Gas price down another nickel/gal here...

ethanol fuels within 24 months. just change that useless 93 pump to ethanol. or invade brazil.

We can't make enough ethanol right now to replace the MTBE.

a good example, the 'manhattan project'. the cars already exist. every major foreign and domestic auto maker has the technology in place and online. one national grade of environ friendly fuel, every fossil fuel system should be the cleanest available. let's call it environ. replace all the refineries shut down by the oil co. mergers. build the ethanol producing plants there. more jobs created.
I have a wood stove and enough wood to heat my little house. wood is another source of ethanol, I believe almost anything organic is a source. some just give more bang for the buck. until then they'll have to make my gas filler opening larger, the logs won't fit

... the infrastructure is already there. All vehicles run on the stuff. EtOH doesn't provide much in terms of improvement from the "greenie" perspective.

goes one way: forward. your solution is not future friendly unless you have oil stocks in your portfolio. sometimes we have to get out of our four wheeled, air conditioned nightmares and take a deep breath.

destroyed in the editing.

Brazil makes ethanol. What evidence is there that it is more "future friendly"?

since this is one of his favorite hobby horses, Brazil is not the US or the rest of the world. If their solution was THE solution it would already be in effect in other parts of the world. It is not.

... is that they are now exporting EtOH which is growing their economy. GOOD. But with that economic growth will come higher demand for the EtOH domestically, not to mention a growing middle class that will no longer be satisfied harvesting sugar cane for a pittance wage.

Evie

The story of Brazil and EtOH is yet unfolding is all. Actually, capitalism WILL work for the people of Brazil if it is allowed to. Brazil will likely rely on more than EtOH in the future.

Marxists

how many people are streaming across Brazil's borders to live there. (Not eco-Liberal Americans)

Makes you feel like one of the "good people."

is to make sure it makes sense economically. The fuel that makes the most economic sense for the US so far is gasoline, like it or not. When conditions change, that will change.

Forced solutions usually produce unintended consequences, which are likely to be negative.

was tasked with one thing, producing a weapon. A military goal. You can't apply this "solution" to every problem on earth. Assuming there IS a problem, which has not really been demonstrated.

Ethanol offers very little (especially from corn) vs. gasoline. Foreign dependence? Drill at home. Environmental issues? At best a wash.

I have no problem with looking to new ways to provide energy, but the free market is going to be the best vehicle to move innovation forward. If ethanol from corn is to be profitable, let it be so because gasoline prices have gone out of range and ethanol offers a better alternative on its merits. Whenever you subsidize something, at some point you have to remove those subsidies. What happens then? Or when there's a bad year for corn in just 10% of the crop?

Right now the US can't make enough ethanol to fill the 10% need for the RFG blends (replacing MTBE) that aren't even used universally nationwide. It is part of the reason why prices are high in certain markets.

Evie

Leave it alone. It is working fine without tinkering. Why make it artificially more expensive?

or if something naturally gets cheaper, we can use that.

There really is NO CRISIS.

But do we do nothing till it is?

I'm not advocating forcing xxx number of stations to offer E85. I'm asking if it's offered, can it be made competitive?

If not at current prices, when and how much? Only then can we say it's not worth consideration.

Looking at one site comparison of emissions, I wonder if there are local trouble spots that it's emissions would be less troublesome than gasoline. A viable niche market may exist.

Two categories are rated substantially higher, but one is much lower and a couple more slightly lower.

And I honestly have no idea of the cost per mile of E85 vs gasoline in the same vehicle.

I do remember reading a recommendation that during cold weather not to use over 50% ethanol because of starting problems, which would seem to be a bigger problem than some others for many areas.


Roger

click here to email semods4@yahoo.com


Roger

click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

... in thinking we don't NEED to do anything. It will get done when people NEED it to be done. Oil will not run out overnight. If we don't continue arbitrarily hammpering supply (there are enough known reserves for a long time, and they keep finding more) there's no reason to believe we're going to run out in the next century.

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/bg/bg159/

If the flex fuel vehicles cost their owners more, I feel only ->_<- this bad for those snookered to buy them. I have more positive feelings for the hybrids which will minimize the amount of fuel used for many drivers. But I think that the subsidies are BS. But I'm glad there aren't too many on the roads or that all of a sudden they didn't do some "Manhattan Project" to get us all driving hybrids. There's much to be seen for the battery lives, recycling, etc. I hope it's a positive picture all around. But the cynic in me has this itchin' feeling that we'll be learning about unintended enviromental impacts before long. Same too, for EtOH (particularly from corn).

I'm willing to let Brazil test that out for a decade or so

Evie

an important niche market.

Those areas that are low bowls in the ground, were emissions stand and don't dissipate, hybrid, electric, and perhaps other alternatives may become important there.

If the air quality gets to the point that local driving has to be curtailed, such alternatives may be the only answer for daily commuting.


Roger

click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

in the corn/soy belt are anxiously awaiting this technology. My friends realize that oil will always be part of our lives.

This would be good for the local farmers. They think their children, many of them in the national guard, should be home working their fields. Their families miss them so much. One gold star mom will miss her daughter forever.

I do not know if it is my place to say this. I noticed quite a few replies are negative to new ideas. They did not notice that the 'manhattan project' was a metaphor. It was not a blueprint.

I believe we hand the future to our children; not the past.