ethanol is and was and always will be a stupid idea
Not if you drink it!....................
If Iowa didn't have that stupid early Presidential caucus we wouldnt have to put up with this #$%&*!! For all his other shortcomings, at least McCain didn't kiss up to the corn farmers
It depends on what your goal is. If your goal is energy independence it is a stupid idea since it consumes more fossil fuel energy in manufacturing it than it yields, HOWEVER; if your goal is to reward big campaign contributors and buy votes in corn producing states with an ongoing flow of taxpayer dollars then it's a resounding success.
For so many reasons. You don't eat your feedstock.
No, ethanol is the least stupid option to fulfill a stupid mandate.
The stupid mandate is for an oxygenate in gasoline. Oxygenates make a difference in the CO emissions of only older gas engines with carbs and no feedback loop of O2 sensors in the exhaust system and a air mass sensor in the air intake.
The fuel system I’ve described above has been in most every car since 1986, as I recall, and in fuel injected, closed-loop systems, oxygenates (whether we’re talking about MTBE or ethanol) make no sense.
Still, the EPA persists in mandating them.
The smarter thing would be to remove the oxygenate mandate. Of the two more common oxygenates (MTBE and ethanol), I’ll take ethanol and keep our groundwaters uncontaminated.