The real story is it pollutes mare to make the alcohol than the gallon of gas through the refining process. That's like the coal you have to burn to charge your EV.
It's all about bring American down and it's working.

 

I was doubtful, but...
https://www.reuters.com/business/env...ds-2022-02-14/

 

These radicals hate everything that comes out of the ground. I wonder if they thought about corn coming out of the ground. Hmm

 

This conversation should be continued in the lounge.

 

I think I'm done venting.

 

Good, I’ve moved this here in the lounge , let’s keep the tin foil hat theories to a minimum. Thanks

 

Yes, please, politics to the lounge.

It is DOE policy to encourage the use of ethanol in motor fuel. We can only play the hand we’re dealt.

You will read warnings to never use E85 because of problems it causes, but a FlexFuel car has a few complexities that can cause trouble even if you never use E85. The systems should be kept working perfectly, and even then, glitches are possible. Ask me how I know.

A few facts:

• Compared to a motor optimized for gasoline, a motor optimized for ethanol is more efficient, so frequently heard cost analysis based solely upon $/BTU is faulty. Such a motor also pollutes less, and is cleaner inside so tends to last longer.
• There is nothing simple about the economics of using E85. Gasoline is a complicated and highly variable mystery brew of many different hydrocarbons. Even its specific gravity can vary by as much as 15%. And “E85” may contain as little as 51% ethanol.
• Obviously, GM’s designers can’t optimize for two different fuels. FlexFuel Ecotecs are very adaptable, in part thanks to VVT, but in the end the economics depend on designers’ compromises.
• Both HHR FlexFuel motors get a higher HP rating with E85.

I don’t needed to decide whether to use E85 because of lack of availability, but if I did, I would begin to consider it when the cost was about 75% of E10.

 

Making alcohol from grain (from food) only makes sense when you're going to drink it.
Even sawdust is suitable for fuel production... for example, we make disinfectant liquids or technical washing from sawdust and other organic waste.
I think your authorities messed up something with corn. unjustified waste, nobility

But there is also good news. Your E85 after easy manipulations can be drunk. ... Hell, we would have to lay off half the staff in our company if the E85 was available to them!

 

Now that we’re in the lounge…

In my opinion, civil discussion about politics relevant to the thread is in order. That does not make trolling, rants, personal attacks, and hate speech OK. I hope our mods in their wisdom will note the difference and enforce accordingly.

Yes. Excellent article brings balance to a credible if imperfect study.

No government program survives without some influential for profit interest supporting it. The real estate industry loves rent subsidies and the food industry loves food subsidies.

In the case of gasahol, it was as much a farm subsidy program as anything else. The Farm Bureau loves anything that drives up the price of corn.

And of course the people who would build and operate the ethanol production were all $$$ in their eyes.

The EPA likes it because they don’t care just about gross pollution, they care about where the pollution happens. This consideration is almost always omitted from discussion slanted against green technology. Ethanol moves pollution from where the cars are heavily used and out to the countryside where the corn is grown.

Now enter electric cars. They make ethanol auto fuel less imperative for moving auto pollution out of cities.

Now, donning my tinfoil hat, even as we expand experiments with various other blends, I sense a move afoot to attempt to ease out of E85. It’s a PITA for fuel retailers. On Facebook, I’m suddenly seeing derision of E85 by trolls I’ve never seen before.

 

They grow a lot of corn around here, meant for alcohol production and pellet fuel made from the stalk/leaves. This corn is not food grade corn, squirrels won't even touch the stuff. Every 3 years or so they rotate in soybeans... for the plastics industry. (we need more wire insulation for rodents to eat, apparently)

One could argue that the field could be used for food grade corn instead, but adjacent to my property I doubt the soil is up to that task. Not sure about other parts of the state, but I've not seen food crops being grown for the last 15 years or better.