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The Inconvenient Truth About Ethanol

921 messages,  Last post on Oct 07, 2009 at 10:53 AM

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#836 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil [bpizzuti] by texases
Jun 18, 2009 (6:13 am)
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Jun 14, 2009 3:47 pm)

"That just leaves oil heat. And you just mentioned another way of getting diesel fuel, which is just another way of describing heating oil (seriously, they're both referred to technically as "heavy fuel oil" and are pretty much interchangeable). So that's a way to get much of our heating systems (if not all) off of imported petroleum, yes? "
 
Well, diesel's a lighter cut than the heavy fuel oil, you can't put fuel oil in your car/truck, but this would increase supplies, certainly. And sorry for getting technical on propane, just wanted to make sure folks understand how that works. That brings up another news item - seems that some domestic natural gas producers are worried about being swamped with LNG imports. Qatar may be able to bring in lots of their LNG on tankers, extract the propane, etc, and make money even if they sell the natural gas for a loss.
#837 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil by yerth10
Jun 18, 2009 (5:07 pm)
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30 years ago, 25 % of World's Electricity came from Oil, in 2006, it was just around 6%. Many of them were moved to Coal, Gas, Nuclear, Wind etc.
 
Similarly many homes using Oil fired heaters were moved to other sources.
Its not a big deal.
 
A geothermal system can cut down oil consumption for heat by atleast 30 %.
Also when we go to bed, we can reduce the thermostat in living room to 60 degrees and have portable heater for just the bedroom. This will cut down the consumption by another 20 - 30 %
 
Where natgas is available, we can use that for heating, otherwise propane or biodiesel or wood or electricity can be used to replace fuel oil.
 
With nearly 10 million vehicles hitting the world's roads every year, its high time that Oil is replaced wherever possible.
 
BTW, US has become independent in natgas with the discovery of Shale-gas.
We dont need Qatar gas, it can be shipped to Japan & Korea where there are too many Oil-fired power plants.
#838 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil [yerth10] by gagrice
Jun 18, 2009 (7:42 pm)
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Replying to: yerth10 (Jun 18, 2009 5:07 pm)

We dont need Qatar gas, it can be shipped to Japan & Korea where there are too many Oil-fired power plants.
 
It would be nice for Hawaii to get some Qatar LNG, as they produce most of their electricity with diesel generators. Qatar is also on the leading edge of GTL (gas to liquids). The diesel produced from natural gas is super clean and NO sulfur. Great fuel for all the diesel cars that are being sold.
#839 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil [yerth10] by avalon02wh
Jun 19, 2009 (4:21 pm)
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Replying to: yerth10 (Jun 18, 2009 5:07 pm)

"BTW, US has become independent in natgas with the discovery of Shale-gas. "
 
At the present time we are importing natural gas (Canada & Mexico), so we are really not independent nor will we be anytime soon.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/natural_gas_mon- - thly/current/pdf/figure_01.pdf
 
Energy independence is a pipe dream. The only way the U.S. will be energy independent is if we cut our consumption by about 2/3.
 
"With nearly 10 million vehicles hitting the world's roads every year, its high time that Oil is replaced wherever possible. "
 
Actually I think the net increase in vehicles is higher than that. This site
http://www.serendipity.li/fe/car_fact_sheet.htm
suggests that the actual number is closer to 55 million new vehicles a year.
 
And as to replacing oil wherever possible, every fuel has issues be it ethanol, natural gas, diesel, hydrogen or cooking grease. I do not see any one fuel taking over 99% of the market. We are likely to have a broad range of fuels available for decades to come.
#840 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil by yerth10
Jun 19, 2009 (8:15 pm)
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This website has got it wrong
http://www.serendipity.li/fe/car_fact_sheet.htm
 
70 million vehicles were sold every year. They mentioned that 15 million old vehicles were scrapped. In USA alone 14 million old vehicles were scrapped, if you include Europe, Japan and rest of the world the figure should be somewhere between 50-55 million old vehicles beind scrapped.
 
That means some 10-15 million new vehicles are sold.
 
gagrice : Yes, Qatar-gas can certainly go to Hawaii. Meanwhile Hawaii has 62 MW of wind energy, it can easily be increased and combined with natgas to replace the Diesel fired power generation.
Yes, no fuel will be able to take 99 % of the market. If Biofuels can capture 10 % with CNG another 10 %, atleast 20 % of the Oil consumption can be reduced.
#841 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil [avalon02wh] by bpizzuti
Jun 20, 2009 (3:33 am)
Reply

Replying to: avalon02wh (Jun 19, 2009 4:21 pm)

And as to replacing oil wherever possible, every fuel has issues be it ethanol, natural gas, diesel, hydrogen or cooking grease. I do not see any one fuel taking over 99% of the market. We are likely to have a broad range of fuels available for decades to come.
 
