RateItAll: The Opinion Network

We found an interesting article about the problems with Ethanol on ConsumerReports.org: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2008/03/ethanol-e85.html "But there are some problems with increasing ethanol blends. Ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, so increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline will likely result in lower fuel economy. Increasing standard fuel blends from zero to 10 percent ethanol, as is happening today, has little or no impact on fuel economy. In tests, the differences occur within the margin of error, about 0.5 percent. Further increasing ethanol levels to 20 percent reduces fuel economy between 1 and 3 percent, according to testing by the DOE and General Motors. Evaluations are underway to determine if E20 will burn effectively in today's engines without impacting reliability and longevity, and also assessing potential impact on fuel economy." TheSUBWAY.com would like to invite readers to post their own views and ideas in TheSUBWAY.com's Investor Forum: http://investor-forum.thesubway.com/

Hot gas is the WORST alternative to petroleum! It is more costly to produce that gasoline, it is less efficient than gasoline and it is causing rampant inflation in the US. Only an idiot who knows nothing about petroleum, or has a hidden adgenda would try to promote this...Only shareholders in Archer Daniels Midland will be better off for this fiasco.

This is a fuel designed by that great consulting firm, Boon and Doggle! You must sink more BTU's into its production than you get in return. To make it even better, you are paying a subsidy for its use and production! Congress has just passed billions more for this stupidity. Unbelievable!

UPDATE: Hemp--a feedsource we, in our puritannical way of doing things, prohibited from growing merely because it's in the same genus as cannabis--can be processed to release 70% of the energy it took to grow it; ethanol is a byproduct of organic decomposition that releases 30%. Duh, do the maff. Now, how silly will we continue to be if we will have to import feedstocks once again from a foreign country (the closest of which is Canada...hey! maybe we'll invade Canada, too!)

I sure would like to hear from a chemical engineer regarding the energy required to produce a barrel of ethanol 85. If it doesn't have some order of magnitude or economy of scale improvement, then we're just swapping out the result, not the process. I'm tired of complaining about oil industry execs, their salaries, perqs, billion-dollar bonuses and oil & gas sector pundits toss out one lame excuse after another. Why don't oil companies just tell us that they intend to squeeze every last dime or peso, or whatever, out of our pockets until there's nothing left to buy their gas? I understand now that capitalism (and its bastard child, unfettered greed) has precious little to do with the laws of economics taught in universities around the world. It's all very depressing, primarily it was so easy to see it coming (and doing nothing about it).

My understanding of this alternative- and someone correct me if I am wrong here- is that, while it does burn cleaner in a vehicle than gasoline, it also burns much faster and is therefore more expensive in the long run. More importantly, the process of "refining" it puts more pollutants into the air than does the internal combustion engine with gasoline.

UPDATE: This is the way of the future, but it is not a good way. We have more and more farmers now dumping soy bean and other crops in favor of corn- because that is where the money is. When the price of corn goes up, the price of virtually everything will go up. This will benefit ADM, not the American people.

From my admittedly highly biased viewpoint, if increased ethanol production increases the price of corn, then it's a good thing, as more money is going into the hands of American farmers, and less of it going to big oil companies. But if the companies producing ethanol manage to buy as much corn as they can without paying more for it, then I have my doubts.

I drive a FFV and let me tell you it costs much more per mile to operate the vehicle. E85 is available all over my city and is priced about 5 cent per gallon cheaper, while my fuel efficiency is reduced up to 30%.

We will never convert while gas is as cheap as it is.

This is pure nonsense. When gasoline hits about $5/gallon, we can start talking about the massive reserves of shale oil in this country. For generating electricity, nothing beats nuclear. Nothing.

America's "mainstream media" made up of primarily staunch liberals, has decided that this fuel is worth a try and are lending an enormous megaphone to the marketing of ethanol. Many naive americans will buy into it, clamoring for the "government" to develop it.

If it is worth developing, private dollars will find it and support is development. If the government is involved in its development, look for it to be much more expensive and take much longer to reach fruition.

Ethanol produced from corn is a bad idea-the total cost (fertilizer+pesticides+erosion+oil powered machinery+transport) usually outweighs the benefit, so it's only viable thanks to enormous subsidies and/or government coercion. The only people who benefit are the wealthier farmers and the shareholders/directors of ArcherDanielsMidland. Ethanol derived from certain tropical plants that absorb enormous amounts of solar energy (sugar cane, palm oil) do produce an economically viable energy source. The main problem with this kind of ethanol is that the producer countries (Brazil, Indonesia) will be tempted to cut down the rest of their rain forests to cash in.

Now that the cost to produce ethanol is down to 90 cents per gallon, it's a clean cost effective fuel. In my area, stations have stopped using the additive MTBE and now provide gasoline mixed with 10% ethanol.

Won't yield a marked improvement in pollution nor significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but it will help somewhat. It's relatively inexpensive to produce and assists midwestern farmers greatly.

Who said that ethanol doesn't reduce emissiions? What emissions you talking about? CO2 or all that other crap that gasoline produces? Grab a chemistry book. Next I want to hear the explanation how a third world country (Brazil) can have about 30% of the cars running on ethanol and here in the US we can't even realize its viable? Who is the moron in charge of this country? Oh, thats right, the Oil Tycoon: Bush

Ethanol doesn't really reduce emissions that much, but it is nonetheless a good alternative to regular gasoline. Obviously, it will be very helpful for Midwesterners to use more of this because there's a lot of excess grain that farmers can't sell on the market. Now it makes sense to increase demand by using more ethanol in gasoline. Doing this will reduce our dependence in foreign sources of oil, which is very important considering the fact that we are reliant on getting our energy from people that aren't really our friends. Using ethanol won't solve all of our energy problems, but it's a start.

Ethanol is great for the Midwest and making money. My father recently bought a Chevy Silverado that runs on E-85 (85percent ethanol) and it still has all the power. Plus E-85 sells for around $1.26 where I’m from, while normal gasoline costs around $1.60. My dad's E-85 truck will also run on E-10 (10 percent ethanol) which is also cheaper than normal fuel. I always use E-10 in my car and it usually saves me a nickel per gallon. The only downside is that is gets slightly worse gas mileage, not miles per gallon less, we’re only talking about a few feet, For instance, 1 gallon of normal fuel could take you 20 miles, 1 gallon of E-85 would take you 19 miles and 5270 feet (1 mile=5280 feet). Personally I have never been able to see a difference and I’ve been using Ethanol for a few years now.

If it can be mass produced inexpensively then it's fine with me. Your mileage will be much better but not enough to offset the current price of $12 per gallon.

The most wished for Dream of Archer Daniels Midland but still silly. Energy inputs for manufacture is greater than energy yield.