Monday, January 10, 2011

Weird, something else is wrong with Ethanol


I've said in the past how stupid I think corn-based Ethanol actually is. How a good amount of traditionally derived fuel is required to get a gallon of Ethanol on the market. How subsidizing something that was used for food for hundreds of years (yes hundreds, corn does not exist in nature) is now driving up food prices in developing nations because we're desperately trying to dilute gasoline with corn juice to make E85. How there is evidence that this increase on the price of raw corn has measurably effected the percentage of cleft palates in babies from low-income Latin American countries (which typically had a noticeably lower rate of that condition to comparable societies that didn't have a traditional diet involving corn-based tortillas ground with lime (the stone not the fruit) increasing their calcium intake prenatally. How forcing this fuel on the American public, which still relies on a very large percentage of older vehicles that aren't compatible with newer fuels (they eat through all the seals essentially destroying the fuel system without major modifications), is going to pass increased maintenance and repair costs onto citizens with otherwise functioning vehicles. Lastly, Ethanol gets measurably WORSE fuel economy than the comparable amount of gasoline, yes the emissions are better, but that's also the argument as to why diesel-cycle vehicles are more efficient. If something gets 20% more emissions, but consumes 35% less fuel (made up figures to make my point), ummm I'm not a mathematician but I'm pretty sure that's a net gain. Am I saying gasoline is the answer? Not at all, but a combination of diesel-cycle (fueled by bio sources) and natural gas fueled engines (using butane/LPG/CNG/Hydrogen/Etc) might be...

Anyway, here's the link as to why E85 made from corn continues to be stupid and a bigger waste than its political agenda admits -> http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/01/study-renewable-fuel-mandate-cant-be-met-with-ethanol/

No comments:

Post a Comment