Ethanol Isn’t Saving Any Planet, Especially Ours
02-19-2008, 03:13 PM
#1
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Join Date: 06-23-2007
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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Ethanol Isn’t Saving Any Planet, Especially Ours
Quote:
Ethanol benefits auto companies because they get CAFE credits for producing flex-fuel vehicles. Whether or not anyone ever puts ethanol in those flex-fuel vehicles is completely beside the point. GM boasts about the number of E85 vehicles they have on the road, and they get CAFE credits for every one of those vehicles. That means the fleet fuel average doesn’t really have to be what the government says it has to be. It’s a big loophole for auto companies and so much more about hot air than CO2. end quote
Read more if you like, the comments are interesting:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/blog/?p=814
Ethanol benefits auto companies because they get CAFE credits for producing flex-fuel vehicles. Whether or not anyone ever puts ethanol in those flex-fuel vehicles is completely beside the point. GM boasts about the number of E85 vehicles they have on the road, and they get CAFE credits for every one of those vehicles. That means the fleet fuel average doesn’t really have to be what the government says it has to be. It’s a big loophole for auto companies and so much more about hot air than CO2. end quote
Read more if you like, the comments are interesting:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/blog/?p=814
02-19-2008, 04:19 PM
#3
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Join Date: 05-23-2006
Location: Chandler, AZ
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All I can see, as far as using corn to produce ethanol, is that it's raising the cost of a lot of the food we eat!
They need to seriously find other sources to use for ethanol production that do not interfere with other areas of our lives. 
02-19-2008, 04:29 PM
#4
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Sure it'll be our savior but at the cost of higher prices for food crops to the consumer as more land is reallocated from food crops to biofuel. You already see it happening with corn prices. We have to play this game very carefully. Energy independence sure, but don't give up our food crop growing ability And don't blame the high cost of oil on OPEC, we have only our selves to blame for our dependence on foreign oil.
02-19-2008, 04:59 PM
#5
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Hey we're talking chicken feed, really, I can't believe how much eggs have gone up since the chicken producers have to pay so much more for corn to feed the chickens. Sugar cane is a good source for ethanol and so are sugar beets which can be raised in the entire US from Fl to N.D. guess Bushes' buddies are all corn farmers. What we save by using corn ethanol we lose when we buy food. Now to work on Hydogen fuel and electric cars. Back in the late 1800 they had electric cars, guess standard oil put a stop to that, IMO and now look where we are.
02-19-2008, 05:42 PM
#7
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We'd be better off buying hybrids than flex fuel vehicles. With the number of people who drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic every day, hybrids are much more economical.
Last edited by SandyBeach; 02-21-2008 at 06:48 PM.
02-19-2008, 06:05 PM
#8
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02-19-2008, 06:50 PM
#9
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It takes twice as much alcohol to make the same power as gas..with that in mind,someone tell me the benefits of 10% blend? All that the 10% does is displace the gas,,it doesn't gain any power..cost more..uses more and over time causes breakdown of parts. Alcohol is known to be bad for oil , it washes down the cylinder walls and contaminates the oil..so..who really benefits??If you want clean AND longevity,,use LPG... slightly less power then gas,,cleaner by tons..and forget spark plug changes,they last forever..as well as your oil,,no carbon to contaminate or cause wear...as with anything good..one drawback is...fillups..but then again...you can switch back to gas anytime with a flip of the switch.Safer, cleaner and cheaper....JMHO