An Answer to $4 a Gallon Gasoline

[xrated]

hell I'm like a fly to honey.

First off, Brazil uses sugar cane not corn. More efficent and they have tons.

Cellulosic Ethanol-this is what I think we need and should be doing now instead of dumping money into corn. Again more efficent and better all around, ie environmental impact etc.

Gone sledding, here around Rochester, the price isn't even a buck lower...I'm still waiting for a good reason for the penny for penny increase with gas.

As for running "old" tech for e85. I have a 05 Ford Taurus in FFV. Tried e85 for over a month this winter. Started starting real rough, then it would die and I'd have to restart. Still idled rough, e85 does not like cold temps, and it wasn't more then 10 below! Then I started tripping codes on my computer. Looked online, turns out Ford had issues and was offering a computer reflash to update the car. Called Ford in town and the mechanic said don't even bother. Even with the reflash he said I would still be tripping O2 sensor codes and the car would still like and run better on regular 87 octane.

Do I like 385, hell no. Do I like the idea behind ethanol, well it ain't bad, if we stopped wasting time and money on in efficent options such as corn, you bet I do.

 

[Original Tetonice]

Move to Dubi were pump fuel is .65 cents a gallon.....In Mexico pump fuel is $3.00 per gallon.

In the states we have lazy politician who say nothing & do nothing WHY ???....

Mafesto, i would be much simpler to rid the world of politicians who attend oil company cocktail party's

 

[Snow Fox]

I'll stay on my same old rant about this subject............

Switchgrass is the answer for ethanol production!!

 

[Kong]

I had an entire paragragh typed up about and realized it is useless. those of you that dont like ethanol arent going to change your minds. i feel like you are very misinofmed and are making judgements based on little credible information.

price of e85 in jackson mn today, $2.76
price of gas in jackson mn today, $3.82.
pencils out pretty good to me

I have nothing against the concept or the fuel. But I don't want it subsidized.

I'd love ethanol or anything else that would work and save money in the long run. I just don't want to pay more somewhere else to make the cost of it (or any other alternative) look good if it isn't.

 

[the fix-it guy]

why not, your gas is subsidized.

 

[bonz50]

so, for all those cars out there that simply DO NOT RUN on e85 are supposed to send their cars to the trash and upgrade to new vehicles??? this is another fallacy of the e85 argument.... what are you going to do about the tens of millions of vehicles out there that won't run on it??? at the moment, only gm, dodge and ford are making e85 cars... the jap/germ/korean makers are moving toward diesel, not e85, they understand the situation better imho...

 

[bonz50]

I had an entire paragragh typed up about and realized it is useless. those of you that dont like ethanol arent going to change your minds. i feel like you are very misinofmed and are making judgements based on little credible information.

price of e85 in jackson mn today, $2.76
price of gas in jackson mn today, $3.82.
pencils out pretty good to me

great... so lets spend another 20k on a car to be able to save 50 bucks a month on fuel.... it'll take you 20yrs to hit a payback on that... in the meantime you're gonna have to drive your existing vehicle into the dirt... e85, while ~possibly~ a solution, will take 20 or more years to become mainstream...

 

[Ollie]

so, for all those cars out there that simply DO NOT RUN on e85 are supposed to send their cars to the trash and upgrade to new vehicles??? this is another fallacy of the e85 argument.... what are you going to do about the tens of millions of vehicles out there that won't run on it??? at the moment, only gm, dodge and ford are making e85 cars... the jap/germ/korean makers are moving toward diesel, not e85, they understand the situation better imho...

You troop down and put the conversion kit on to allow your vehicle to burn it.
Currently the EPA is holding up the conversion kits while they run their tests on them. Do you see all brand spanking new cars in brazil??

Further, any fuel injected or throttle body injected engine can be converted with ease. Straight carbed engines I don't know about.

Once you get more Ethanol plants online and increase competition you will see the prices drop. Furthermore, you get some of these brain types together they will figure out a way to do it cheaper, faster and better than is currently done. That is of cource if we can keep Washington out of the mix. If they start regulating this, it will stifel the whole process.

I am a big believer in E-85. Not for the enviroment (I don't think it will do much if anything), not for the cost saving (I think it is pretty much a wash with the drop in fuel millage), but just for the fact of getting us off the OPEC oil chain.

 

[winter brew]

Why don't we hear more about natural gas as an option to run our cars? http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-05-08-natural-gas-usat_N.htm

 

[bonz50]

You troop down and put the conversion kit on to allow your vehicle to burn it.
Currently the EPA is holding up the conversion kits while they run their tests on them. Do you see all brand spanking new cars in brazil??

Further, any fuel injected or throttle body injected engine can be converted with ease. Straight carbed engines I don't know about.

