Debate on whether ethanol should be used in gas or not

[milo303]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...r-gas-tank-hold-enough-food-to-feed-22-people



I wonder how much gas prices would go up if they took out the 10% ethanol, probably more than 10%

Can't seem to wrap my head around why our government wants to promote the type of corn we grow in america as crucial to our food supply. It has almost no nutritional value AND it's crap in fuel. I hate corn

 

[POLZIN]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...r-gas-tank-hold-enough-food-to-feed-22-people



I wonder how much gas prices would go up if they took out the 10% ethanol, probably more than 10%

Can't seem to wrap my head around why our government wants to promote the type of corn we grow in america as crucial to our food supply. It has almost no nutritional value AND it's crap in fuel. I hate corn

X2 ethanol sucks! What did it ever enhance?

 

[Dogmeat]

X2 ethanol sucks! What did it ever enhance?

The wallets of the politicians who pushed for it and the farming corporations who supply it.

 

[Empire087]

The only thing I like ethanol for is high hp 4stroke turbo builds. I know of a few nissan 3L inline 4's making 800+ hp and 725+ tq on e95. It has a higher octane content when run straight, but it makes less power overall. Which is why it requires tons of fuel, lots of boost to burn it all off correctly. However for powersports and 98% of the rest of performance applications its a waste of resources especially considering it takes far more energy to create a gallon of ethanol than you get from it.

 

[POLZIN]

The wallets of the politicians who pushed for it and the farming corporations who supply it.

winner! And that is the only reason it does or has ever exsisted!

 

[cpittsy]

Ethanol is a running joke here in Iowa. Despite gov't tax incentives the ethanol plants are all going broke. It takes so much corn to produce the stuff. At the end of the day the only people benefiting from these ethanol mandates are in agriculture. Farm land regularly going for 10k an acre and big city money buying up the land cause it is overall felt that ethanol is here to stay.

I just cant imagine a politician messing with it since the Iowa Caucus is so important.

 

[psychoneurosis]

I agree that ethanol in the right motor can make a lot of horsepower, but most of the motors out there are not set up for ethanol.

In most motors the impact of ethanol is totally different. Per the Dept of Energy, ethanol increases in motors not tuned for it causes premature and bad failures and increased emmissions. Study is below

I have to think that part of the interest in ethanol is because we have a lot of unused production. E85 needed a lot of ethanol to be made but was a total flop. That production has to be sitting at this point. Never a good thing.

In addition to the unused production capacity another variable that is going to be interesting is the basic failure of the corn crop this year for most of this county.