Posted on 04/17/2010 6:51:56 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Nation wising up on corn ethanol
Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:28 AM CDT
Corn-based ethanol is losing some of its luster, and that is a good thing for the average American, if not the corn grower.
For the past 30 years, ethanol has had powerful advocates in the nation’s capital, including senators and congressmen from corn-producing states from both political parties. The fact that the Iowa presidential primary comes so early hasn’t hurt the corn growers either.
But billions of dollars in tax credits for ethanol companies expire at the end of this year, and a fight appears to be brewing over whether they’ll be renewed.
Some credits probably will be renewed, but the Associated Press reports there’s evidence that Congress is weary of giving money to an industry that critics say should be able to stand on its own after getting its start in the early 1980s.
The corn-based ethanol industry still has its powerful advocates, but there also is now an organized campaign by anti-ethanol advocates to discredit the industry.
A growing patchwork of food companies, livestock producers, environmental groups and oil companies have spent millions of dollars in the last few years framing ethanol’s success as “food vs. fuel.” They argue that the increase in production of corn and its diversion for ethanol is making animal feed more expensive, raising prices at the grocery store and tearing up the land.
There are other reasons to be opposed to corn-based ethanol as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at gwcommonwealth.com ...
P!
On the bright side, we can drink from fuel tank of a car if our food runs out. Saves the trouble of grocery shopping.:-)
As far as I am concerned mandatory ethanol blends are nothing more than hidden taxes. Ethanol decreases fuel economy, you buy more fuel, the government gets more tax revenue on all levels. It’s a no brainer for them to spin the environmental benefits when all it really is is a tax increase.
Alcohol has only two thirds the BTUs of gasoline. Therefore whatever is added to gas lowers your mileage and raises the price.
I think you have put your finger on one of ethanol’s selling points!
Great oil company sponsored propaganda this morning
There were a few guys running alcohol cars at the local drag strip back in the days when I cared about all things automotive, and it took a while for me to realize that there was such a disparity in BTUs. The alky burners compensated by dumping a lot more fuel down the injectors and generally doing things a bit different than the rest of us.
(I believe the air-to-fuel ratio was something like 6:1 compared to around 13:1 for an equivalent engine using the high-octane (leaded) gasoline of the day. Why I recall that, I don't know... but all things even out, because I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.)
Mr. niteowl77
Posts 5&6 have correct information on ethanol. Making it is more costly than what it can be sold as fuel, so government subsidies (your tax money) keep the plants in business. Corn prices can be kept up in other, less costly ways.
El Correct”o! It takes a energy ratio of about 1.5 hydrocarbon units to produce 1.0 ethanol units. And, to further reduce ethanol's efficiency, it gets about 2/3 the mileage as gasoline. Further more, our government (code, our tax dollars) subsidize ethanol to the tune 50 cents per gallon at the pump. Further, further, our government subsidizes auto companies to the tune of $1,000 per vehicle built with flex-fuel capability. Then (I'm getting tired) there's the huge amount of water required to produce ethanol, which is pumping down the ogallala aquifer to grow/produce a non-value added product. Then, this contaminated waste water is released into our river system, eventually finding it's way to the Gulf of Mexico creating dead zones, killing fish and other water life (where's an environmentalist when you really need one?) Lastly, this whole ethanol experiment is a prime example of what goes wrong when the government get’s involved in creating false economics. The ethanol program will never be eliminated because neither political party wants to risk losing the votes of the grain growing states. And so it goes....
Alcohol has only two thirds the BTUs of gasoline. Therefore whatever is added to gas lowers your mileage and raises the price.Alcohol is also a very poor substitute for pertoleum based aviation fuel.
And by building more nuclear power plants, we can escape the food vs fuel tradeoff.
bump
I need my roads fixed so why are they ignoring my roads and making them worse so city people can ride in a fancy train at my expense?
Because imported gas is too expensive and city people have more votes than you do.
Ethanol is best used for drinking, not as a motor fuel
Everything our government does these days is a tax increase. Working, taxpaying citizens be damned
It takes more energy to create ethanol than the energy we get out of it. Only the typical liberal who can’t do math ( remember liberals “feel” they don’t “think”) could come up with a scam like ethanol.
We do not need to be importing gas because we have more resources than Saudi Arabia. Our Government must be a greedy as the Saudies.
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