Ethanol / E85, Dosen't seem to be a good thing, after all Options

[saleeka]

Our local news station did a 2 part report on E85 this week, and I was pretty supprised to find out some of the things that they informed us about. After seeing both segments, I certainly don't see ethanol as a solution for the time being whatsoever. It's less efficient, and because of that, it isn't any cleaner or cheaper, among other problems. For any of those interested, the below links are a good read


Part 1- Ethanol: fuel of the future?

Part 2- Our E85 road test

[GeEkBoY]

OK 3 things:

Corn is not a good source of ethanol. That is not to say ethanol is bad. In Canada, Iogen has been working on cellulose based ethanol for more than a decade, have had a pilot plant running for years and has been refining the technology for commercialization. Cellulose based ethanol uses biomass waste to produce fuel - hay, grass, corn cobs, oat husks among other things. It is a viable technology and can be used at existing corn-based production facilities with some upgrades and uses non-food sources to produce fuel.

http://www.iogen.ca/

2nd:

Anyone who does a 'one tank comparison' on fuel efficiency can not be trusted, I have been through government monitored fuel economy testing and this type of comparison is biased and useless.

The energy density of E85 on a volume basis is 71% of that of gasoline. While a 29% drop in fuel economy would be typical, ethanol burns more efficiently and has a much higher octane rating than gasoline. E85 has an octane rating of about 105 and when calculating the mileage penalty you need to factor this in. For people who drive high performance cars, the cost of more fuel is offset by the lower cost when compared to buying 94 octane fuel, and you can turn up the boost further if you are driving a turbo car that can handle the power. I was involved in an engineering competition in which we converted a 97 chev malibu to run on E85 and we saw less than a drop of 29% in fuel economy with an increase in power. On turbocharged cars, the penalty is even less.

3rd:

And most important. Cellulose ethanol has a much smaller carbon footprint than that of traditional gasoline and much less than that from fuel obtained the Oil sands in Alberta - where much of North America's fuel will be coming from in the next decades.

If you are interested in understanding how carbon emissions impact us, an excellent book is 'The Weather Makers' by Tim Fannery. I saw him speak at a luncheon and was very impresed.