Has the Ethanol Threat Manifested In the US? 432
Five years ago today, we mentioned here what was characterized as "The Great Ethanol Scam." According to the central story in that post, the ethanol in gasoline was (or would be) "destroying engines in large numbers," and the only real winners with a rise in the use of ethanol as a gasoline supplement would be auto mechanics. An increasing number of cars are officially cleared for use with E15 (15 percent ethanol), and a growing number of E85 vehicles are in the wild now, too, though apparently many of their owners don't realize that their cars can burn a mixture that's mostly ethanol. When I can, I fill my car with no-ethanol gas, but that's not very easy to find (farmer's co-ops are one handy source), so most of my driving over the past decade has been with E10 fuel. I seem to get better mileage with all-gas, but the circumstances haven't been controlled enough to make a good comparison. What has your experience been? Have you experienced ethanol-related car problems, or were the predictions overblown?
ok if your car is new (Score:5, Interesting)
Get 10% less fuel economy with E10... (Score:5, Interesting)
A brazilian point of view (Score:5, Interesting)
Brazil is considered one of the world leader in ethanol, the country with the most successful alternative fuel program, one of the cheaper (if not cheapest) ethanol technologies and, by using sugar cane, one of the most energy efficient. All cars here can easily handle up to E40, and most cars can handle any mix of gas and ethanol. Oh, and the flex fuel technology for any kind of mix? Mostly developed here also.
That all being said, I don't use pure ethanol. We are not able to find pure gas here, because of local laws (the government mandates the ethanol level), but I avoid it as much as I can. Even with everything we have in our favor here, it is still most expensive, and the overall car performance is not as good as with gas. For ethanol to be a cheaper option for the consumer, its price on the pump has to be no higher than 75% of gas.
There is, however, another side of the coin. Gas is a limited resource. We need to develop alternative fuel technologies, and right now ethanol is the best, if not only, viable option. The technology is getting cheaper everyday, and improving a lot. As someone who saw the so called birth of the car ethanol, in the 1980's, I can see how much that changed.
Last, but not least, gas with some ethanol in it does pollute less. I remember seeing some time ago some studies regarding E20(ish), and the number was impressive.
All told, it is an important technology, it is not a scam or a threat, but it is still improving. Luckly, we still have the luxury to choose, so we can say no. That won't last, tho.
meh (Score:4, Interesting)
It makes your seals ware out faster, but that's about it. Most people drive around with half their seals and gaskets shot, leaking oil and getting crap millage anyway. So it's not like they'd notice. People that have no clue how their car works have a bigger detrimental impact on the environment than any fault in the design of cars. I see Chevy volts all around me now, yet when I pull up to them at a red light I can hear the engine running. Meaning they've bought an electric car, aren't charging it and driving around on the generator probably burning more fuel than if they had just bought a gas car. You can't engineer the stupid out of people.
My parents took our Canadian car to Florida (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a distinct feeling that my parents car would not be the only Canadian car to spend time in the US.
Re:I dont know about cars... (Score:5, Interesting)
but with motorcycles, ethanol has continually given Carbs troubles by promoting gas that gets all sorts of bacteria growing in it within a week due to the ethanol being a great thriving place for it.
I hate ethanol and it ruins motorcycles really quickly :(
Have you tried a fuel drying agent? The bacteria is growing because the ethanol absorbs water and gives it a medium to grow. Straight petrol products do that too, at a lesser extent.
Re:ok if your car is new (Score:5, Interesting)
Ethanol cost me $2,000 in repairs to my motorcycle and a lot of hours of work on cleaning out carburetors from small engines.
Corn ethanol is an expensive way to turn good oil into bad gasoline. It was pushed as corporate welfare for ag stages. Everyone involved has always known that it was a big lie.
Re:ok if your car is new (Score:5, Interesting)
My post was a direct response to the motorcycle comment, not the overall issue. However, part of the reason that cars have gotten better in the past 20 years is because of government regulations requiring ethanol. The manufacturers adjusted their manufacturing to account for this reality.
As to the financial sense, it does make sense in the long term view. In the short term you're absolutely correct that, on the surface at least, it doesn't make any sense. Let me ask you this though: What happens when the oil does run out and these regulations weren't put in place? Car companies wouldn't have vehicles capable of handling the fuel properly, the amount of corn/etc needed for manufacturing bio-fuels would not be there, even if the materials were there the processing capacity & expertise would not exist. There are a lot of elements in the supply chain that exist for traditional oil that did not exist for bio-fuels. Some could be converted but that takes time - especially at the level required to meet market demands. It was never about the environment, it was a hedge against another energy crisis and/or collapse of the oil economy.