Domestic Fuel

Let me get this straight: our AGRICULTURE secretary is weighing in on ENERGY policy, and wants farmers to quit growing FOOD and supply the ethanol producers instead?

So, what do we EAT while we are driving our ethanol-fueled vehicles???

[...] Domestic Fuel]Photo by dichohecho. Licensed under Creative Commons license [...]

[...] debate this issue. Remember, Chu has said that “corn is not the right crop for biofuels.” [Source: Domestic Fuel]Photo by dichohecho. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.Secretary of Agriculture Tom [...]

You didn’t answer my question. What can I expect to happen to my fuel mileage burning E15 or E20?

A small start-up plant in my town makes hydrocoptic marzelvanes for retro-encabulators. It would certainly be a boon to our local economy if Congress would mandate everyone buy those.

[...] debate this issue. Remember, Chu has said that “corn is not the right crop for biofuels.” [Source: Domestic Fuel]Photo by dichohecho. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.Filed under: Ethanol, Legislation [...]

According to people I know that burn E85, there is about a 10 percent drop in mileage from regular unleaded to the E85 blend. Theoretically you should see little or no change in mileage from E10 to E20, unless your vehicle is not designed to operate on high octane fuel. Ethanol is a higher octane fuel than regular unleaded. Therefore it requires a higher compression ratio in the engine to fully utilize the energy in the fuel. Ethanol does contain less energy per gallon than some blends of unleaded. I usually get about .5 to 1 mpg better with my Silverado when I burn E10 compared to regular unleaded. It has a 9.5:1 ratio. It all depends on what compression ratio your engine in your car has. Cellulosic ethanol does show a lot of promise, but the technology is just not ready yet. Give the industry 5 years and we wont be using as much corn for ethanol, but we will be taking acres away from corn to produce the some of the biomass for ethanol. Some of the biomass that will be used will be the stalks, cobs, etc. from production of corn or other grain, but for every ton of biomass removed from a field, the nutrients tied up in that material needs to be replaced to be able to continually produce a crop. There is no perfect answer.

Oh, the economics to country appear to be a big winner. Job creation and revenue injection to economy. Farmers have another revenue stream a big plus. Ethanol production very good at keeping fuel prices depressed. Price of fuel the biggest impact on food production, transporting, and processing expenses. Cost of energy dwarfs the cost of grain upon food production. We have huge capability to produce corn, just market demand shouldn’t out strip supply. We need accurate future market projections, so the farmers can develop good plans and investments. Higher cost of corn not so bad if your a farmer. Also, farmers not taking near as much gov’t tax supports, another savings. May higher grain prices help international farmers. You bet, even the 3rd world farmers are planting more to profit and developing a viable farm to feed their own citizenship not so bad either.

Engine manufactures are working on ethanol efficiences as D Benes mentioned, above. Diesel compression ratios, spark plug ignition, and common port injection of fuel. Turbo charging a better efficiency if cost not sensitive. The technology and efficiency bump will improve past current unleaded engine mpg. Also, appears truck or heavy equipment could benefit with the new engine as lower in cost and similar high torque. These engines as compared to diesel would get less mpg as very hard to compete with diesel, but ethanol fuel could be an attractive alternative and stabilize their fuel costs. Not so vulnerable to OPEC ripoffs, that have ability to make companies go bankrupt. As I understand these new engines will be flex fuel, so diesel if cheaper can be utilized. Even unleaded, wow.