That's what the petroleum refiners and OPEC would like you to think. True, we are not going to totally replace petroleum overnight, but we can make a significant difference. In just a few years, we have gone from total dependence on petroleum and over 50% percent reliance on imports to replacing 10% of our petroleum use with domestically produced renewables. It is not about replacing all the oil. It is about having the option to use something else and breaking up the monopoly. OPEC controls the global price for crude oil. Without a diversity of fuel options, even our domestically produced crude sells at the price set by OPEC. There is a good 8-minue mini-documentary on that effect at http://www.americasadvancedbiofuel.com/resources.phpf <O</OWe export $1 billion dollars a day to buy oil from countries that want to see America topple. When we give them our money, we give them power. Bit by bit, we are making America weaker and making oil exporting countries stronger. And where do we get our money? We have lost most of our manufacturing jobs. Agriculture is one sector that continues to be a world leader in producing goods the world wants. Farmers have gotten so efficient and driven to produce more and more commodities that the value of their products has plummeted. Overproduction and cheap ag commodity prices combined with the need to offset imported oil led to biofuels in the US. Ethanol uses only starch or sugar- C, H, and O harvested from the atmosphere with energy from the sun. All the protein (amino acids) and fiber in feed crops, like corn continue to be fed to livestock (people dont eat feed corn). The notion that there is completion between food and fuel is a myth that lives on because there are deep-seeded interests that want to keep us addicted to oil, and oil alone. <O</OIt was cheap commodity prices that led to farm subsidies. We recognized that the food production industry was important, so we made sure that farmers did not go out of business, just because they overproduced. Subsidies are insurance against food shortages and volatility. Note OPEC, doe the opposite, they limit their own production, so that prices of their commodity are as high as possible, and they use volatility to keep upstarts from competing in the market. Ethanol has actually reduced the amount of subsidy payments going to farmers, because their crop is worth more in the free market. The federal volumetric ethanol tax credit was a tool to get an American fuel manufacturing industry off the ground in competition with OPEC and petroleum refiners that have enjoyed subsidies for over 100 years. The ethanol tax credit expired and it will not be coming back. <O</OAs for water, most crops grown for biofuels in the US are not irrigated. In fact, the leading production states employ tile drainage, because they have too much water. We grow crops where it makes sense. That means where there is plenty of water. The Earth is covered in water, but it requires energy to treat it and pump it for most of the things people use water. If you want to make sure we have access to fresh water in the future, youd better pay attention to the source of energy we use. The same applies to food. We use a lot of fossil fuel to produce food. We need renewable energy, particularly, we need liquid fuels. <O</OThe fact that you get less miles per gallon on ethanol is another red herring. If it cost less per gallon and the money spent on ethanol recirculates in your country instead of being exported, then miles per gallon only matter in a few applications like aviation or racing where the weight of fuel you carry may make a difference. Pay attention to miles per dollar, and you get a more relevant measure than mpg for most driving applications. <O</OSorry this is so long and OT relative to the OP, but this is quite brief considering the complexity and the importance of the topic. Nothing means freedom and independence to me more than driving a car. I love driving old cars! Ive dedicated my career to biofuels for the very purpose of making sure we continue to have affordable fuel for our hobby and our lifestyle.<O</O
i guess if you read what opec/oil companies wrote you will get one story. bio-fuel companies have their side. i believe and read the environmental side of the story...and this is not the place to debate G.m.o.'s, the chemicals used, and the impact on the farmland. let's talk hot rods.
You know that the "Renewable Fuel Association" that made that recording is the lobby group run by the Ethanol industry, right? I won't criticize the *facts*, but rather leave it to everyone else to listen & decide for themselves. If they can sit through the infomercial style delivery style of the announcer.
My understanding about Ethanol has always been that producing it costs more in energy than you'd actually get back from the fuel. = net LOSS of energy. Cornell Professor David Pimentel says the same thing here; http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17166.cfm I was just complaining that it eats rubber lines, airplanes won't use it, boat owners hate it, and it kills gas mileage. But to say it saves money & energy while reducing gas mileage is impossible, since even producing the stuff is a net loss of energy. If this was a flex fuel board, I could see debating its usefulness, but with all the traditional vehicles that have had their fuel pump diaphragms, and rubber lines fall to pieces from Ethanol, I don't understand anyone singing its praises here. No vehicle I own was designed to run this stuff, they want to increase the percentages they put in gas, my gas mileage has been in the shitter for 5 years, and now I'm being told how great this stuff is?!? No Thank You.
