We have a choice.

Run time: 02:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9___ZyBkmQ   Posted on YouTube: May 29, 2010 By YouTube Member: av8tor17b Views on YouTube: 5   Posted on DU: May 29, 2010 By DU Member: James48 Views on DU: 717

 
While millions of gallons of oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, we have a choice in what fuels our cars. There is a better way.

Ethanol, specifically E85, can do exactly what gasoline does for our cars. Yet it's much cleaner, and doesn't pollute the way oil does.

It's time to break our addiction to oil. Ethanol comes mainly from corn today. New technologies are now reaching commercial development that gives us ethanol from wood chips, from switch grass, and from sugar cane and sugar beets too. Even municipal waste can make ethanol. In the last ten years, our corn ethanol plants have become more efficient by an order of magnitude. It now take 1/2 the energy to make E85 than it did just ten years ago.

Now is the time to switch to E85 fuel.

You can find E85 station locations- at the website http://e85prices.com Use it. Tell your friends to switch.

Tell Congress you want an "open fuel standard" passed to require ALL cars to be capable of using E85. It costs just $100 per car, but will allow ALL cars to use either fuel in the future.

The naysayers tell people we can't break our addiction to oil.

I say YES, WE CAN.

Ethanol. The cost and amount of oil used to produce it. Think of all the diesel/gas guzzling machines used to raise and harvest the corn, or any of the other materials named. Don't get me wrong, I do use ethanol mainly because it's priced cheaper. I don't know for sure what the answer is. Does that 1/2 the energy count this in?

Not knocking your post, just thinking about if this really saves that much oil. We certainly have to do something and I guess we will have to wait and see what comes up. Problem with coming up with a completely new type of car is that a lot, if not most, will not be able to afford them. I know I couldn't buy a new car now or probably ever.

Yes- even with the fuel used for production, it's still much better than oil. Some farmers have now begun to use biodiesel for farm equipment too.

Here's a clip about how the process of making ethanol is improving:


Report: Dry Mill Ethanol Production Shows Significant Improvements in Efficiencies

(May 28, 2010) Washington – Newly published research in the scientific journal Biotechnology Letters shows tremendous gains in production efficiencies by America’s dry mill ethanol biorefineries. Dry mill facilities represent nearly 90 percent of America’s total ethanol production, estimated to be in excess of 12 billion gallons in 2010.

The research, conducted by Dr. Steffen Mueller at the University of Illinois at Chicago, compared the dry mill production efficiencies in 2008 to those in 2001. The research included responses from approximately 66% of the nation’s installed dry mill ethanol production capacity. Key findings of the research include:

• Thermal energy use was less than 26,000 BTU/gallon on average, a reduction of 28 percent compared to 2001 data
• Electricity use was reduced by 32 percent compared to 2001 data
• Ethanol yields per bushel processed improved 5.3 percent since 2001
• Total water use was 2.72 gallons per gallon of ethanol produced, down significantly from previous estimates

“America’s ethanol industry is in a constant state of evolution,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “Existing grain ethanol producers are continuously investing in the latest technologies, retrofitting older facilities and incorporating these technologies in new construction. As a result, the industry is perpetually improving its efficiency and enhancing the environmental benefits it already offers.”

Dinneen continued, “Such demonstrated innovation flies in the face of environmental activists claims that American ethanol producers are simply operating under the status quo. Ethanol production is constantly improving its efficiency, while oil production is going the opposite direction. Drilling in deep waters and mining tar sands require a great deal of energy and cause untold environmental damage.”

By capturing such a large cross-section of the industry, this survey and research are the most comprehensive to date on U.S. ethanol industry efficiencies. This data is important to ongoing efforts to determine the carbon footprint of ethanol as it relates to federal carbon legislation and state efforts on low carbon fuels standards. The report is also an important landmark in larger discussions about the overall environmental and economic sustainability of ethanol.

In particular, this research dovetails with a recent report from Purdue University on corn ethanol’s possible land use impacts. The new Purdue research shows potential land use change impacts being half of what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) concluded. These two studies provide the kind of data and analysis needed to make more informed calculations and judgments. They further prove that when the most current data and assumptions are used, there is no doubt that modern ethanol provides significant greenhouse benefits compared to gasoline.

“Taken together, these landmark studies of American ethanol production should re-inform and redirect the current debate about ethanol’s carbon footprint,” said Dinneen. “As more scientists look into the issue, they are finding that ethanol is an increasingly cleaner and greener alternative to oil. I encourage EPA, CARB, and any other entity seeking to evaluate ethanol’s environmental profile to review these studies thoroughly.”

