Tech Stuff: Ethanol Promises. Farm-raising our own energy independence: Could it happen?

Car And Driver ^ | July 2006 | PATRICK BEDARD

[newgeezer]

Tech Stuff: Ethanol Promises	1   2   3   4   5   6   7
Farm-raising our own energy independence: Could it happen? BY PATRICK BEDARD July 2006

You will be hosing ethanol into your gas tank. You will. It’s the law.

The 551-page Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed last August, includes many sops to a blur of special interests, but one single provision rang the bell for automakers, greenies, and farmers, and for a broad coalition of ordinary motorists who were hoping for something, anything, to bring down gasoline prices; starting in 2006, the average gallon of “gas” will contain 2.78-percent ethanol.

Congress has made to the petroleum industry an offer it can’t refuse. It’s called a mandate.

And it’s a mandate that keeps on giving, at least to the farm states, as it ratchets up the ethanol quota, nearly doubling it over the next six years — from 4.0-billion gallons in 2006 to 7.5-billion in 2012.

The idea is simple: Use ethanol as the gasoline equivalent of Hamburger Helper. The nation will stretch more miles out of every barrel we import from, as the President says, “unstable parts of the world.” It’s hardly the “energy independence” we’ve been promised for 30 years, but it’s a baby step in that direction.

Or is it? We’ll measure ethanol’s benefits against the promises made for it down the page, but first, a few basics.

Unlike other alternative fuels, no vehicle modifications will be needed for the mandated ethanol content, which increases to about five percent by 2012. It should burn just fine in all the gasoline burners already on the road. Gasohol, a mixture of up to 10-percent ethanol with gasoline, has been in wide use in farm states for 30 years, and all new cars are engineered for this fuel.

Before we go further, one clarification: There’s no requirement for every gallon of gas to contain ethanol. Instead, an annual ethanol quota must be met. So gasohol and E85 (85-percent ethanol, 15-percent gasoline) will still be sold where there’s availability and demand, which reduces the amount of ethanol that must be mixed in elsewhere.

The intent here is to guarantee a market for ethanol. Now producers can invest in factories with confidence of a payback.

With a bare-faced mandate for ethanol in place, the previous sham, the oxygenate requirement, is hereby deleted. This was a scheme dating back to the carburetor era that mandated gasoline contain two-percent oxygen by weight, so as to trick the fuel system into serving up leaner mixtures. It applied in localities with air-quality problems according to the Environmental Protection Agency — parts of 14 states and the District of Columbia. MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) was the first choice of oxygenates, but since it contributed to ground-water contamination, ethanol became the fallback. However, feedback-fuel-metering systems, which self-adjust to operate at a fixed mixture regardless of fuel composition, became the norm roughly 20 years ago. As a result, the benefits of the oxygenate rule have decreased as newer vehicles’ fuel systems have replaced the older, more primitive ones. Today, as any engine engineer will testify, the rule has virtually no pollution benefit and has become nothing more than a backdoor mandate for the ethanol industry and corn farmers.

Now, with gasoline prices high and more people concerned about global warming, Congress has gotten brave enough to bring ethanol in the front door, in broad daylight, with mandates. Farm-raising our own energy independence is a seductive idea, better yet if it comes with a clean-burning fuel. But will it work? Let’s examine the various promises for ethanol one by one, to see if it can deliver.

Promises vs. Benefits Ethanol will reduce our dependence on fossil fuel. Ethanol will cut our dependence on foreign oil. Ethanol will protect us from gasprice shocks. Ethanol will clean up the air. Ethanol will save us from global warming.

Things to Consider About Ethanol What's ahead for Ethanol? What is Ethanol? Can We Get More? Ethanol Economics No Surprise: E85 Is a Bummer In Fuel Economy. Flex Fuel's Big Pay-off.

<< E85 and Fuel Economy		Ethanol and Dependence on Fossil Fuel >>
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[newgeezer]

Level-headed commentary from Car And Driver's Pat Bedard.

By the way, the mandate has caused the price of ethanol to go through the roof. Last year, it was about $1.50/gallon. This year, it's around $4.00.

Here in Iowa, thanks to favorable tax treatment for ethanol, E10 has been priced lower than straight gasoline for many years. But now, with the high price of ethanol, E10 is priced the same or higher. Therefore, I'm burning straight gasoline again.

