Is it worth the effort to make ethanol from corn to satisfy the energy need for fueling our vehicles?

Question

I keep seeing on the news this ethanol thing... What's it all about??? Would it be better to make bio-fuels, instead of ethanol?? With Ethanol, You STILL Need fossil fuels to make it. Apparently, You can't run pure EVER-Clear in Your engine, as it would burn way to HOT, therefore, only a percentage of the fuel can be alcohol based, the rest is.... Petroleum... We still need OIL to make ethanol, thusly, our dependence on it. Lets concentrate on getting away from Fossil-fuel-powered vehicles all together, and develop something much more efficient... and let's not search for that ONE answer, because that is a big mistake, as We are now seeing with the Price of oil, and oil isn't gonna last forever, either. So, one answer, isn't the whole answer, We need many answers to this one question, How are we to fuel/power transportation, and shipping in the future?

Answer 1

let's get serious and consider certain factors,  in the first place how many people actually eat corn as a staple of their diet?

the biggest percentage of corn production goes for animal food, it is used heavily in dog food and is not that good for the dogs, and in order to increase the protein content of the dog food, they add soy beans, the protein in soy bean is not beneficial because dogs do not assimilate the protein from soy beans.

Corn is also used for cattle feed to fatten the cattle, or ground with the stalk for dairy cattle.

The US government pays corn farmer a subsidy to not grow as much corn as they can in order to keep the price up, so we can produce a lot more corn than we are currently.

Ethanol is corrosive when used by it's self in Gasoline engines, and can void to warranty, from the car manufacturer for this purpose.

while biodiesel is actually better for a diesel engine that oil based diesel.

By using corn to produce biodiesel instead of ethanol, you can effectively keep the big trucks moving, and reduce the price of transporting our food supply.

As well as diesel power trains.

right now with the high price of fossil fuel, there are many people looking into alternatives for the transportation of people, and this is a good thing.

my personal preference would be an electric powered car with solar panel on my car port to charge it from.

Answer 2

Developing new fuels for the present and future are important however when a fuel source is also a food source we must be wise and regulate the amount of land used for food and for fuel. It will likely end up like this:

We will have several forms of energy to use and if we have machines(new engines) that are flexible. these alternative energies will all be useful and worth the development efforts and sacrifices made today.

Shipping and other large tankers and train and trucks will continue to use fossil fuels. Seeking out and buying locally is the immediate answer to climbing shipping costs.

Until we have nano-tech evolved we only have big, inefficient windmills. With tiny itsy-bitsy machines gathering various forms of energy is now in the near distant future. As is plastics that hold a charge(no wires) We are very clever humans who generally care about life.

Now today we have many industries who will stop at nothing to trap us into another single source of power they can control just like oil. It's best to focus on the new grass roots movements around, who all know industry and banking is crooked even evil in stature and desire to have a single one world government. The only way any change can happen now is if WE do it ourselves. There are kits available to convert most vehicles to other forms of energy and the same exists to take your home off line using solar etc.

A friend of mine is starting up a company in August serving this exact need. So accept my friend request and I'll keep you posted.

Answer 3

Ethanol is not a fix. Sure it lessens the need for as much oil but at what cost? Less and more expensive cost of corn used to feed cattle, chickens, humans, etc......

Other sources of energy are out there that don't hurt our food supply.

Answer 4

if it is better for our environment and earth then to me its all worth it. save the earth!

Answer 5

NO, The amount of crude oil used for fertilizers and pesticides, as well as transport aren't saving us anything.  Plus all the land required for grown corn could be better used for food or alterative like switchgrass, beets, or hemp.

I beleive in "free energy" technologies, many do not.  

Why not use magnets for energy.

Or expirement with some of the crazier sounding ideas.

I'd like to see some research papers disproving these ideas.

Answer 6

ethanol is moonshine, they add the gas so people wont drink it, natural gas is the answer

Answer 7

Hemp from Cannabis

Beets

It takes less of these to make more fuel per pound.

Answer 8

Switchgrass is a much better alternative. Brazil uses it exclusively

Answer 9

personally i think this whole ethanol thing is ridiculous. now they are using corn a way to produce ethanol and most of the corn produced in america now goes to ethanol prduction instead of feeding humans. granted not all of the corn is used for ethanol but alot of it. with this being done it starts a chain reaction of other issues like: what do u feed chickens? CORN since they cant eat as much corn anymore they have to use more $$$ to buy alternate food sources for chickens which in turn has made the price of chicken go up. the same thing for milk...which is why milk now cost $5 a gallon (or atleast where i live) i just think this whole ethanol thing is joke and we need to abandon it ASAP! there have to be other ways to fix this problem and we need to figure it out!

Answer 10

Using food for fuel isn't a good idea. What I use is natural gas (methane) to fuel my 2 cars. It's very cheap and very clean, and there's lots of it in the USA, so my money stays in our own economy. Wish there were lots more of these vehicles around, plus more places to fill them up. You can learn more from my sources listed below. Natural gas is the way to go! It's here and now.

Answer 11

Ethanol is a biofuel. Ethanol is alcohol and it is used in high concentrations either straight, or mixed with gas (E10, 10% ethanol, E85 85% ethanol) and burned in a Flex Fuel Vehicle, FFV. Actually, ethanol burns at a lower temperature than gas and it burns slower (evening out the revolutions and making the engine run smoother) and cleaner (up to 70% less tailpipe emmisions and less sludge). True, ethanol is corrosive, but most cars since the 80s have newer rubber and coated fuel systems so this is no problem. Ethanol DOES NOT void warrenties (especially in an FFV), in fact, some car makers like GM encourage using ethanol! We don't need oil or natural gas to make ethanol either, that is just the energy source we are currently using. In a few years, we could use green electricity from wind turbines and solar panels. As for the burning our fuel argument, in a few years, we will be able to make ethanol cheaply (cheaper than we currently are) from almost anything organic, preferably Switchgrass, Miscanthus, Poplar and recycled cellusolose material like waste wood. Don't knock ethanol in general for the failings of corn-ethanol. Most of the corn in America does not go to ethanol, it goes to animal feed. Even then, only 1% of ethanol is used as fuel, the rest is used as an industrial solvent.

I agree with you about the one fuel thing. I think we should end up using biofuels for your average citizen's car with some hybrids and electrics thrown in there for some people. Then we should use fuels like Hydrogen and CNG for motor-pools like public transportaion, civil and municipal services, taxis and fleets. Then use sources like nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal, methane (from garbage) wind and solar for our electricity.

Answer 12

farmers burn a lot of valuable diesel fuel, to make ethanol. It's  dubious if they produce more fuel than is consumed in the process. refiners are paid to add it to gasoline. ethanol has less energy than gasoline. It's like giving your bartender a big tip for watering down your rotgut whiskey, after burning good whiskey to distill the stuff.

     It's a political thing - envirofanatics and government to the rescue! Subsidies for all!

      No matter what kind of fuel is used, it's ridiculously wasteful for everyone to bring a ton of metal with them, at high speed, everywhere they go. Unless electricity becomes dirt cheap, only rich people will be able to afford electric or hydrogen cars - same as now