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The Inconvenient Truth About Ethanol

1067 messages,  Last post on May 04, 2013 at 2:12 PM

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Messages Page 3 of 108

#12 of 1067 Need help understanding E85 by dtownfb

Mar 26, 2007 (12:15 pm)

I thought of myself as a relatively intelligent person until I read today's CNN article regarding the President meeting with the Detroit 2.5 (GM, Ford and DC) about E85. The Big 2.5 is touting this as the way to reduce US dependency on foreign oil for security and environmental reasons. I'm sorry but everything I have read says E85 fuel give 25-33% LESS fuel economy then regular gas. the only reason the big 2.5 uses it is they receive a huge "credit" toward the CAFE standards, which makes no sense. Also it smells like this is the "cheapest" way they can accomplish more fuel efficient engines is through the use of this bogus technology. I guess that hybrid technology just isn't panning out the way it should for them.
 
Maybe I am misreading something but please somebody explain this to me!!!

#13 of 1067 Re: Need help understanding E85 [dtownfb] by gagrice

Mar 26, 2007 (12:34 pm)

Replying to: dtownfb (Mar 26, 2007 12:15 pm)
I think you got E85 figured out quite well. It is a smokescreen for the automakers to circumvent the CAFE regulations and corporate welfare for big farmers and ethanol producers. It is pork barrel politics at its finest.

#14 of 1067 You've got it right by fezo

Mar 31, 2007 (11:07 am)

And in addition to paying the producers 51 cents a gallon in subsidy they are also charging a tariff of 53 cent per gallon on imported sugar cane ethanol. Yes, that means they are giving the corn lobby a $1.04 price advantage for nothing.
 
I'd be much happier with diesel or at least with importing ethanol from Brazil rather than oil from the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria and all our other "pals."

#15 of 1067 Ethanol isnt doom and gloom by nascar57

Apr 16, 2007 (8:42 am)

I get the feeling that most people think that Ethanol is just a terrible thing. I ask you the question, how can you say that this is a terrible alternative in the short term to our age old plan of burning dirty non-renewable fossil fuels, mostly coming from the worst part of this world. Why not step up and embrace something that is RENEWABLE and made right here in the USA. I have been burning E85 in my 07 Silverado LT2, have been achieving 14 mpg on the highway.
Also, even though the Govt is giving out the .51 subsidy, new ethanol plants can produce 3 gallons of ethanol to 1 bushel of corn. Currently on the CBOT, ethanol is trading at $2.13 a gallon, Corn is currently at $3.75, so do the math, even without the subsidy, the break even on just the ethanol sales is $6.39. That does not include the added revenue brought on by the sale of the ethanol byproduct DDG's, which is a very popular cattle feed stock. I know this is not the long term solution to the energy problem, can easily be seen that Hydrogen is the long term solution. But why not embrace a cleaner, renewable, domestic made fuel that can put a dent in all the gasoline consumption, just seems like a no-brainer to me. Also this DOES support American farmers, go look at all the commodity markets compared to a year ago, most of them are up 50-75% compared to one year ago, this is due to one thing ETHANOL. And complaining about higher food prices, I geuss if this nation wants to have the cheapest food in the world as it does today, so be it, but I will pay a little more in the grocery stores, Heck if we can buy these new cars, we can afford to spend a lil more in the checkout line. Ethanol gets a black eye for no reason I think. With farmers burning bio-diesel in the farm equipment used to produce the corn, turns into a bio-fuels circle. Good deal in my mind, tell the Arabs to keep their oil over there!

#16 of 1067 Re: Ethanol isnt doom and gloom [nascar57] by gagrice

Apr 16, 2007 (5:53 pm)

Replying to: nascar57 (Apr 16, 2007 8:42 am)
I am not sure where to start other than welcome to the Forum.
 
If you have a ready supply of E85, I say go for it. You are taking a 27% hit in mileage according to the new EPA ratings. That means when regular unleaded is selling for $3 per gallon you would need to get E85 for $2.19 to break even. That is just the economics for you as an individual. You have left out the cost in fossil fuel to grow that bushel of corn for ethanol. The most optimistic studies are somewhere around a 20% positive gain. Or for every 8/10ths of a gallon of fossil fuel you get one gallon of ethanol. Then you burn it in your vehicle at a 27% loss and you can see you are in negative territory. So much for economics.
 
Now to the environment. Growing corn the way it is done to get the highest yield per acre is killing the Gulf of Mexico. Google the Dead Zone and read about what all the fertilizer run-off is doing. The Union of Concerned Scientists are not on the side of ethanol. One of the biggest problems is the vehicles you and I choose to drive. Here is where the dirty little secrets about ethanol come into play. GM builds a PU truck and equips it to burn E85. Sounds eco friendly right? Wrong, they only did that to get a higher CAFE rating. That gets the automaker off the hook on building more economical vehicles. If we were interested in ethanol as an alternative and not just more PORK, we would have pulled the 53 cent tariff off of Brazilian ethanol. Ethanol can be made from sugar cane without big subsidies.
 
My last big gripe about ethanol is the fact that it was forced onto the whole USA. It has to be trucked to CA, WA & OR at a very high cost per gallon to be mixed with our designer gas. Making us pay the highest gas prices in the nation, aside from Hawaii.
 