Of course we will....to be honest, that's the natural order of things. The oil producers don't want that, of course, they want the current oil-universal-cureall status-quo that they helped manufacture instead, and it's gotten people used to the idea of one energy source having to make a big splash and replace oil in all ways. Hence all the hot air about ethanol as a new cure-all.
 
Real life isn't going to work that way. We'll see a lot more like the following instead:
 
Electric: Wind, Solar, Nuclear. Hydroelectric where water flow is available.
 
Heat: Geothermal (heat pump), natural gas, possibly direct solar. Biodiesel for the oil fired heaters until they can switch over to something else.
 
Transportation: Natural gas, biodiesel, possibly combined with some hybrid tech. Maybe some ethanol, but it's going to be regional because of the problems transporting E100.
 
Oh, and by the way:
 
At the present time we are importing natural gas (Canada & Mexico), so we are really not independent nor will we be anytime soon.
 
I'll settle for getting us independent of the regimes that hate us first, like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia (well, maybe not hate us but they don't really like us either), etc.
#842 of 921
Re: Year-2008 and Oil [yerth10] by avalon02wh
Jun 20, 2009 (5:18 am)
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Replying to: yerth10 (Jun 19, 2009 8:15 pm)

I would agree that 55 million new vehicles a year is a bit high but only 10 to 15 new vehicles to the market is a bit low. If you just look at China, of their 10 million vehicles sold a year most are new to the market. If you add in India, Eastern European and the Middle East countries the total number of new cars to the market is probably 20 to 30 million depending on the years you look at.
 
"...motor vehicle ownership will increase from about 800 million vehicles today to more than 2 billion in 2030."
http://www.hart-isee.com/index.php?page=world-transport-growth
 
2,000 million - 800 million = 1,200 million
1,200 million/20 years = 60 million/year new to the market vehicles
 
The above is just an estimate. I do not think the world has the resources (ethanol,oil,steel,rare earth metals) to maintain more than 1.5 billion vehicles.
 
Vehicles are lasting longer. (Tables 3.9 & 3.10)
http://www-cta.ornl.gov/data/tedb27/Edition27_Full_Doc.pdf
#843 of 921
Ethanol the big hazard to transport. by gagrice
Jun 20, 2009 (6:16 am)
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(CNN) -- At least one person is dead after a cargo train derailment and fire in Rockford, Illinois on Friday, officials said.
 
Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said the fatality was a woman. The cause of death had not been determined, because Fiduccia had not been able to get close enough to examine the body.
 
Fiduccia said she did not know whether there were other fatalities.
 
Crews were still fighting the blaze early Saturday from the derailment of the 114-car Canadian National Railway train.
 
Officers were called to the scene at around 8:30 p.m., a city police spokeswoman said. The derailment involved automobiles, but it was unclear whether they were on the tracks, the spokeswoman said.
 
Three motorists who were stopped at a train crossing were burned, one severely, said Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten.

 
One victim who tried to run from the blaze suffered second-degree burns on his hand while trying to shield his neck from flames, Bergsten said.
 
Seventy cars on the train were carrying ethanol, a colorless, highly flammable liquid, fire officials said.
 
The derailment and subsequent fire forced the evacuation of about 600 nearby homes, authorities said.
 
We don't want your ethanol on the West Coast. Keep it in the Midwest. We have enough fire problems without trainloads of ethanol burning down our towns.
#844 of 921
Re: Ethanol the big hazard to transport. [gagrice] by bpizzuti
Jun 20, 2009 (7:43 am)
Reply

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 20, 2009 6:16 am)

That is one of the problems of transporting ethanol, yes. There is of course the slight risk of accident and fire. That's why oil and natural gas get pipelined. And no, you can't pipeline ethanol..something about the chemical makeup, it absorbs too much water or something. Then you have drunks with drills going after the pipes and all...
#845 of 921
Re: Ethanol the big hazard to transport. [gagrice] by pafromfl
Jun 20, 2009 (5:20 pm)
Reply

Replying to: gagrice (Jun 20, 2009 6:16 am)

At least one person is dead after a cargo train derailment and fire in Rockford, Illinois on Friday, officials said.
I wonder if the engineer was fueled by ethanol.

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