Dr. Mueller’s work also uncovered some additional data points useful to informed debate about ethanol production. Among these points are:

• Approximately 30 percent of all respondents produce corn oil in addition to livestock feed, known colloquially as distillers grains (in both dry and wet form).
• The average corn draw circle for respondents was 47.1 miles, demonstrating that a large portion of all corn used in ethanol production is sourced locally.
• Ethanol distribution from the facilities responding breaks down as follows: 25 percent by truck, 3 by ship or barge, and 72 percent by rail.

who need food? we need to drive our cars!

Consecutive Record Corn Crop Further Disproves Food vs. Fuel Myth

Author: Growth Energy

WASHINGTON, DC – The latest corn crop estimates from the USDA prove that U.S. farmers can produce enough corn for food, feed and fuel, once again refuting the claim that ethanol production impacts food prices, according to Growth Energy, the coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters.

The USDA announced its first estimate of the size of this year's corn crop today, and projected an all-time record 13.4 billion bushels of corn. Last year’s harvest was a record 13.3 billion bushels of corn – grown on 7 million fewer acres than the last record harvest.

“Today’s estimates show the productive capacity of America's farmers. Their ability to produce is the best in the world —producing more than enough grain over the last three years. As demand for clean, renewable ethanol continues to grow, these crop estimates prove that our farmers will be able to meet all the demand for food, fuel and feed in this country, as well as meet all our export obligations,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “I’ve said it before and looks like I get to say it again – there’s a mountain of grain out there. Food vs. fuel was a myth, propagated by deep-pocketed industries more interested in making profits than making our country more energy independent.”

Below are some of the key points from today's USDA report:

• Corn production for 2010/11 is projected at 13.4 billion bushels, up 260 million from 2009/10

• The 2010/11 yield is projected at 163.5 bushels per acre, 2.7 bushels above the 1990-09 trend.

• Corn supplies are projected at a record 15.1 billion bushels, 325 million higher than in 2009/10.

• Year-end surpluses for 2010-11 are expected to be 1.8 billion bushels, up from last year.

• Corn ethanol use, projected at 4.6 billion bushels, is supported by rising Federal biofuels mandates and strong blending incentives that continue to boost ethanol use.

It is used to feed cattle. It can also be used for human consumption too. Marta and I started burning 10% ethanol in 1976. I wish one of our new Chevy's (09 Equinox & 09 Cobalt) could use the E85 because we would use it. Iowa (just a short drive for us) subsidizes E85 and significantly lowers the cost to us consumers. E85 in Ne. runs on average about 50 cents less per gallon as is. E85 has lower mileage, but much cleaner exhaust.

K&R!

If life itself can be thought of as an addiction, then we can go on parroting the oil addiction, (for which they hawk cures) rhetoric.

If you think of oil as the cheapest, (so far) most efficient fuel, (trapped Sunlight, so to speak) and just admit that modern life is oil, then it changes the equation and you can see our dilemma more clearly. Energy is the issue and all forms of life require an efficient equation of effort versus results for survival. That's not addiction, it is a fact of life. I won't repeat over and over that ALL of modern life as we experience is fossil-fuels right now and, like the blood in your body, the rest won't do well without it.

There is not simple, single easy fix or replacement for our need for oil globally in relation to our vast numbers and "sold to us" requirements for what we now consider a decent and comfortable way of life. Right now, alternatives are palliatives and bandages that are being used to cover a huge and gaping wound from which our delusions of modern life are bleeding out and signifying an end in sight ... at least for the majority of the underclass who are being deemed useless eaters at this stage.

Our need for fossil fuel will, (unlike what we think of as addiction) only be changed by drastic, across-the-board changes in the lifestyles of billions of people and that may not even be plausible since supporting that many lives on a finite planet with finite resources is certainly questionable, especially the way resources are directed and utilized by a small percentage of the population with wealth and power. The changes required and coming are, of course, not going to be shared by those who are grabbing as much as they can while they can get away with it.

True dat, we are wasting what is left of the stored hydrocarbons by simply burning them,. to take the limited energy derived,. (mostly to push cars to and from jobs and to produce largely useless junk!) while not even realizing the valuable uses these organics could be put to,. it is truly sad that there will be so few left when ppl realize the value of some of the more complex molecules and the difficulty in producing them synthetically,. again, short sighted gain wins, over long term practical utility,. truly greedy monkey behavior.

ethanol is a useful fuel, but in no way a replacement for the current mad over burn of the remaining oil! In some future society, if any humans are to survive the oil crash,. we will likely use ethanol for SMALL SCALE power,. within the limits of the carbon cycle,. and therefor non-destructively. first thing to do is kill the current fake monetary system,. and replace it with sanity.

http://www.postcarbon.org/

do you have under corn this year? Even T. Boone's LNG makes more sense than ethanol. Count me out, thanks.