Is Ethanol a true Substitute for Gasoline?

Question

If it is, why is our goverment subsidizing the cost with our tax money to make it more competitive to the price of gasoline? Are we really benefiting from using ethanol or is it only corporate America (like ADM) the that are "benefiting" from it? If ethanol wasn't subsidizies, how much would it cost per gallon? Is it worth it?

(I'm sorry I couldn't put this under more than one category.)

Answer 1

Fuel composed of 85% Ethanol and 15% traditional gas can be used as a substitute for traditional gas in many vehicles, but not the majority. But the reason the government is subsidizing E85(85% Ethanol gas) is because ethanol is renewable because it comes from corn, unlike regular gas. Large corn growers have been pushing for the use of E85 because it increases demand for their corn, pushing up the price.  It's hard to say how much E85 would cost without subsidies because of the huge government investment in corn and in E85, but it would probably be over $6 a gallon.

Answer 2

Ethanol is a substitute for gasoline.  It is an alternative fuel source.  Although it has lower energy value, it can be burnt in combustion engines with relatively few modifications.  As far as I know, the present cost to manufacture a gallon of ethanol is about $2.50.  Transporting ethanol is far more expensive than gasoline, since it can't currently be pipelined and has to be barged, railed or trucked.  These transportation methods are far more costly than piping it.  The incentives are keeping it in the gasoline price range.

Before you go trashing your engine, E85 is not an acceptable fuel for a conventional gasoline vehicle.  E85 vehicles have specially enginerred fuel delivery systems capable of handling either E85 or conventional gasoline.  Unless you convert your conventional engine to E85, you will not be able to use it as a fuel.

The subsidies are in place to encourage first movers within the market to make that first step, creating a sustainable economy for ethanol based fuels.  Once the market has some momentum, the incentives will be reduced and removed.  The incentives are the brainchild of the midwestern congressmen who saw their economically depressed states as having a new lease on life.  Right now, it's primarily corporate America that is benefiting, but that's to be expected.  They have to invest billions in plants to refine the ethanol and create distribution networks to get it to market.  

My opinion?  Ethanol is not a long term answer to our energy problems.  We're robbing food from our own mouths to feed the industry and the carbon footprint of corn based ethanol is about the same if not worse than petroleum fuels, due to the effort rewuired to grow, refine, store and transport the grain.

Answer 3

Ethanol is not a substitute for gasoline, it is an additive. Very few cars can run on it. Most cars can use a blend of 15 percent ethanol to 85 percent gasoline, but some can run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The tradeoff is that even though ethanol is cheaper at the pump, your mileage will drop, and it isn't even a viable alternative fuel because it takes a lot of energy to produce and also a lot of raw materials, one of which is corn, and to make a significant amount of ethanol would take way more corn production than we currently have. Picture a coast-to-coast cornfield and you will know how much corn it would take to produce enough ethanol to even come close to replacing gasoline.

Answer 4

it's less efficient than gasoline,(mpg) I wouldn't mess with it...

If you're planning on switching fuels, Biodeisel is the way to go... french fry cars are almost as efficient as standard deisel, and the conversion is nothing, just filter the grease from the veg oil...