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Hybrid Vehicles Ethanol - E85 FlexFuel The Inconvenient Truth About Ethanol
921 messages, Last post on Oct 07, 2009 at 10:53 AM
You are in the Ethanol - E85 FlexFuel Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 11:21 am) If you really want to cut down on fuel consumption, buy a diesel. A VW Jetta TDI gets about 45 to 50 MPG. Do your home work, but I don’t think ethanol is the way to go.
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Replying to: jkinzel (Jun 07, 2009 11:45 am) I mean, if a WHOLE COUNTRY has been running it for over 3 decades with no problem as I´ve read, doesn´t that prove it works?
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 12:21 pm)
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Replying to: texases (Jun 07, 2009 1:10 pm) I´ve read these days a recent article on The Economist that debunks that. But thanks anyways. 
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 1:27 pm) Do you have a link? I couldn't find that on their web site.
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Replying to: texases (Jun 07, 2009 1:38 pm)  #$#$ lost it! But believe me I´m not making this stuff up: it was an excellent article. Either way, there are a lot of recent GOOD studies that prove that theory is old: you won´t have trouble finding them.
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 2:00 pm) Corn ethanol is a boondoggle to appease the Midwest. Problem is the only ones making money are the big conglomerate growers and producers. It will fail again just as it did in the 1980s. There are many vehicles for FlexFuel and have been for more than 10 years. Just be ready to refuel a lot more often as the mileage stinks. Brazil uses ethanol for political reasons not environmental. A short history of Brazil and ethanol will give you a bit of perspective. Under the Pro-Alcohol programme, farmers were paid generous subsidies to grow sugar-cane, from which ethanol was produced. The price at the pump was also subsidised to make the new fuel cheaper than petrol, while the motor industry turned out increasing numbers of vehicles adapted to burn pure ethanol. As a result, in 1985 and 1986, more than 75% of all motor vehicles produced in Brazil - and more than 90% of cars - were designed for alcohol consumption. But then it all went wrong. But despite ethanol's green credentials, Brazilian enthusiasm for the fuel reached its lowest ebb in 1997, just as the world was marking five years since Rio de Janeiro hosted the United Nations Earth Summit. That year, just 1,075 motor vehicles built to run on alcohol rolled off the country's production lines - a mere 0.06% of the total output. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4581955.stm
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 2:00 pm) |
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Replying to: galonga (Jun 07, 2009 12:21 pm) Corn mash alcohol is for drinking, if you want good mileage; buy a diesel or a hybrid if your driving is all city. Driving a car with E10 gasoline (10% ethanol) seems to produce a reported 8% to 10% loss in MPG over pure gasoline because ethanol has less energy than gasoline. Diesel contains about 40% more energy than gasoline so you get about 35% to 40% increase in MPG.
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