There is never actual proof with anything. Proof comes with trial and error. It will be years before we really know the economic and environmental impact this ethanol will have on society. During this trial and error period just expect prices to rise considerably!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
E85- fuel is easily found in some cities such as Detroit. - It is about 50 cents a gallon less than regulalr. There are dozens of different cars that run on the stuff. FFV flexable fuel vehicles have been on the road almost 10 years. ( about 6 million of them).
Fifteen years ago I owned a 1985 Rl Camino 5.0 V8 305. I was having a rough time financially working as a painter.
But I discovered that it would run fine on Laquer thinner, acetone, MEK, even denatured alcohol. I t ran alittle rough on regular thinner. I mean you could smell it sitting at a stop light. Sure the solvents were more expensive but I was working Time and material
I drove it like this for 2 or 3 years- then sold it. I know it still runs today- Im am the only person I know of that has performed this experiment-
We will have to see theh outcome of the use of ethanol, but in my opinion, it will cost no less to not only drive a vehicle, but also to purchase goods. Corn is in everything! It will end up being a supply and demand thing. The only benefit, if you want to call it one, will be that we will control the economic backlash and not be held hostage to other countries. Especially now with the sanctions place on Iran. Iran is the second leading supplier of oil. We can surely expect oil to go over $100/barrel!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
New ethanol plant is first in the Northeast BY CAROLYN THOMPSON The Associated Press
BUFFALO — The Northeast’s first ethanol plant has begun production of what has been strictly a Midwestern commodity. Western New York Energy began grinding corn this week at a new $90 million complex in Orleans County that is expected to produce 50 million gallons of the gasoline additive annually. The plant’s operators believe their location will give them an opening into an industry built on public demand for renewable fuels. Ethanol is blended with gasoline to increase octane and reduce emissions. “We are closer to the ultimate ethanol markets,” said Michael Sawyer, executive vice president of Western New York Energy. “Ethanol’s being consumed here on the East Coast, and the economics of moving ethanol are challenging. We do not have to move our ethanol as far to the ultimate market as the typical Midwestern plant.” Sawyer and his father, John Sawyer Jr., both from Geneseo in Livingston County, will employ about 50 people at the facility, which state leaders view as part of a strategy to reduce dependence on foreign energy. New York was the first Northeastern state to join the Governors Ethanol Coalition when then-Gov. George Pataki enlisted in 2005. Michael Sawyer said the company has not been deterred by recent drops in ethanol prices and oversupply fears that have led to a slowdown in new plant construction elsewhere. “We think the current supply-demand imbalance is really a shortterm phenomena, and we’re very bullish on the industry for long term,” he said. The facility will buy as much of the 20 million bushels of corn it will need annually from state farmers as it can, Sawyer said, and ship the rest in by train from the Midwest. “It’s another market for our corn, and when you have more markets, you tend to have a better price,” said Steven Van Voorhis, president of the New York Corn Growers Association. He said New York farmers have already begun devoting more acres to corn. Corn growers were paid about $2.50 a bushel at this time last year as low prices lingered from a record crop in 2004. New York farmers now can get close to $3.80 a bushel due largely to the ethanol demand. One other plant is under construction in New York, inside the former Miller Brewing Co. plant in Fulton, Oswego County, while other states outside the traditional Corn Belt, like Arizona and Texas, have also broken ground on facilities, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry’s trade association. The U.S. ethanol industry produced 4.9 billion gallons in 2006 at 110 biorefineries in 19 states, according to the association. JEN RYNDA/DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE Tim Marcellus takes corn out of a Long Trucking’s truck at the Western New York Energy Plant in Medina on Wednesday.
Corn boom threatens to expand ‘dead zone’Environmentalists worried about Gulf of Mexico waters BY HENRY C. JACKSON The Associated Press
JEFFERSON, Iowa — Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since World War II. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price. The nation’s corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a growing “dead zone” — a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate. The dead zone was discovered in 1985 and has grown fairly steadily since then, forcing fishermen to venture farther and farther out to sea to find their catch. For decades, fertilizer has been considered the prime cause of the lifeless spot. With demand for corn booming, some researchers fear the dead zone will expand rapidly, with devastating consequences. “We might be coming close to a tipping point,” said Matt Rota, director of the water resources program for the New Orleansbased Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental group. “The ecosystem might change or collapse as opposed to being just impacted.” Environmentalists had hoped to cut nitrogen runoff by encouraging farmers to apply less fertilizer and establish buffers along waterways. But the demand for the corn-based fuel additive ethanol has driven up the price for the crop, which is selling for about $4 per bushel, up from a little more than $2 in 2002. That enticed American farmers — mostly in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota — to plant more than 93 million acres of corn in 2007, the most since 1944. They substituted corn for other crops, or made use of land not previously in cultivation. Corn is more “leaky” than crops such as soybean and alfalfa — that is, it absorbs less nitrogen per acre. The prime reasons are the drainage systems used in corn fields and the timing of when the fertilizer is applied. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that up to 210 million pounds of nitrogen fertilizer enter the Gulf of Mexico each year. Scientists had no immediate estimate for 2007, but said they expect the amount of fertilizer going into streams to increase with more acres of corn planted. “Corn agriculture practices release a lot of nitrogen,” said Donald Scavia, a University of Michigan professor who has studied corn fertilizer’s effect on the dead zone. “More corn equals more nitrogen pollution.” Farmers realize the connection between their crop and problems downstream, but with the price of corn soaring, it doesn’t make sense to grow anything else. And growing corn isn’t profitable without nitrogen-based fertilizer. “I think you have to try to be a good steward of the land,” said Jerry Peckumn, who farms corn and soybeans on about 2,000 acres he owns or leases near the Iowa community of Jefferson. “But on the other hand, you can’t ignore the price of corn.” Peckumn grows alfalfa and natural grass on the 220 or so acres he owns, but said he cannot afford to experiment on the land he rents. The dead zone typically begins in the spring and persists into the summer. Its size and location vary each year because of currents, weather and other factors, but it is generally near the mouth of the Mississippi. This year, it is the third-biggest on record. It was larger in 2002 and 2001, when it covered 8,500 and 8,006 square miles, respectively. Soil erosion, sewage and industrial pollution also contribute to the dead zone, but fertilizer is believed to be the chief factor. Fertilizer causes explosive growth of algae, which then dies and sinks to the bottom, where it sucks up oxygen as it decays. This creates a deep layer of oxygendepleted ocean where creatures either escape or die. Bottom-dwelling species such as crabs and oysters are most at risk, said Michelle Perez, an analyst with the Washington-based Environmental Working Group. “They struggle to survive,” Perez said. “They can’t swim away.” Crabbers complained at a meeting in Louisiana earlier this year that they pulled up bucket upon bucket of dead crabs. Rota warned that if the corn boom continues, the Gulf of Mexico could see an “ecological regime change.” The fear is that the zone will grow so big that most sea life won’t be able to escape it, leading to an even bigger die-off.
Why aren't the green weenies complaining about the damage to the ocean due to increased corn production. I think that it's Newton's Law that states for every action there's an equal but opposite reaction and this could be one.
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