[RightWhale]

We might be pumping ethanol, but gasoline is and will be cheaper for a long time to come.

[Red Badger]

Bio-diesel and SVO diesel will be the future.........

[Ben Mugged]

Have you taken a look at how much fresh water is consumed in the production of Ethanol?

[Abathar]

ere is a great Link to the UNH biodiesel site, using algae. This truly looks like the way to go if you want to make biodiesel.

[Iowa Granny]

We're seeing the same high prices for E-85 here in Southern Iowa, ng. The West Coast is buying up all the ethanol for blending in their markets, which causes intense competition for the product.

These price spikes are only temporary, as more and more plants will be going online within the next year.

I confess I didn't read the entire 7 pages of your initial post. So I don't know if the potential for facilies currently being built being obsolete before they become operational was discussed. This is my biggest concern.

A new generation of manufacturing is right around the corner, using celulose. What a pity to have invested all that money and have a plant be obsolete when it comes online.

[Abathar]

You can use the water to make biodiesel and solve a lot of other waste problems at the same time:

"Micro algaes present the best option for producing biodiesel in quantities sufficient to completely replace petroleum. While traditional crops have yields of around 50-150 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year, algaes can yield 5,000-20,000 gallons per acre per year. Algaes grow best off of waste streams . agricultural, animal, or human. Some other studies have looked into designing raceway algae ponds to be fed by agricultural or animal waste."

[thoughtomator]

Ultimately biofuels will come up short, for the simple reason that they can't be produced in the quantities needed to run an economy the size of the USA's.

[conservativecorner]

Look no further than Brazil for a great example of energy Independence.

[newgeezer]

Interesting graph from the article:

[Ben Mugged]

Ethanol Production May Put Pinch on Water Resources Monday, June 19, 2006

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — City officials in Champaign and Urbana took notice when they heard that an ethanol plant proposed nearby would use about 2 million gallons of water per day, most likely from the aquifer that also supplies both cities.

"There was concern about impacting a pretty valuable resource," said Matt Wempe, a city planner for Urbana. "It should raise red flags."

The proposal for a 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant is just one of many that have popped up in the past several months across Illinois, which already has seven operating plants and is the nation's No. 2 ethanol producer after Iowa.

High oil prices and support from Washington have inspired such interest in the corn-based gasoline additive that the Illinois Corn Growers Association now says at least 30 plants are in various stages of planning across the state.

All will use a lot of water.

It would take about 300 million gallons of water for processing the product and cooling equipment to make 100 million gallons of ethanol each year, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200158,00.html?sPage=business.foxnews/personalfinance/energy

[.cnI redruM]

It's a good backup. I think we should think of ethanol as that and have it ready to mass produce and mass market in case the Iranians or the Venezuelans do something totally crazy.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Look no further than Brazil for a great example of energy Independence.

If only we had land on the equator......and an economy 95% smaller, we could do the same.

[B Knotts]

See above regarding algae-produced biodiesel. It is possible, using algae, to replace all of our transportation fuel and then some. Whether it is feasible or economical is another question.

[Abathar]

Se the link on post #5, actually we can do it, with a cost far cheaper than people think.

[newgeezer]

Here is why E85 needs to be 30% cheaper than gasoline before I'll try it:

We did a comparison test of two fuels, regular gasoline (87 octane) and E85 (100 to 105 octane). Our test vehicle was a flex-fuel 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe 4WD LT powered by a 5.3-liter V-8 hooked to a four-speed automatic transmission.

...the fuel economy on E85 was diminished more than 30 percent in two of the three tests, about what we expected. The EPA’s numbers suggest that fuel economy worsens by 28 percent on E85 compared with regular gas.

[Abathar]

Thats ethanol, not biodiesel. There is a link of post #5 that can really change a lot of the ways people look at alternative fuels.

[massgopguy]

Look for Corn to go up to $3 a can. The EPA and DOE will then regulate corn. Mexicans will riot. "No Blood for Tortias!"

[soccer_maniac]

Great chart.

Renewable energy should be much higher. Windmills, solar, etc.

[Jeff Chandler]

Cellulosic ethanol is the future of ethanol.