Ehtanol is a wonderful thing ..do you agree???

Question

You can use a blend of ethanol in mowers chainsaws and weedeaters! Also farmers are now researching and iventiong certain types of crops that are resistant to certain bugs which will elimanate pestisides someday

Answer 1

i really do agree because in like 50 years we are going to totally run out of gas and we need and optional fuel source

Answer 2

I prefer the natural gas (methane) my cars run on. It's way cleaner than ethanol and it's 87 cents a gallon to fill up. Also domestically produced so my money stays here in America and doesn't fund terrorism. Beat that.

Answer 3

its a great idea but there is a problem. You need fertilizer to grow corn. Fertilizer is a byproduct of petroleum.  

Answer 4

I don't think so, it is just another energy scam in a long list.  About the only way it would be wonderful under the current state is if you were a corporate farmer who had a huge growing contract.  It certainly isn't good for the consumer. Food costs are up while the economy is worse, and Ethanol plays a big part in that higher cost.  The reason being there are fewer acres devoted to food production for both livestock and human consumption.  Furthermore it hasn't lowered the cost of gas in states that were suppose to benefit from increased ethanol production.  Ethanol is also harder on engines because of the considerably lower output of power per unit volume of fuel. Normal cars can run ok on limited ethanol blends, but for the higher blends you need a car specifically desinged to burn ethanol or have an expensive conversion done to your already existing one.   If not you can seriously damage your engine.

Ah I get it .. Tell the truth about the ethanol scam and some green freak will give you a downvote because they don't like to hear facts.

Hannah's Grandpa  you are giving false information that could directly result in damage to unwary people's engine. It is not true at all what you are saying that most cars fanufactured after 1992 are capable of efficiently burning E85% blend ethanol.  In fact unless that car is a flex fuel vehicle, you will actually see a reduction in efficiency of the engine and fuel economy by as much as 25-33%, not to mention the damage and increased wear and tear on the engine.  The only way for vehicle that is not FFV to run efficiently and safely on E85 is through a conversion.

Answer 5

There are alot of wonderful solutions to our energy crisis and the oil companies with their billions either smear the idea to make it look unfeasible or make it sound like it's going to worsen the economy. Ethanol is a wonderful thing - but what's not wonderful is that the pharmeceutical companies, oil companies, auto manufacturers and large corporations are in cohoots and in control of everything that happens politically in this country. Their biggest job is to make sure that no alternative fuel, electric car or other alternate method for people to save money and protect the environment will be affordable or even tried out. The last thing they want is competition. The per barrel cost of oil has been going down - but the prices? Not one little bit. Why - because their profits have gone through the roof and they are NOT the ones working on alternative fuels and technologies - they only sell the politicians on their empty words about saving the environment and developing more fuel efficient technologies by filling their coffers. It's so ridiculous - people ask their congressmen to do something about the cost of gas and what do they do??? They "investigate" the oil industry and review their profit margins and give them a slap on the wrist and - the oil companies do NOTHING different and the prices do not change. Car manufacturers could no doubt double the fuel efficiency of the cars they produce but they are in league with the oil companies and they work together to ensure the stability of their INCREDIBLE profits.

Answer 6

For cars and trucks,but not lawn mowers,weedeaters,an chainsaws.

Answer 7

I think that Ethanol is one of the options that we need to explore, as long as we are locked into one power source, we are still subject to the whims of whoever controls it.

If you have a newer car, one made after 1992, you can run on E85 now and cut your gasoline usage by 85%.

Answer 8

You have been very misinformed (probably by your employer).

Rumor#1 Yes, the price of grains has indeed DRAMATICALLY increased the price of our food (so have rising oil prices).  You state that foods contain relatively little corn.  Perhaps some only have a "little corn" in them....the main problem is that nearly every single food consumed in the U.S.A. has corn in it!

I bet you cannot go to your pantry and pull out a SINGLE food item that does not have corn in it (yes, this is a challenge).  Now remember, you cannot just look for the word "corn."  You need to look for these other words:  Does the package have the words, HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), lecithin, citric acid, maltodestrin, soritol, or xantham gum? It's a corn product then!

There are other "corn" words I could have you searching for also, but those are the main ones.  Please list everything you have in your pantry, or refrigerator that does not contain one of those words.

Another hint for you, meat, ALL dairy products, eggs, and seafood all contain corn.  The animals that produced those products were ALL fed corn.  The exception would be if you have wild caught fish.  80% of the seafood products we eat in the U.S.A. are now farm raised, and those farm raised fish are being fed corn.

You will find that most of your food products in your pantry contain corn not just once, but MULTIPLE times!  

Ethanol producers can afford to pay much higher prices for the corn, than people who are feeding the corn to livestock.  This has driven up the price of meats, eggs, and dairy.  

FARMERS are not researching which crops are more insect resistant.  Giant agra business companies, like Monsanto, ConAgra, Cargil, and others are doing the research.

Insect resistant crops are a complete and utter myth, sold hook, line and sinker to the consumer, and to farmers who MUST purchase their seed from these giant agra business companies.  Insects ALWAYS adapt.  A few survive that can indeed eat the "insect resistant" crops.  Of course those are the only insects that survive and breed.  It only take a couple of years for insects to adapt, and then flourish.  Modern commercial farmers will ALWAYS be using pesticides.

If you want some good information, the layman can easily read and understand, read The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.  His books lays out the entire corn, government, subsidies cycle for you very well.  You will understand how corn is a driving force in the Stock Market, and the price of food.  I wouldn't read that book at your job, if I were you.  

Corn is simply NOT a viable product to make ethanol from.  Most of the time, the farmer uses more fuel to plant, harvest, transport, and for the corn to be turned into ethanol, than it produces.

I'm not sure how old you are, but the same thing happened in the 1970's, during the first gas crunch.  Oil prices went nuts.  Then grain prices went nuts, especially corn, as everyone LEAPED on the ethanol bandwagon.  Once the Government subsidies (paid by our tax dollars) were withdrawn for the production of ethanol, the ethanol plants built in the 1970's went out of busines right and left.

I'm in my 40's.  I've lived and worked in the agriculture sector most of my life.  I know the complete circle of how most of our food products are produced, from where the seed comes from, how it's planted, how it's harvested, where it's transported, how it's stored, or dried, to how it ends up as ethanol, or on our dinnertable in one form or another.

We can produce our own fuel, via rapeseed, on our farm, and make bio-diesel.  My husband and I have studied the making of ethanol quiet extensively.  Corn does NOT make financial sence.  Sugar beets, and left over rotten potatoes do.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 9

u know what beter than entanol Hemp oil that what henry fords first car the first car ever bilt was ran on no emmisions

Answer 10

Ethanol as a "wonderful thing" really depends on the application.  The fact is that it burns cleaner, reduces unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.  However, it contains a much lower energy density than straight hydrocarbons.

So, the base applications for ethanol are for large cities where there is a lot of stop-and-go traffic and applications where engines tend to incompletely burn gasoline.  

In the end, the only reasonable usage of large scale ethanol has to come from fungal or enzyme derived ethanol from grasses, hemp, or other high-cellulose, fast growing, and few chemical crops.  It is good to get the infrastructure in place for the next step.  We just need to make sure that we follow through with that next step.... and the step after that.