sound.
Diesel from vegetable sources is another (mostly) idiotic concept. The cost and environmental impact of using up all of our arable land for oil is insane.
The one exception that I’ve seen is algal oil - amazingly you can produce orders of magnitude more oil from algae than you can get from any other bio source. The best part is that you don’t have to displace food crops to do it - the best place for an algae greenhouse is a place with lots of sunlight - soil is not a factor.
Right now, extraction of the oil from the algae is not economical, but there’s a lot of research going into it, and I fully expect that one day, we’ll get a substantial amount of energy from genetically modified algae.
Somebody mentioned land-fill methane… some landfills have found economically viable ways of capturing and using it, but methane production from all the landfills and sewer plants in the world wouldn’t even come close to displacing, or even reasonably reducing the hydrocarbons coming out of the ground.
Production numbers for oil and gas are absurdly high - Saudi Arabia alone produces some 12 million barrels of oil per DAY - we are in the process of increasing that number by 25% by exploiting fields that are virtually untapped. All the ethanol and vegetable oil in the universe isn’t going to match this production at any price.
The real solution - regardless of where the energy comes from, is to use less fuel… I know it sounds absurd, but we need to rethink public transportation and city planning - the current paradigm of a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot is flawed when you have to choose whether the corn goes to feed the chicken or to make ethanol to burn in the car.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I believe we are being misled by the powers that wish to keep OIL the “only source” of energy - so to speak. To say that vegetable and grain prices are sky rocketing because of ethanol is just pure crap. There is so much land to grow crops on that it is “silly.” There are a number of crops that are better than others. Artichokes for example are better to use than corn for many reasons. Soy and even YEAST
are other alternative sources. Don’t believe all the negative press on ethanol and alternative fuels because it is VERY LIKELY spawned by the white collar CRIMINALS that shove OIL down our throats and that work SIDE BY SIDE with the car manufacturers to keep gasoline the number one fuel choice.
November 30th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
The Government wants us off gas. Ethanol isn’t viewed as a solution, it’s a temporary fix. Both Ethanol and Gas are incredibly expensive to produce but at least Ethanol (corn) is a renewable resource. Our Government would rather keep the money inside the U.S. than give it to our enemies in the middle east, so it’s worth it to them to subsidize the Ethanol. That being said I agree that Ethanol is not the best idea as you can feed a family for a year with the amount of corn it takes to fill up an average car’s gas tank with E85 (which still contains 15% gas)
December 1st, 2008 at 5:37 am
That’s such a good question. I wish I knew why we are taking food from hungry mouths and putting it into something extremely inefficient.
What irritates the crap outta me is that there are hydrogen cars ON THE MARKET!!!
We have no way of filling them though, because for some reason there are no hydrogen fill stations. This would solve so many problems AND put water vapor in the air. Here in California, that’s desperately needed.
My solution is to simply walk or bike to where I need to go. (My dad was hit by a truck though, while riding his bike so now my bicycle is ruled out.) I’m getting out of the US as soon as possible. I’m not going to take this BS anymore.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Because it has helped reduce some demand for foreign oil.
See this article:
Ethanol slashes record high gas and food prices
Ethanol is reducing food costs by lowering gas prices, some experts say.
According to one analyst from Merrill Lynch, ethanol lowers gas and oil prices by 15%. Another study by Iowa State University found that ethanol reduces gas prices by at least 29 to 40 cents per gallon. Rising energy costs play the dominant role in the price of food because raw ingredients like corn comprise only 20% of the price of food. The other 80% is shipping, packaging, processing and advertising costs.
In the past year, food prices have increased only 4.6% while energy prices have increased 26.4%, according to the Consumer Price Index Report. The president of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, has stated oil could easily reach $200 per barrel within two years.
A driver who buys E10 can save at least ten cents a gallon—and that can add up to hundreds of savings in one year. But eliminating ethanol from the U.S. fuel supply would instantly cause gasoline prices to soar an additional $1.10 per gallon over the current price, according to economist John Urbanchuck.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:10 am
‘cos methanol is very dangerous…. just kidding. Some people work hard to achieve in something such as in sports, business, research, adventure …., but most of the people who are lazy are in a mentally vaccuum state, and they beleive they are lack in something . They think they are not so important. They try to show their exixtance by engaging in something which don’t need talent or hard work like smoking & drinking
December 8th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
easy!
who grow corn? and who are they voting for?
December 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
My favorite ***** up in this country is the untapped methane gas/fumes pouring out of all our landfills….can be converted for cars/trucks, yet big oil & gov. won’t use it on a large scale either. Another greedy joke played on us.~ ethanol *****. ~ I agree with you to.**EDIT Thumbs down? Think it out first…if your really able to. ** Ethanol eats plastic & rubber gaskets too. So go chew on that one too.