To a school child ethanol looks like a great idea, because they are only told part of the story. None of the infrastructure we are now building will be usable when they figure out how to make ethanol from waste products. So we will buy the plants twice to satisfy the constituencies in the Mid West. Making Verasun, ADM and the mega-ag corporations very wealthy with no risk. We are taking all the risk for them.
 
links
http://www.smm.org/deadzone/causes/top.html
Ethanol Dirty Secrets

#17 of 1067 WOW by nascar57

Apr 17, 2007 (7:50 am)

You anti-ethanol people simply cease to amaze me. Yes, corn is obviously not the most efficient form of making ethanol, but it does create more energy than it takes to make. The talk about fertilizer is pretty mute, farming is always going to be there and fertilizer is used on all crops, NOT just corn. I am a senior in Agricultural Economics at a State University. One CANT say that this is not good for our domestic economy. Yes, switchgrass (Biomass) ethanol is on its way, but corn is the current source, I dont think we should turn our backs on it. And also for the price difference, I have figured with my personal vehicle if, E85 is 50 cents a gallon cheaper, it pays to run ethanol. Calculate it down to a per mile basis and this is the figure that I have come up with for my individual vehicle. Plus your not burning DIRTY, NONRENEWABLE fossil fuels. Nothing is going to be as cheap as pumping stuff out of the ground, but if you think that we should rely only on that, you are a complete idiot and 70 dollar oil will seem cheap if alternative sources on not brought in before demand outstrips supply on fossil fuels.

#18 of 1067 What ethnol has done for you by jkinzel

Apr 17, 2007 (9:15 am)

This is what ethanol is doing for us.
 
My neighbors wife works at QFC and at a meeting a few weeks ago was told by suppliers that food prices will go up about 8% by summer due to the higher price of corn.
 
On Sunday, 4/15 and Monday 4/16, both the ports of Tacoma and Seattle in that order, ran out of corn for export. To my knowledge neither port knew or knows when the next train of corn is to arrive.
The result of this was that both TEMCO (Tacoma) and Pier 86 (Seattle) sent the ships partly loaded with corn to anchor and had ships waiting for soy come in and start loading.
We ran out of corn? What the ...
Ethanol benefits the few at the price of many.
 
Another plus for diesel/bio-diesel

#19 of 1067 RE: by nascar57

Apr 17, 2007 (10:45 am)

Wow, amazing when food goes up 8%, the complaining starts right away. When adjusted for inflation, corn should actually be $8-$9 a bushel. We as americans have become so insistent on a cheap food supply, it has driven this country to import alot of food. That is a whole different story for a different day. The comment that this has helped very few people. I beg to differ, PRIME Example, Farmers receive more money for commodities. With increased revenue purchases go up. Fellow Americans working at John Deere or Case-New Holland receive more work. Americans working at automobile manufacturing facilities receive more orders, because farmers and other people involved in the ethanol chain have more money. So dont bitch about food prices going up 8%, when you spend more every year feeding your cars oil that comes from the dam middle east. Oh yeah since 2000, how much has oil gone up on a percent scale??? Maybe 300%, thats costing your family a heck of a lot more per year than the small 8% increase in food prices. Go try and live in Europe and buy food, then you will get a wake up call my friend.

#20 of 1067 Re: WOW [nascar57] by gagrice

Apr 17, 2007 (11:05 am)

Replying to: nascar57 (Apr 17, 2007 7:50 am)
If your professors are in agreement with your feelings on ethanol. I would question either their credibility or lack of education. You being as young as you are were not around the last time this boondoggle presented itself in the late 1970s. We the tax payers built close to 100 ethanol plants in the Midwest. Less than 10% are still in operation. The rest were scrapped when ethanol was not considered worth the effort. If you have convinced yourself that buying E85 for 50 cents a gallon less than RUL makes it a bargain, who could argue with you. That is a math problem. Also your lack of caring about the environment is noted. The higher levels of anhydrous ammonia used to get a bigger crop of corn IS a serious problem. Whether you or your college professors are willing to accept it. If this whole ethanol production thing was done by the farmers and producers I would be less inclined to beat on them. It is not, as you well know. We are subsidizing every aspect of the process. From farm subsidies, to guaranteeing loans for production facilities. It is a simple case of PORK politics on a Grand Scale.

#21 of 1067 RE: [nascar57] by gagrice

Apr 17, 2007 (11:20 am)

Replying to: nascar57 (Apr 17, 2007 10:45 am)
Here I may have some bit of agreement. The price of corn should be higher. I was getting about $2.75 a bushel in 1977. My yield was about 90 bushels to the acre. I was still going broke as many farmers did during that horrible administration. When you say farmers are getting more, I think you mean mega-ag corporations are getting more. The family farmer is not helped much by these higher corn prices. If there are any small farmers left. They may be able to get a temporary job in the ethanol plant until it folds up in a few years.
 
As for food prices in the EU, that is their problem. They have sat around fat dumb and happy allowing the elitist governments to lull them into a false sense of security. They are taxed way beyond what is reasonable to maintain a stable government. What would they do if they had to defend themselves without the US military?
 
Hopefully your studies will result in a profitable way to produce ethanol. Not the current corn for fuel method. Makes us look real bad in the eyes of the World. We use up all the fossil fuel now we are using up all the food to feed our vehicles. Grow less destructive crops for biodiesel and you might have a good argument.

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