Here is an anti-ethanol Sacramento Bee article from the enviro-weenie perspective.
It's not too bad. I am against the idea of the CRP program and payments from the government for fallow ground. We had very little tillable crop land on rough ground with thin soil. We grew hay and grazed beef and dairy, and raised a few hogs. It was commonsense. A government program was not necessary.
I am opposed to ethanol in fuel, in general. Despite the claims of many, ethanol is potentially damaging to engines, especially smaller engines. For my bikes, gasoline mowers, trimmer, and tiller, I buy premium with no ethanol which is available only at one station in the immediate vicinity. There are others at varying distances of fifteen to thirty miles. I am fortunate in the we have a drag strip nearby, and this station caters to the specialized fuel needs of the gearheads.
I am no expert, but I have talked to the mechanics who actually work on these engines. Every one of them hates ethanol in fuel.
Ethanol from corn is merely the stupidest of all stupid renewable "fuels". There is little if any net energy gain from corn ethanol because corn is so petroleum-intensive to produce. I suppose the leftover mash can still be used as a protein supplement in livestock feed. Producing ethanol is also a water-intensive process, and the waste water is considered a pollutant. At least that is what I heard when an ethanol plant was being talked about locally a few years back. There was a good chance that some of the shallower farm wells in the vicinity would have been ruined by the deep wells needed by the plant. Not all of the ground on this part of the old plateau has good hardpan so you could easily get ground water contamination down to the shale layer. Some older wells may not be cased through the shale, and just one such could allow the aquifer to be contaminated.
In other words, for once, for whatever reason, I agree with the enviro-weenies. It's time to end the ethanol mandate.
What a great, horrible example of the unfree market mucking up...EVERYTHING.
ReplyDeleteI hate ethanol in gas. It has ruined the fuel lines in my chainsaw and weed trimmer. The lines turned all gummy and closed up like an aged artery.
Wife and I were just talking about the net energy in ethanol the other day. Was going to look it up. [clickety click] Lots of figures in this article I like 1.24 to 1. Not very impressive compared with US oil at 11:1 based on a 2011 article I found in, I assume, an oil unfriendly journal called Sustainability
I've seen the 1.24 number. I think that's optimistic.
ReplyDeleteThe Sustainability article is interesting. We should start looking at thorium as an energy source while we have time.
The other thing some don't seem to realize is how much less dense ethanol is. My F-150 is supposed to be able to handle E-85. I've been tempted to try a tank just to see how much worse my mileage is. My current average shows as a nice even 17.0 mpg. I'll bet I would watch it slide down if I filled an empty tank with E-85.
Here's a Wikipedia conversion chart. A 29% drop.