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Will ethanol E85 catch on in the US? Will we Live Green and Go Yellow? - READ ONLY

2104 messages,  Last post on Oct 27, 2006 at 6:34 AM

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Messages Page 211 of 211

#2099 of 2104 Re: Ethanol good or bad???? [avalon02wh] by gagrice

Oct 21, 2006 (8:37 am)

Replying to: avalon02wh (Oct 21, 2006 7:17 am)
You seem to have a practical take on the big picture regarding ethanol. It is not all roses. I agree the ethanol mandate will maintain the need for ethanol. I just would rather they did more research into using sources other than corn before they build all the plants that are only able to accept corn as a feedstock. It looks like we are still several years from using switchgrass or whatever other waste product.

#2100 of 2104 Flex fuel option by gagrice

Oct 23, 2006 (5:19 pm)

I was just pricing out a new Ford Crew Cab PU. The price to add flex fuel is $895. They are both 5.4L V8 engines. I guess Ford cannot afford to just give that option to the green buyer. So much for selling many of them. Pay more money to lose money.

#2102 of 2104 Corn Ethanol - Cute but Expensive by gagrice

Oct 24, 2006 (6:37 am)

Ethanol shortages have helped push up gas prices and generate huge profits for producers (not farmers). July 12th—National Academy of Science report confirms zFacts' analysis and much more. Bio-diesel has some merit, ethanol is an expensive loser
 
http://zfacts.com/p/35.html
 
http://zfacts.com/p/60.html

#2103 of 2104 How ADM makes a killing on ethanol by gagrice

Oct 24, 2006 (6:42 am)

Excerpts from the NY Times, June 25, 2006
 
Farmers are seeing little of the huge profits ethanol refiners like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) are banking. ... The ethanol explosion began in the 1970's and 1980's, when ADM's chief executive, Dwayne O. Andreas, was a generous campaign contributor and well-known figure in the halls of Congress who helped push the idea of transforming corn into fuel.
Given the glut in corn, the early strategy of Mr. Andreas was to drum up interest in ethanol on the state level among corn farmers and persuade Washington to provide generous tax incentives. But in 1990, when Congress mandated the use of a supplement in gasoline to help limit emissions, ADM lost out to the oil industry, which won the right to use the cheaper methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, derived from natural gas, to fill the 10 percent fuel requirement.
Past Scandal
Adding to its woes, ADM was marred by scandal in 1996 when several company executives, including one of the sons of Mr. Andreas, were convicted of conspiracy to fix lysine markets. The company was fined $100 million. Since then, ADM's direct political clout in Washington may have waned a bit but it still pursues its policy preferences through a series of trade organizations, notably the Renewable Fuels Association. ...
But ADM has not lost interest in promoting ethanol among farm organizations, politicians and the news media. It is by far the biggest beneficiary of more than $2 billion in government subsidies the ethanol industry receives each year, via a 51-cent-a-gallon tax credit given to refiners and blenders that mix ethanol into their gasoline. ADM will earn an estimated $1.3 billion from ethanol alone in the 2007 fiscal year, up from $556 million this year, said David Driscoll, a food manufacturing analyst at Citigroup. ...
ADM has huge production facilities that dwarf those of its competitors. With seven big plants, the company controls 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol production, or about 24 percent of the country's capacity. ADM can make more than four times what VeraSun, ADM's closest ethanol rival, can produce.
Last year, spurred by soaring energy prices, the ethanol lobby broke through in its long campaign to win acceptance outside the corn belt, inserting a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that calls for the use of 5 billion gallons a year of ethanol by 2007, growing to at least 7.5 billion gallons in 2012. The industry is now expected to produce about 6 billion gallons next year. ...

#2104 of 2104 Let's break this one by pf_flyer HOST

Oct 27, 2006 (6:34 am)

Since we're moving away from these huge discussions, and this one has become a catch-all for anything E85, let's close this one down and start up new discussions as issues arise.
 
From scanning the E85 news today, let's start with this one:
 
Problems with the Pumps Using E85?
 
Please feel free to create new discussions as addtional E85 related issues or questions arise. What we want to avoid is trying to talk about every issue in one discussion.
 
Thanks for your help in making this group a great source of information and discussion about E85.

Messages Page 211 of 211

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