Myth No1 is pure silly. OF COURSE it takes more energy to make than it yields. anyone who thinks otherwise really (no insult intended) need to re study BASIC science.
Our universe is one based on entrophy. ALL energy transactions are lossy. Period.
for a process to yield more energy than it took to make the process is BY DEFINITION perpetual motion.
it will always 100% of the time take more energy to make ethanol than you can every get from it. This ALSO applies to hydrogen and batteries and GASOLINE and DIESEL and Peanut oil and SOLAR and WIND and any other fuel or energy source you can think of. ALL of them 100% of them are lossy they take MORE ENERGY than they make. always.
#2
Ethanol production does not reduce food supply. it makes food more expensive as farmers devote more CROP LAND (not just CORN crop land) to corn for ethanol production because they make more money crowing inedible ethanol corn than they do food crops.
the only form of ethanol production that is RELEVANT in the USA is CORN Ethanol and this is because we are a CORN nation and short of a FUNDAMENTAL shift in our agri political structure THIS WILL NOT CHANGE IN OUR LIFETIMES.
right now with only 10% we are fine. if we wanted to go PURE ethanol ie REPLACE gasoline there is not enough arable land on this entire planet to meet even just OUR needs in the USA. its not viable.
worse ethanol produces vastly greater quantities of pollution and causes vastly increased demands on both fuel and foreign oil.
a good example is my Voyager minivan. I got the 3.0liter baby V6 for a reason. 28mpg. I scored 28mpg consistently (never deviated under normal conditions by more than 1mpg) for over 3 years and 120,000 miles (I drive 40k miles a year)
On E10 I get 19mpg. do the math. this means I now spend an additional $2608 a year in fuel for an EXTRA 467 gallons of Gasoline and an extra 210 gallons of ethanol over just pure gas from the year before. SO yeah it upset me just a bit and now you know why My minivan sits rusting away and I now drive a Geo Metro.
I can not afford the additional $2608 in fuel per year because of E10.
Worse ethanol production uses simple disgusting quantities of a natural resource FAR FAR more precious than OIL and even FOOD.
WATER. Fresh Water. they wanted to put an ethanol plant outside orlando florida. they submitted their water requirements to the city. the demand was over 10 times the year needs of THE ENTIRE CITY. Just for ethanol production.
Ouch. I hope orlando was smart enough to say no.
ethanol also costs MORE than gasoline. farm and tax subsidies are the only reason we are blindfolded into thinking its cheaper.
when you add in the reduced fuel economy its not even close.
Can you tell I really hate ethanol.?
Our universe is one based on entrophy. ALL energy transactions are lossy. Period.
for a process to yield more energy than it took to make the process is BY DEFINITION perpetual motion.
it will always 100% of the time take more energy to make ethanol than you can every get from it. This ALSO applies to hydrogen and batteries and GASOLINE and DIESEL and Peanut oil and SOLAR and WIND and any other fuel or energy source you can think of. ALL of them 100% of them are lossy they take MORE ENERGY than they make. always.
#2
Ethanol production does not reduce food supply. it makes food more expensive as farmers devote more CROP LAND (not just CORN crop land) to corn for ethanol production because they make more money crowing inedible ethanol corn than they do food crops.
the only form of ethanol production that is RELEVANT in the USA is CORN Ethanol and this is because we are a CORN nation and short of a FUNDAMENTAL shift in our agri political structure THIS WILL NOT CHANGE IN OUR LIFETIMES.
right now with only 10% we are fine. if we wanted to go PURE ethanol ie REPLACE gasoline there is not enough arable land on this entire planet to meet even just OUR needs in the USA. its not viable.
worse ethanol produces vastly greater quantities of pollution and causes vastly increased demands on both fuel and foreign oil.
a good example is my Voyager minivan. I got the 3.0liter baby V6 for a reason. 28mpg. I scored 28mpg consistently (never deviated under normal conditions by more than 1mpg) for over 3 years and 120,000 miles (I drive 40k miles a year)
On E10 I get 19mpg. do the math. this means I now spend an additional $2608 a year in fuel for an EXTRA 467 gallons of Gasoline and an extra 210 gallons of ethanol over just pure gas from the year before. SO yeah it upset me just a bit and now you know why My minivan sits rusting away and I now drive a Geo Metro.
I can not afford the additional $2608 in fuel per year because of E10.
Worse ethanol production uses simple disgusting quantities of a natural resource FAR FAR more precious than OIL and even FOOD.
WATER. Fresh Water. they wanted to put an ethanol plant outside orlando florida. they submitted their water requirements to the city. the demand was over 10 times the year needs of THE ENTIRE CITY. Just for ethanol production.
Ouch. I hope orlando was smart enough to say no.
ethanol also costs MORE than gasoline. farm and tax subsidies are the only reason we are blindfolded into thinking its cheaper.
when you add in the reduced fuel economy its not even close.
Can you tell I really hate ethanol.?
