Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83
trebuchet03 -
Isn't it difficult to make a one-to-one comparison with Brazil because of the source of their ethanol? I thought they used sugar-cane while we used corn. The gist I got was that they were extracting more energy from sugar-cane than we are from corn.
CarloSW2
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Also throw in the fact that their climate is hot and perfect for ethanol production without burning fuel and throw in the fact that they generally don't blend ethanol with gas and can tollerate higher water percentages, etc ,etc.
If we wanted to produce ethanol more efficiently we could, potatoes are much better than corn and there are slower methods of making alcohol that would require fewer fossil fuels.
The trouble with anything in our "economy" is that it has to be fast and easy and almost always use oil.
With more thought and investment we could make alcohol more efficiently without the use of fossil fuels but sadly lobbies control this sector and they rarely do things that save resources
e85forum.com
Also mileage as in MPG on a vehicle does not always go down running alcohol. My buick got the same mileage both ways running a 50% blend of e85 and e10 AKA 30mpg-32mpg highway. Sadly that motor had major issues to begin with and blew out (not alcohol related) and I haven't tested the new 01 with e85 mixes yet.
The odd thing is most folks who run a mix of e85 in a car NOT DESIGNED TO RUN ON IT tend to get almost exactly the same mileage (e85 mileage is best in warm climates), those that have flex fuel MPG almost always goes down on e85.
Ah well