I heard that sugar cane or corn ethanol is actually a poor replacement for gasoline, is that true..and why?

Question

I heard that sugar cane or corn ethanol is actually a poor replacement for gasoline, is that true..and why?

Answer 1

Alcohol tends to atract water... only drawback as a fuel

Answer 2

The process it takes to create gasoline from these uses more/same amount of energy as traditional petroleum.  We need to focus on renewable sources, such as wind, water and solar energy.

Answer 3

Yes. Because cars today are made to run on gasoline, diesel, or an ethanol-gas mix.

Answer 4

yes. Some people think tha it is a great replacement, but really it is't. The land burned to grow the crop and you burning it produces more co2. So really, that's the only bad renewable resource.

Answer 5

yes that is true because it is not as pure as gasoline.

Answer 6

Yes, there are few reasons.

1.  Those corn and sugar cane based ethanol take about 1 gallon of fossil fuel to generate 1.1-1.4 gallon of ethanol due to fertilizers, transportation and refinery.  So, the net gain is not high.

2.  People usually use the current farm lands where food was growing to grow those ethanol corn or sugar cane.  That reduces food production and drives up food price.

3.  People are destroying Rain Forest in countries like Brazil and Malaysia to clear up more lands to grow Sugar Cane and Palm so they can be used for ethanol production. In result, those deforestation causes more CO2 production.  Not to mention the lands that got destroyed in the process for wild life habitats.

Answer 7

Very true!  We are already experiencing a global food shortage (have you noticed prices in the supermarkets going up?) and there is enough hunger in the world-- the last thing we need to do is use a food source on a replacement for gasoline.  Plus, if we made the switch to corn ethanol, it would mean field and fields and fields of corn.  This creates a monoculture of just one organism, completely destroying the natural ecosystem that once was there, which could have a number of harmful effects.  Corn ethanol is RENEWABLE but not SUSTAINABLE, which is what we really need!

Answer 8

Because too much hype is being put on ethanol capabilities and more promising technologies like TCP that can turn most agricultural waste into oil are being ignored. Our government is focused on the hype and not the reality.

There are 6 billion tons of waste in the US that could be turned into 3 billion barrels of oil, but instead are spread back on fields because that is all there is to do with it.

Answer 9

It does not produce the same amount of energy as gasoline.