Comments Roger D has made

The Myths of Ethanol

I feel I need to inject some common sense and a little clarification into the ethanol brew.

First of all, the 51 cents per gal "subsidy" or "road tax" is the tax on gasoline. It's waived for ethanol. That's it. And that's as it should be.

Second, what is the cost to taxpayers to secure, and  I mean SECURE our oil interests all around the world? Can you say TRILLIONS?? As in dollars. I knew you could. And yet no president in his right (or left) mind would have the guts to add that cost to the price of gasoline.

Third, California probably uses more ethanol than all other states combined...OK, maybe that's a stretch...but since the State mandated ethanol to replace MTBE, millions of gas tanks in California contain up to 10% ethanol. And most of it shipped from the midwest, I presume.
Unfortunately, as you mentioned, it ain't available as E85...yet.

The good news is that ethanol burns soooo much cleaner than petrol. Ever see alcohol burn? You can't see the flame. A lot less carbon to burn. The bad news is that it does contribute to ground-level ozone, AKA, smog. What I'm not clear about is if it is only the evaporative emissions or the actual combustion of ethanol as well that promotes smog. If it's merely the former, I think that could be fixed. After all, would you want your ethanol disappearing into thick air?

Finally, when gasoline hits $5 a gallon in a few years, all of a sudden  you negative ninnies are going to be whistling a very different tune. On T-shirts are all sold out! posted 3 years, 8 months ago 6 Responses