Ethanol good or bad?

Question

I hear different stories about ethanol. But it seems there are more bad things then good.

Does anyone have an opinions?

And does anyone know of any other types of alternative fuel that they're coming up with?

Websites are appreciated of where you got your information.

I really want to learn more about it.

Answer 1

The way its made now

Bad for Nature

http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

Bad for People

http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

more than half of the world food production is diverted for ethanol

Bad for Global Warming

the production of ethanol produces more carbon offsets than all of the world industry and motor cars put together

Good for some corporations who get even richer at the cost of everything else.

Answer 2

I used to not like ethanol, but the fact of the matter is that it's the only thing I can put in my car besides oil that will make it run.

People will spout all day about food prices, use of water, and it's lower energy concentration, but there's no such thing as a perfect fuel.  Hopefully continued research (cellulosic ethanol has promise) will give us better ways to make it.

Before ethanol the government used to pay farmers NOT to farm, under the CRP program.  They don't do that as much anymore because the government doesn't have to stop supply to keep the prices up.

A small amount of ethanol in gas helps it vaporize better, makes it burn a little better, and keeps water from building up and freezing your gas tank.

All the big talk is about hydrogen as the next fuel... but that's another can of worms...

Answer 3

ethanol has its pros and cons, as does any other fuel source. on balance though it will be needed as part of the solution to our future energy needs.

pros;

sugar cane has higher ethanol yields than any other ethanol source.

ethanol is renewable

ethanol doesnt require a huge investment in the infrastructure, other than plants to produce it.

you can use ethanol in any motor vehicle that uses gasoline with a few modifications.

cons;

ethanol does not reduce emissions output of the internal combustion engine

ethanol trades emissions of some chemicals for others

you need to use more ethanol to get the same amount of power as a gasoline engine, so fuel economy is reduced

some of the cons of ethanol can be offset by proper engine tuning, and its higher octane rating means you can tune a engine with a higher compression ratio, and more ignition timing to offset the fuel economy loss, and help offset some of the emissions issues.

Answer 4

In a moderate amount ethonal is good.  It can reduce the foreign oil and help build our infrastructure.  

Environmentally it is not so good.

The carbon footprint will be about the same.  (enviromentalists frequently forget to count the carbon sink of the soil, or water that washes carbon into the ocean when they do this calculation)  the best will be 80%.

Ethonal will release at least 1.5 the by products of gasoline.  This is because it takes about 3 gallons of energy to make 5 gallons of ethonal.  Again people do not like to compair apples to apples, and like to use ethonal emissions in the same motor with a 20% HP reduciton it causes, when they should compair HP per HP.

Answer 5

It depends on the source of the ethanol.

Ethanol from corn is not good.  Because it requires more land to be used for growing crops (and thus less for forests and other CO2-absorbing plants), a recent study showed that it may actually contribute more to global warming than gasoline.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23057867/wid...

So right now I'd say ethanol is bad.  However, once we develop ethanol from switchgrass, it will definitely be a beneficial fuel source.  See the link below for details.

Answer 6

Same old story! The Ethanol lobby has duped the American people and some of our crooked politicians into another energy farce. It is becoming more and more evident that corn ethanol manufacture is bad for the environment. It has  very poor efficiency for power generation. It is true that the sugar cane ethanol used by Brazil has made that country independent from petroleum but sugar cane ethanol is about seven times more efficient than the stuff that our politicians are trying to sell us here. Cellulose ethanol is showing some promise. This big push for Ethanol is all ready driving up the price of food and will only get worse if we allow them to continue diverting crops from feed and food to Ethanol production.No, Natural gas is a much better alternative, at least in the inter um, but no one seems to want to talk about it. Is it because it is plenty full, and much cheaper so that our ripoff politicians and corporations cannot make enough money with it?

Answer 7

they say it is environmental friendly so I think it is a good thing.

Answer 8

In moderation ethanol is good, but every fuel has its harmful points, so conservation is still key. I Iive too far from work to avoid driving, and don't have good alternatives, so I am definitely part of the problem, but up until the recent problem with smoky air N. CA has been having, I've been biking all my short (<10mi) errends.We have to take our lifestyle into consideration. Better public transport would go a long ways to lessoning out environmental impact from transportation.

Answer 9

Ethanol may look good on the surface, but the facts suggest otherwise. Running on E85 reduces a car’s overall total green-house effect by 13%, but the manufacture and consumption introduce more green-house gasses into the air than running on regular gasoline.

Even though vehicles may run cleaner, thereby, emitting less CO2; Ethanol is made up of plants that absorb CO2 thereby canceling out any good effects it may have had.

Another problem with E85 is that even though it does reduce two carcinogens, benzene and butadiene  it increases formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. It also has been know to increase ozone, which is a primary ingredient in smog.

Answer 10

Ethanol is one of the biggest farces foisted on the American public in our lifetime. Billions have been spent to develop ethanol plants. This pushed the price of corn out of sight, and other grains followed along. Wheat, Oats, Soy beans, Barley, Rye and Sorghum have risen beyond reason. Politicians have caused some of this but political bickering will be our downfall. Who is working for the people of America?

Answer 11

ethanol is expensive and does not have the right oils to burn so you have to add them driving up the price also the corn is grown on farms and the plants are a bit far away so the the transportation costs drive the price up even farther also if you add ethanol to gas or just have ethanol the gas mileage of the vehicle goes down costing you more money all in all this ethanol stuff is expensive and also the energy in corn is released through combustion so you get all the gases you don't want to breathe I disagree with ethanol