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Ethanol and the drought this year
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<blockquote data-quote="brett636" data-source="post: 1011815" data-attributes="member: 249"><p>This whole ethanol scheme is one of those backroom agreement debacles that nobody seems to want to change. Atleast in Washington. Ethanol is produced by distilling the natural sugars in corn in a manner similar to the way alcohol is produced. The problem here is that there are much better crops to do this with than corn, but yet corn is the staple crop for ethanol production in this country. If I recall correctly it takes 1 gallon of oil to produce 1.2 gallons of ethanol with corn. In Brazil they use sugar cane which requires 1 gallon of oil for every 10 gallons of ethanol produced. Sugar beets are a crop that can be used to produce ethanol, and while I can't recall the exact number, we can get a lot more ethanol with sugar beets for every gallon of oil required than we can with corn, and unlike sugar cane we can grow sugar beets in this country. My main point here is that using corn for fuel production is stupid, especially when there are better crops to use in the production of ethanol.</p><p></p><p>Requiring ethanol to be mixed with gasoline is another ordeal altogether. We are told that it reduces greenhouse gases, but at what cost? Currently gasoline produces are required to mix 10% ethanol with their gasoline blends, but the issue here is that ethanol is corrosive to certain plastics and metals found in most vehicle fuel systems. Basically we are putting a chemical in our vehicle's fuel system that is damaging to that very fuel system. The effects are already apparent in small engines like lawn mowers, weed eaters, and the like. The older small engines are breaking down more often because the ethanol destroys the carburetor. Newer equipment is designed to work better with ethanol, but how much more greenhouse gases are being produced in order to make all this new equipment not to mention repairing the old equipment time and time again. </p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_-ufHVc_8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_-ufHVc_8</a></p><p></p><p>Ethanol is really a fuel additive that has very little benefit to the long term energy independence this country needs. We are using crops to produce it that we need for food, and the ethanol energy we get is nearly equivalent to the energy we have to put in to get it. The additive itself is corrosive to the vehicles we put it into, and all this nonsense is in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil(which is it not doing) and reducing green house gas emissions(which is very questionable). What is really at the heart of all this is government. It is government which has subsidized corn to use in ethanol production, and again it is the government which mandates that is be mixed in with our gasoline. I personally would like to see an end to all subsidies and mandates in regards to ethanol and let it either sink or swim on its own in the marketplace. Its the only way to ensure it is being produced using the most efficient sources to produce it from, and its the only way to be sure it is used in an appropriate way in the energy marketplace in ways it can benefit energy consumers instead of harming them. Until that happens expect food and fuel prices to continue to rise all the while the government can tell you that inflation is at an all time low because they do not count food and fuel prices in their inflation indexes. What a crock this whole situation is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="brett636, post: 1011815, member: 249"] This whole ethanol scheme is one of those backroom agreement debacles that nobody seems to want to change. Atleast in Washington. Ethanol is produced by distilling the natural sugars in corn in a manner similar to the way alcohol is produced. The problem here is that there are much better crops to do this with than corn, but yet corn is the staple crop for ethanol production in this country. If I recall correctly it takes 1 gallon of oil to produce 1.2 gallons of ethanol with corn. In Brazil they use sugar cane which requires 1 gallon of oil for every 10 gallons of ethanol produced. Sugar beets are a crop that can be used to produce ethanol, and while I can't recall the exact number, we can get a lot more ethanol with sugar beets for every gallon of oil required than we can with corn, and unlike sugar cane we can grow sugar beets in this country. My main point here is that using corn for fuel production is stupid, especially when there are better crops to use in the production of ethanol. Requiring ethanol to be mixed with gasoline is another ordeal altogether. We are told that it reduces greenhouse gases, but at what cost? Currently gasoline produces are required to mix 10% ethanol with their gasoline blends, but the issue here is that ethanol is corrosive to certain plastics and metals found in most vehicle fuel systems. Basically we are putting a chemical in our vehicle's fuel system that is damaging to that very fuel system. The effects are already apparent in small engines like lawn mowers, weed eaters, and the like. The older small engines are breaking down more often because the ethanol destroys the carburetor. Newer equipment is designed to work better with ethanol, but how much more greenhouse gases are being produced in order to make all this new equipment not to mention repairing the old equipment time and time again. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO_-ufHVc_8[/url] Ethanol is really a fuel additive that has very little benefit to the long term energy independence this country needs. We are using crops to produce it that we need for food, and the ethanol energy we get is nearly equivalent to the energy we have to put in to get it. The additive itself is corrosive to the vehicles we put it into, and all this nonsense is in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil(which is it not doing) and reducing green house gas emissions(which is very questionable). What is really at the heart of all this is government. It is government which has subsidized corn to use in ethanol production, and again it is the government which mandates that is be mixed in with our gasoline. I personally would like to see an end to all subsidies and mandates in regards to ethanol and let it either sink or swim on its own in the marketplace. Its the only way to ensure it is being produced using the most efficient sources to produce it from, and its the only way to be sure it is used in an appropriate way in the energy marketplace in ways it can benefit energy consumers instead of harming them. Until that happens expect food and fuel prices to continue to rise all the while the government can tell you that inflation is at an all time low because they do not count food and fuel prices in their inflation indexes. What a crock this whole situation is. [/QUOTE]
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