Pimentel has long ago been disproven. He made headlines in the 1990's, and didn't really know what he was talking about. Yet these myths die hard. A more recent and credible study done by USDA in 2008 shows that the energy return from corn ethanol is between 1.9 and 2.3. That means that if you add up all the diesel fuel use to plant, grow, harvest and transport corn, and then add all the natural gas and electricity used to run an ethanol distillery, you get double the amount energy in return. Not only have we doubled the amount of energy, but we converted natural gas and electricity (perhaps from coal powerplants) into more valuable liquid fuel. This helps us use our domestic fossil energy to displace imported oil while capturing solar energy in a liquid form. Yes, ethanol has a trade association to promote their product. Their budget is a whole lot less than the petroleum lobby, and apparently less effective considering how willing some folks are to perpetuate misinformation against ethanol. As for traditional vehicles, anybody still running an updraft carb on a Model A with a mixture adjustment has a flex fuel vehicle. Anybody can switch the jets in their carburetor to run a custom mixture, and many racers do just that. I think I said before that crappy fuel lines and fuel pump diaphrams are a pain. I think there are a lot of issues to blame for those problems. Too many people rush to judgement when we don't really know if the culprit is cheap Chinese rubber, other gasoline constituents or contaminants, or simply age and neglect. Is Ethanol to blame for the Napa brake master cylinder I keep replacing every 18 months? I'm totally fed up with the quality of replacement auto parts these days. Everybody is going to make their own choices. I'm proud to be a mechanic that can fix my own shit. Personally, I'd rather rebuild my fuel pump again and again than bear responsibility for some young soldier that has to go in harms way and take the chance of getting injured just so I can burn pure, unadulterated gasoline.
Barn Find, I have had that same discussion on Pimentel before with a coworker. Pimentel's was the only study to show this and after reading the study I was totally disturbed about his assumptions. He was using farming practices from the 1960s, he was adding in the "energy cost" of creating the materials to make ethanol plants (although neglecting these same costs to create gas) and on and on. I think the most interesting argument was the BTU per gallon argument though. Unfortunately, internal combustion engines are not 100% efficient. Only a small portion of the BTU energy is converted to mechanical energy, most is lost to heat. Engines designed to run ethanol can convert energy more efficiently than gasoline engines. My coworker could never concede this point even when I pointed out all of the different cars that run alcohol like NASCAR, Indy, etc. To each his own I guess. I run E10% in all my dailies, my lawnmower, snowthrower, snowmobile, Sportster and my Falcon for over 20 years now never had any fuel related issues. Heck I guess you could even say I power my bicycle with ethanol, tonight after my 17 mile commute home from work I will likely have a cold one to "fuel up"
Yep. I drove my Comet 60,000 miles on E10. Never had a problem until I stopped driving the car on a regualr basis. Once I let the car sit for six months or more between driving, then I had to change the power valve in the carburetor. It might have taken 25 minutes to change it.
Government intervention! Once seperated it will not remix. The ethanol absorbs water until saturated and will not remix with the gasoline.
I started working on cars with my father just before E10 was required here in MN. One of the things I recall in the winters here in MN was the dead cars do to gas line freeze. Water has always gotten into the open vented fuel systems. Does anyone else remember how common it was to see these dead cars on the road in winter? It was caused by "pure" water passing from the tank into the fuel line then freezing. The solution to this problem arrived about the same time I first started noticing this. The answer was adding HEET (alcohol) because the normal amount of water getting into your fuel system could be absorbed by the gasoline and passed through the system mixed rather than in globs. Since E10 has been introduced I have not seen a single case of gas line freeze. I have never seen E10 phase separation in my gas cans for my lawnmower or my boat. This is from more than 20 years of experience. But I do recall having gas cans in prior years with water in the bottom.
Unsubsidized, unregulated, and untaxed ethanol? About $100 a gallon to buy it direct from the distiller (less if you cook your own). It's hard to get, illegal to buy or sell, and will usually give you a nasty hangover if you drink too much.
I get a kick out of the folks that fill up with 10% in the winter and top it off with TWO bottles of heat. One of the indys here sells heat by the case this way to folks that don't know any better!
IMHO, the farmers of America are THE most fiscally conservative bunch I can think of. If this ethanol shit is so great for the USA, then why are they all running bio-diesel? I'm an Engr with the "Big 3" & I'm totally against E15's use in anything that wasn't designed for it, due to the documented issues that old cars suffer from it. Unlike some, I'm going on info from more than 1 source & the years of testing that's been done in the auto industry. SEMA, NADA, American Motorcycle Assn, AAA, & many others have also reviewed the data & find it damages both old cars & new. It's your car/truck/hotrod, so you have to be aware of the risks that this alleged fuel poses to your pride & joy. Personally, I think that we owe ourselves to better get better educated in the perils of this fuel & how the EPA's concept of "filling our tanks with food" fits into our personal values. But I'm not using that shit...
The original post was asking what was in the bottom of his sediment globe. Did we get a little off topic? In regarding to the original question, yes looks like water but that is why the globe was put on there. Dump it out and move on. You may have a question what you should do with your daily driver that does not have the sediment globe. Neal
For longer storage life and greater octane ,NO ethanol, get some 100 at your local small airport!!! You will have to jug it home, the nozzle at the airport will be to large for your car and its got some serious flow so be carefull. Ive been told that marine fuel works well for collector cars.
I remember having to drain the water out of the glass bowl in my uncle's tractor and neighbor's old cars in the 60's, 25 years before ethanol use was widespread. I also remember vented snowmobile / mower gas cans rusting out from the inside because water would accumulate inside. Carb kits have been sold for probably a hundred years, yet now every rebuild seems to be blamed on ethanol.
The Jalopy Journal