Once you get more Ethanol plants online and increase competition you will see the prices drop. Furthermore, you get some of these brain types together they will figure out a way to do it cheaper, faster and better than is currently done. That is of cource if we can keep Washington out of the mix. If they start regulating this, it will stifel the whole process.

I am a big believer in E-85. Not for the enviroment (I don't think it will do much if anything), not for the cost saving (I think it is pretty much a wash with the drop in fuel millage), but just for the fact of getting us off the OPEC oil chain.

in terms of getting away from opec, there is no NEED to go to ethanol... we have a minimum 70yr supply of domestic oil already if the damn govt would get off their collective azzes to drill the sh!t!!!! it will buy us the time we need to develop alternatives... ethanol at least is a stepping stone and only a band-aid fix at best...

 

[mngoat]

caught an end of a report either on fox or cnn and needed some clarification- i thought the report said the US imports crude oil to the tune of $700 billion dollars a year? Does anyone know if this is correct? Thanks.

 

[Ex-Member]

hmm... motorcycle powered by natural gas, anyone?

 

[Gone Sleddin]

I'm not saying E85 is an answer, or even that great of an alternative. this thread is about ethanol in general. ditching the E85 for mandated 20% blend in all fuels would be a much better idea. vehicals would be able to run on it without conversion kits and studies have shown that a vehicles will actually see a small increase in mileage over regular gas.

as for switchgrass, it is a good concept and the technology for cellulosic ethanol is getting better. handling the product is a holdback in the process. everyone plant your fields to switchgrass, grows for a number of years, yeah, good concept. but getting thousands, or millions of acres cut, bailed, and stored under cover in good quality could be a problem. might work in some parts of the country but it will be many years before the majority of ethanol production in this country goes away from corn

 

[Ollie]

in terms of getting away from opec, there is no NEED to go to ethanol... we have a minimum 70yr supply of domestic oil already if the damn govt would get off their collective azzes to drill the sh!t!!!! it will buy us the time we need to develop alternatives... ethanol at least is a stepping stone and only a band-aid fix at best...

And you would be completely correct.
we have a better supply of untapped oil than half of OPEC combined.
How many politicians do you think we would have to shoot to get them to wake up and do what needs to be done?

Check it out.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365627,00.html
And we wonder what's wrong with our energy programs.

 

[phatty]

hmm... motorcycle powered by natural gas, anyone?

yes please! i will take 2!

drill US oil and buy us 100 years to find something better. New jobs, new economy, and everyone is happy again. Guess its too simple...

 

[Goin For Snow]

yes please! i will take 2!

drill US oil and buy us 100 years to find something better. New jobs, new economy, and everyone is happy again. Guess its too simple...

Try to reasonable for second! it is too simple...

 

[phatty]

Try to reasonable for second! it is too simple...

LOL i just read this article on Fox news after i posted... uh were screwed...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365627,00.html

 

[bonz50]

How many politicians do you think we would have to shoot to get them to wake up and do what needs to be done?

that is the trillion dollar question right there....

 

[xrated]

Once you get more Ethanol plants online and increase competition you will see the prices drop. Furthermore, you get some of these brain types together they will figure out a way to do it cheaper, faster and better than is currently done. That is of cource if we can keep Washington out of the mix. If they start regulating this, it will stifel the whole process

That will never happen. The government is up to it's eye balls in e85. IF and that's a big IF we actually let the free market and brain types run with things we would be alot better off.

I have recommended this book before and will again. The Bottomless Well.

They talk of the major hinderance the government plays in all developing tech that would be better off and help us more if it was left alone. Give us a truely free market where every new fuel idea is on a level playing field(no subsidies, etc) and the best idea will come forward and will probably end up being the cheapest with time. The cream will float...

 

[Mafesto]

Many, many good points on here.

Ethanol is here to stay, bank on it.
It may be corn stocks, wood chips switchgrass, hell, they may be able to make it from fairy farts!
I believe the base stock will actually be regional based.
The mid-west will likely stay mainly corn based.

I am in 100% agreement that we need to utilize our own oil & expand our refinery capacity dramatically.
A retarded monkey should be able to recognize that.....too bad we don't elect retarded monkeys.

Electric vehicles should have a strong future for the millions of people with a 50 mile daily commute.

CNG may or may not take off.
I think ANY alternative needs serious consideration, but this sure doesn't seem to be on anyone's priority list.

Hydrogen.
I dunno.
I am not educated enough to even comment.
I don't understand the jist of it.



Powerplants....
Our country is blessed with HUGE supply of coal.
We must continue improving coal-fired plants. No brainer.
Some regions are so populated that Nuclear is a better, lesser polluting option.
Other regions favor nuke as they are not close to a coal source.
Wind energy, at this point is not cost effective.
Without subsidies, it would never pan out, not to mention it will be nothing more than a "2nd source" until efficient storage is developed.
We need to screw the greenies & build more hydro electric.

My 2 cents worth.....