What is the real truth concerning ethanol as a motor fuel?

Question

!. it cost more to produce than the energy it gives back

2. it was pushed by the democrats to buy farm votes.

3. it can not be used in engines more than 3 years old.

4. it caused food products to increase in price drastically.

you tell me, is that a good deal or not.

Answer 1

1.  Currently, yes.

2.  That is up for debate.  There are political forces behind it for sure.

3. That is not true.  Alcohol burning engines tend to age quite well, as long as they were designed for the purpose.

4. Well that's a supply-and-demand matter.  A lot of food is being diverted to ethanol manufacture now.

Answer 2

According to world news tonight it is already creating hunger in parts of the world that surly needed a break from starvation.It most certainly has made food prices rise and that will only get worse.You get less miles to the gallon but it takes more energy to produce and it too will not be cheap or an effective energy alternative.

Answer 3

1. It takes huge amounts of energy to pump, refine, distill, transport, and fight over- oil.

2. It was / is pushed by both democrats and republicans - did you ever listen to president Bush's State of the Union address?

3. It is corrosive to stainless steel and rubber, therefore the proper retrofits are needed to convert NEW vehicles - which will run on the fuel as long as any other.

4. It caused food products to go up in price as CORN was the substrate used for the fermentation process.  You fail to recognize that cellulosic ethanol has huge potential as a fuel producing crop - which yeilds much more fuel than corn, even though the technology isn't perfected.  Corn based ethanol is a stepping stone in developing an infrastructure that is geared toward the ethanol system.

Yes it CAN be a good deal.  Corn based ethanol is not a great solution, however the potential for cellulosic ethanol are great.

Oil supplies are decreasing, as the price of a gallon of gas goes up, these new emerging technologies will continue to become more economically and technologically viable.  

That's my $0.02

Answer 4

Brazil has it right, they make fuel out of sugar.  It requires a lot less land than corn, it doesnt raise food prices.  There's a great article in the current Time magazine about it.

Answer 5

it can't be used in any engine thats 3 years old  or less, the ones that do use e85 have to be able to safely circulate the ethanol which is conductive to electricity ( although i just read that on wikipedia, son i don't know how accurate it is). It is  a home grown solution to oil independence, but if what you say about the energy to make it is true...

i'm for batteries/fuel cells/H combustion  and solar/wind/hydro/bio(algae, and the like)

Answer 6

1. Possibly true. Estimates that corn ethanol requires 8 - 12 units of input for 10 units output. Other ethanol sources are not developed sufficiently to make a good estimate.

Ethanol is whiskey. How much is being illegally diverted into human consumption.

2. It is pushed by politicians, republicans and democrats, as a pretended  solution to the oil crisis. It is not.

3. Pure ethanol cannot be used in any automotive engine in production today. Mixtures or 10-25% ethanol can be used in most modern engines; less than 10% can be used in all engines.

4. The near doubling of food prices is the past 2 years can be attributed equally to ethanol production and to oil prices. More important is the net reduction in food production due entirely to ethanol production. This means that there is not sufficient food to feed the world population and the poorest will starve.

Biofuel = Genocide

Answer 7

1. Do you even know how they make it into ethanol?

    It doesn't take much energy to make ethanol.

    Add some heat up to 160 F and and enzymes to convert

    the starch to sugar.  

    Then yeast does all the work.

    Then they use steam to quick strip out the ethanol.

    On a large scale this does not use much energy.

2.  Republicans kiss as much butt as the Dem's.  

     Don't be a Coke or Pepsi type person.  Both sides are

    evil.

3.  You are changing the point from 10% ethanol gas mix

     which most cars can use to E85.

    

4.  This is true and is your only valid point.

     Your not going to reduce the need for ethanol until the

     need for oil is reduced.  The more oil prices  go down the

     less attractive ethanol looks.  Start researching Battery

     Cars and plug in hybrids it's the fastest and cheapest way

     to lower the need for oil.

Answer 8

It sucks as a motor fuel and its production depletes ground water and drives up food prices.

Answer 9

Ethanol is a political solution to a political problem. It is meant to feel good and might not make economic sense in the long run. On the other hand, they are looking at other ways to produce ethanal that do not use corn. Food prices have not doubled. Both the Dems and GOP have promoted it.