Ethanol wont work?

Question

i know all of you that are enviromentaly minded will hate me for that statement but ethanol is not really an option if you take all of the corn that is not used for human consumption or used to feed livestock and converted it to ethanol there would be enough ethanol to supply the us for 4 days with out the use of fossil fuels so how is a 4 day supply an option

Answer 1

Ethanol in my opinion is not going to a long term solution for internal combustion engines.

The production is really costly and even though the prices are now lower than regular gasoline (just because of tax advantages, production is more expensive) you do not have any real benefit.

The efficiency of a regular ICE goes down dramatically and what you think you can save at the pump, you will loose driving down the highway, as fuel consumption goes up dramatically.

This is not the case in Diesel engines, they do not loose efficiency when operated on Biodiesel.

And they are much more efficient from the get go than gasoline operated engines with similar power ratings.

Answer 2

Ethanol wont work because right now we are using corn ethanol. It produces only 20% more energy than it takes to produce it. Sugar ethanol produces like 800% more energy than it requires to produce it. Unless we switch to sugar or other ethanol, we cannot use it. Also, we are we using corn for fuel when we could be selling it to feed the millions of starving people around the world? Using corn also raises the price of almost every food product in the grocery store because almost every food has corn syrup in it.

Answer 3

ur right...but i hate that 4 day supply stat... greenies use[misuse] that for drilling in anwar..."if they driller there all we would get is a one year supply""" yah...if we didnt get a drop from anywhere else....they say alaska.. oh its only 5 %...oh florida its only 5%  oh oil shale .its only 5 %...geeeze.sorry 4 rant...ethanol no answer

Answer 4

"environmentally minded" people have been the one's protesting the use of bio-fuels http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodivers... which are being pushed by agricultural industry lobbying for more subsidy (and finding a market for Gm crops) and car makers who don't want to change from infernal combustion technologies http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com

for a fuller analysis of the capacity of the planet to supply bio-fuel see last hours of ancient sunlight http://www.thomhartmann.com/index.php?op...

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Answer 5

As oil runs out as it will eventually, the price of oil will continue to rise.

As the price of oil rises it will become more economically feasible to build more ethanol plants.

As more ethanol plants are built, they will demand more corn.

As the demand for corn grows the price of corn will rise.

As the price of corn rises, farmers will grow more corn.

However I do agree that ethanol is not the answer, we need other alternatives to oil.  Hopefully the hydrogen fuel cell technology will come through.

Answer 6

Right but Still Wrong.  Ethanol can be produced from many renewable sources, the most viable is algae.  When was the last time you meet a algae farmer?  The American farmers are just being used as a political football as usual.  The cost of producing ethanol from corn or any food crop is to high and slow.  Any fuel production from renewable source will be done on a large industrial scale.  current pilot programs using algae are paired with a power plant.  they can start a continuous harvesting inside of a week.  These plants are very clean and produce most of what they need to run the power plant along with a great fertilizer.  They are now working on expanding the algae farming to be able to produce not only bio-diesel but ethanol.

Answer 7

You're absolutely right.  Ethanol in the USA is not an environmental program (it makes ozone problems worse in the LA basin) or an energy program (it is roughly energy-neutral), it is a farm price-support program.

Answer 8

It is not!!! We need to explore all the places that we can ,so it could be available. We need all options open as I don't trust the Arabs.

Answer 9

i don't no

Answer 10

I have an uncle who farms.  The farmers like the increase in the price of corn due to the demand, but they don't like the price of the corn that they have to pay for seed and for feed.  It's not helping him much.

Ethanol gasoline is cheaper by the gallon because there are government subsidies to keep it low.

I do think it is still a viable option mostly for blended fuels, but it's not going to be the Holy Grail of our freedom from foreign oil/fuel.

Answer 11

You are correct.

The only problem that ethanol could potentially solve is that it would decrease our dependance on foreign oil, however only slightly.

Alan Greenspan and others actually realized this fact many years ago (maybe the 1980's) but little was said about it because many felt that although ethanol is not a solution, scientists think that using other grasses or grains may produce more fuel from less land used and less vegetable matter used. Scientist and producers want more money spent on ethanol so as to trigger more research into other plant based fuels that could actually be the answer.

I don't think this makes sense, I am just saying that is what others think.

Answer 12

It won't work as an alternative to coal or oil, no. Other biofuels such as those made from fermented algae or sugar cane have been suggested, but most people look to corn. This is problematic for a number of reasons:

1) Corn as a monoculture is an extremely harmful crop when planted continously and without fallow because it eliminates most of the diversity in the ecosysterm.

2) Most land suitable for growing crops is being used to grow crops for food production, and growing in land that is not suitable for crops can lead to problems such as erosion.

3) Corn has a relativaly low heat output when the energy input is considerd - as opposed to oil and coal which have hear heat outputs for lower energy input.

4) I have heard that biofuels create artificially high prices for corn, which makes them appealing to farmers. However, once all farmers see the appeal of growing corn, there is a surplus and prices for corn drop while other crops experience unusually high prices - it happened out this west year. So it is unlikely that everyone will continue to ride the corn for ethanol bandwagon, and yes, many environmentalists do recognize that this is not a realistically viable alternative.