JimH2

E15 Fuel approved:

cafpaf

Just a bit of a rant coming up here so be warned. In my opinion this is INSANE!!! Why are we growing corn under government subsidy to make fuel? It requires more energy to produce the stuff than is derived from it. As an aside, all it really does is drive up the cost of food. Could it be that it secures votes for those farmers and processors who receive the subsidies and thus profit from it? There, I feel better now! Thanks for listening.

happy1977

Why not make it 50%? We need to be more independent from other countries and help create more jobs here. But I'm no scientist, engineer or economist.

JimH2

We already have E85 fuel, but engines and components need to be designed and compatible, whereas a lot of vehicles on the road today may not be able to utilize various degrees of higher Ethanol fuel mixes.
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/ethanol_e85.html

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

E15 started quite awhile already... Acres of corn are disappearing acre by acres. E15 is economical, but it does affect our gas mileage. E15 requires more energy to burn compared to regular gasoline. Therefore, gas mileage will decrease.

RXSF

lol E15 is practically useless.

InRBigness

If you live where it gets cold in the winter the Ethanol acts like a gas line antifreeze. Short of that you are robbing from Peter to pay Paul (note the Easter reference). Gas is the same price, everything corn based is more expensive and less acres are being used for other crops.

Cruiter

As Moderators we're not supposed to let a 'rant' run. But if we're dissing Ethanol, have at it

I'm for building the infrastructure and using Natural Gas. It's clean, we're the Saudi Arabia of supply and it's cheap. Any fuel injected car can be converted to run on it and doesn't hurt the engine.

2011RX350

burning food grade corn and driving up world food prices is stupid at best. At the worst, it reminds of Stalin and Hitler tactics. BTW, you get less power and fewer mpg with ethanol blends than with gasoline. If Washington wants to drive down fuel prices all they have to do is allow more exploration, drilling, pipelines and refineries. And while they are at it, convert govt vehicle fleets to use natural gas, while developing natural gas fueling infrastructure for the public. Natural gas is cleaner burning and the USA is now becoming the Saudi Arabia of the world for natural gas. Our reserves have doubled in the past 5 years and prices are now apprroaching $2 after touching $14 less than a decade ago. Natural gas is now priced at less than $15 per BBL of oil for an equivalent amount of energy. These things done to help could be pretty simply and easily done, and would be very good for American jobs and the economy, but we now have ignorant/stupid/arrogant and disfunctional govt in Washington. They are more interested in getting campaign contributions from the alternative folks than they are in our nation's well-being.

JimH2

Building the infrastructure and the higher cost of vehicles to use natural gas will likely keep that from happening anytime soon.

http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.co...nder-the-hood/

Cruiter

It's mostly infrastructure. Many areas in CA, TX, NY, already have it. It's a modest cost to add on the assembly line, some vehicles are already getting it. Plus in areas that have natural gas for home heating, there are devices to pressure fill your car at home during the night. The effective cost once you have everything is just the cost of the gas. Here it would be less then the equivalent of two bucks a gallon.

2011RX350

I do apologize for the rant. But the thought of that low cost gas for urban vehicles is enticing. Natural Gas closed at $2.09 on the COMEX yesterday. Using the multiplier of 5.8, that is the energy equivalent of crude oil at $12.12 per barrel, and we all know there are refining costs to convert the oil to gasoline. That’s about 29 cents per gallon equivalent for natural gas. I looked at buying a Honda Civic GX a couple of years ago, but the nearest natural gas station open to the public was near 500 miles from where I live. Government should step forward and foot the bill for the initial infrastructure. They could easily get it back in increased motor fuel taxes and still please the public at the gas stations. All it would take is for the President to sign an executive order. Natural gas would probably never replace all gasoline, but if it could replace perhaps half over some number of years, and that would eliminate a lot of need to import oil that runs the dollar into the ground. And natural gas vehicles produce about 25% less CO2, so the environmental movement should be more supportive. But it does not seem to be on anybody's radar...

Cruiter

No apology necessary for 'THIS' rant . And I stand with ya on the government footing the bill for an energy policy that actually makes some sense and the technology exists to do it right. As far as not having been on the radar, it has. But it's the old question of what came 1st, the chicken or the egg ? Does the industry build the cars w/o the infrastructure in place or does the infrastructure get funded and built on the gamble the car industry will build the cars. I think they will and it would be a lot better gamble then corn fuel or fungus gas.