Yesterday at a grocery store in San Diego ca. One (thats 1 each) ear of (average looking) corn was 87 cents!!!!! I want to eat corn not burn it. The U.S, is sitting on plenty of oil to become independant for many years if we would just let the oil companies go get it. I would rather subsidise a corn farmer making food for us and exporting than a oil company hiding behind "refinery cost". There are many and better ways to strech our fuel usuage and reduce emmisions than to burn up such a percious food as good ol corn. JMHO

 

Ethanol is ethanol, no matter the plant it comes from. It's cheaper to make it from sugar, more expensive to make it from grass, the end result is exactly the same.
Oil companies are making BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of dollars in PROFIT!! They don't need tax breaks.
According to a study released last year by Stanford University, ethanol pollutes just as much as gasoline when burned in an internal combustion engine; bio-diesel pollutes MORE than oil-based diesel.
Ethanol produces much less energy when burned than gasoline, which reduces your fuel mileage, even when using only a 10% blend. It is very corrosive and it absorbs moisture, both of which are very bad for engines and the things attached to them, like fuel lines, fuel injectors, gas tanks, etc.
Right now, the price of corn is around $4.80 per bushel. That's good for farmers only if they didn't sell all their corn a few months ago when it was $3.39bu. But back in 1977, when ethanol first hit the filling stations, corn was $3.30bu! That's in 1977 dollars!
Ethanol has been terrible for farmers as well as motorists. It's also terrible for the environment.

 

I dont think the etahnol craze is catching on like they wanted it too, not the E85 revolution they had envisioned anyways. First of all the tanks and piping have to be ok'd by the manufacturer to be allowed to run anything above 10% ethanol, and there is not 1 single dispenser manufacturer out there that makes a e85 pump compatible with higher ehtanol mixtures.. The lovley state of Iowa has ran a incentive plane the last few years for get more ethanol (e85) sites put in, a $10,000 rebate, and noones doing it, Ive only installed about 5 of them. the mileage isnt there, I cost more to go the same distance..many many ethanol plants starting going up & about half of those have been shut down even before being operational..I build and repair gas pumps and the 10% seems fine, Ive been running it for atleast 9 years, HOWEVER.. thats in my car, still wont run it in my bike.

 

It is time that we build an alternative type engine that burns something other than gas, ethanol and anything big oil and big car companies can dream up.

It doesn't really take a geniusto see how faraviation has come in the last 100 years. I know they still use fossil fuels, but look at the designs and engine changes in just a few short years.

How many types of engines have been shot down by Detroit's big 3 just because it was not an internal combustion engine.

Just askin...

Steve

 

Well Steve. Part of the problem is that the infrastructure is not in place to fuel anything except oil products. Imagine the cost involved in replaceing every gas station with what? A quick charge battery tender? Thing up any type of fuel you can. We have in place a system that distributes petroleum products. the reason for that is, it's cost effective. I know that sounds like crap when you pay $50.00 for a tank of gas and it's gone in 2 or 3 days. But, get the government out of the way, shut up the enviromentalists, ( that doesn't mean carelessly pollute by the way) remove the prohibitions and extra taxes on American oil, and yoyu'll see gas at the pump for about $1.50 a gallon. When I say remove the extra taxes on oil. I'm not saying give big oil a tax break. I'm saying give the consumers a tax break. Because here's a bit of info some people get and some don't. corporations do NOT pay taxes! Their customers do. J.C.Penny, Sears, Texaco, Phillips, marlboro, Kelloggs, take your pick. Whatever the government taxes them, they add to their cost of doing business and YOU the consumer pays the tax. Want cheap gas? It's there, just go get it, and tell the leftists to get out of your damn bank account, and tell the GOP to forget about the farm lobby and just get back to fair market values. Noname

 

noname...I totally agree with what you are sayin...What I mean is...We need to start now instead of 50 years from now working on new engines and a means to power them...

Steve

 

i have used ethanol in a few cars and trucks . and i dont get as good as gas milage with . so it"s not saving me a dime .

 

Ethanol is alchool, the kind you find in a good vodka, whiskey, and such. It should be against the law to burn it.
This said, ethanol is a great alternative to gas, performance-wise. You have to burn more of it, but it's got really (and I mean REALLY) high octane, and you could get a godawfully powerful engine, using ethanol like fuel.
Unfortunately it's almost impossible to get enough of it to satisfy the fuel need of a nation like Italy, let alone the United States. It would also be pretty far from the ecological fuel they want us to believe it is.
Actually it would have a pretty harsh impact on the environment. Just think about Brazil: it has the more widespread use of ethanol as a fuel, right now, and has lost thousands of acres of forest to it...
Electrical vehicles are the solution, and modern technology could allow that. It's only a matter of logistics, not technology.
You wouldn't recharge your batteries, obviously, in the same way as you don't distill your gasoline from raw oil with a still in your car.
Cars should have standardised battery packs. You trade in a spent one for a fresh one. The spent pack will be reloaded and put in another vehicle when it's ready.
A simple chip in each pack would allow to know exactly the remaining reserve of energy, and would make frauds almost impossible.
The difficulty is in re-engineering the whole fuel distribution net for handling batteries instead of gas.
But it will be done, in the end.