Is ethanol the real deal?

Question

Will ethanol really be an alternative to gasoline? If the US does create vast amounts of ethanol, how will we transport it? We can't use pipes like gasoline because it's corrosive right? Do you guys have anyother thoughts about ethanol?

Answer 1

its a feel-good fad. sure its renewable, but production capacity is the problem. if every ear of corn was turned to ethanol experts think it would only provide the country with 10-20% of its energy needs, and that is leaving none for food. at this point were going to be screwed once the oil well dry up in 50-100 years unless we really develop some good new energy sources. we need to use less energy rather than producing more, which means driving smaller more efficient cars. but americans like to say they want to do stuff, but as soon as you have to give up your pickup or SUV then everyone starts whining.

Answer 2

The ONLY thing good about it is it can replace some foreign oil. Everything else is negative. Raises food prices and uses up food supplies. Takes a lot of energy to make. Isn't as efficient as gas.

Answer 3

No ethanol is a nice stepping stone to other technologies. Right now hundreds of companies are developing other gasoline like fuels to replace ethanol in the future.

Bio-Butanol for instance is a good example. Butanol is also an alcohol but with none of ethanols disadvantages. It is not corrosive, more energy comes from each bushel of corn, and cars will run the fuel without alterations. In the next handful of years the first major plant will be opened. After that I expect to see some conversions of ethanol plants to butanol as the process isn't terribly different.

Answer 4

No I think ethanol is just a stop gap action for people to make existing cars "green" (whatever that means).  The real deal will be major improvements in lithium ion batteries that can make the 100% electric "plug in car" a reality.

Answer 5

my confusion is it was avaiable in 1979 and then gone for many years. real confusion.

Answer 6

No, bicycles are.

Answer 7

Ethanol is c**p. The e85 is not much cheaper and the mileage is horrible. Hpoefully the fuel cell, electric, or air powered cars get practical some day.

Answer 8

Like the others it's a nice pipe dream until the reality of production set's in. I'm hearing news blurbs about how production of ethanol is or will be an environmental disaster itself. Bio Diesel might be a more realistic approach but I havnt done much homework there.

Answer 9

guess it depends...  if by real deal do you mean that its gonna make someone a ton of money.. then yah... its the real deal.  If you mean is it the cure to gasoline.. NOPE.  

I want you to look at something... have you noticed the price of milk lately? in the last 6 months its gone up about 40% why? Cause dairy farmers cant afford Feed Corn.  Why? cause its all being sold to Ethanol plants. Why? for the money.  Its worse than that.  Every animal we use as food... beef, pork, poultry... etc eat Feed Corn. And the price per ton has more than DOUBLED over the last year.  But thats not all... Look in your local grocery store... it used to be that you could by a can of Corn for about 40cents... its now over a dollar.  So this ethanol thing worth it to you?  We are taking our food and turning it into fuel!!!  Now, heres where it gets hairy....

Ethanol takes more FOSSIL FUELS to produce than it gives back.  Cause your right, it CANT be piped around.  It has to be Trucked from the farms to the Ethanol plants. to the Oil refineries to be mixed with gasoline.  As a fuel, it gives you LESS horsepower/ MPG than regular gas as well.. so not only are you paying MORE for it, but its worthless as a fuel cause your not getting as much bang for your buck.  And lately, enviornmentalists are realizing that ethanol creates WORSE polution than gasoline....  

To summerize,  Because of ethanol, were starving ourselves, and getting nowhere, and poluting more than without it. So... no. its NOT the real deal.

Answer 10

I really don't think that E85 Ethanol is the "real deal." It is not much differently priced than regular gasoline, and it is hard to find (at least in my town). Also, because of the recent "popular burst" of E85 Ethanol, the price of things contained wheat/corn are going up in price (like beer). So either way we get screwed. E85, in my opinion is just something invented to keep "the public" off of gasoline concerns, and it's a bunch of c**p.

Answer 11

Ethanol is the real deal.  It is clean, renewable, and made in America.  Gasoline is none of those things.  Foreign oil comprises 50% of the U.S. trade deficit.  I'd rather support an American corn farmer than a Saudi oil sheik.  And the previous posts above are wrong.  The lastest study by the Dept. of Energy shows that ethanol yields 77% more energy than it takes to produce.  The net energy yield will be even higher once we begin using wind energy to perform the fermentation process.  And as for ethanol raising the price of food that is a pathetic argument against it.  Ethanol raises the price of food, yes.  And gasoline raises the price of everything.  Rising oil prices are BY FAR the number one cause of inflation and make the price of all goods and services go up due to higher transportation costs.  Nothing raises the price of things we buy more than oil.  The only thing about common sense is that it's not very common.

Answer 12

Have you guys not seen the State of The Union Address?

George Bush raised the target for alternative fuels 5 times to 35 billion gallons! Doing so will cut our Mid-Eastern oil consumption by 75%!

Just wanted to throw that little tidbit in.

By the way, I'm 13

Plus, ethanol emits ozone which is a POISON!!!

Plus, ethanol does have a positive energy balance and it would take up a $#/+ load of corn to give us noticeable amounts of ethanol. We need to make it from sugar cane or yard waste. Brazil makes their fuel from sugar cane for 10 cents a gallon!!!!

Answer 13

no. engines today can't run on pure ethanol, and its not like we have the land to produce enough corn or whatever else they come up with to sustain the entire country on ethanol.

also, the process that turns plant into ethanol actually uses MORE carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels. Not that burning fossil fuels is a good idea. It's a very BAD idea. So although Ethanol is a small step in the right direction (i.e. away from oil and fossil fuels) its still not quite a giant leap.

Answer 14

Another negative is the energy created. The energy to produce ethanol (ship seeds, plant, tend, spray, weed, harvest, shuck, transport, store, transport, convert to ethanol, etc) is very close to the energy in ethanol. In other words, if we used only ethanol to produce ethanol, there would be very little ethanol left to sell.