E85 for American Fuel Independence !

[Terry1040]

I have burned 10,000 gallons or more of E85 in my personal vehicles. If all AMERICANS would do this we could spend our $ in the US with American companies and with American farmers. This is about clean emissions and clean air also. This is NOT about food vs fuel. We have an oversupply of corn in US (and in China). Fuel prices are cheap, and E85 is cheap also. If your retailer does not offer correct pricing on E85 (Under E10 by about 30 cents a gallon) then pressure them to price their E85 in the market. If priced correctly others will use it. I personally do not care about MPG. The best MPG is about E30, but the benefits to the American economy far outweigh the little bit of MPG difference. Ethanol today and vehicles today are different than they were 15 years ago. Please vote for E85 when you buy fuel ! PS - Merry Christmas from Nebraska !

 

[davesl708]

Far more people in the USA work in and for the oil industry than the ethanol industry. The US produces more oil than it needs now. So how will getting rid of gasoline and putting all those people out of work help the US economy?

 

[Terry1040]

Far more people in the USA work in and for the oil industry than the ethanol industry. The US produces more oil than it needs now. So how will getting rid of gasoline and putting all those people out of work help the US economy?

Yes, we have a lot of people employed in the oil industry. There is room for everyone & in fact when prices go up we will again be looking for new oil supplies in the US. The price of oil has slowed down the search for new oil, but other than that I don't believe any people have gone out of work. The ethanol industry is good for America & employees lots of people in mid America, including Kansas & Nebraska.

 

[Green Power]

I have burned 10,000 gallons or more of E85 in my personal vehicles. If all AMERICANS would do this we could spend our $ in the US with American companies and with American farmers. This is about clean emissions and clean air also. This is NOT about food vs fuel. We have an oversupply of corn in US (and in China). Fuel prices are cheap, and E85 is cheap also. If your retailer does not offer correct pricing on E85 (Under E10 by about 30 cents a gallon) then pressure them to price their E85 in the market. If priced correctly others will use it. I personally do not care about MPG. The best MPG is about E30, but the benefits to the American economy far outweigh the little bit of MPG difference. Ethanol today and vehicles today are different than they were 15 years ago. Please vote for E85 when you buy fuel ! PS - Merry Christmas from Nebraska !

Very well said.

 

[oliver1555]

The price of oil has slowed down the search for new oil, but other than that I don't believe any people have gone out of work. The ethanol industry is good for America & employees lots of people in mid America, including Kansas & Nebraska.

The low price of oil has put thousands out of work. Go to the oil patch and look at all of the contractors who have equipment sitting around doing nothing. Contractors are relied upon heavily by the oil industry, so the effects are widespread. I avoid ethanol when I can. It might be good for corn producers, but is not good for feeders. I guess it just depends on whose ox is being gored. I don't like it when it's mine.

 

[Green Power]

The low price of oil has put thousands out of work. Go to the oil patch and look at all of the contractors who have equipment sitting around doing nothing. Contractors are relied upon heavily by the oil industry, so the effects are widespread. I avoid ethanol when I can. It might be good for corn producers, but is not good for feeders. I guess it just depends on whose ox is being gored. I don't like it when it's mine.

Their is such an oversupply of corn right now, It wouldnt lower feed prices much, it would just force many farmers to change which crops they grow.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Wish they would do away with ethanol fuel. Nothing green about it.

 

[texas42]

All ethanol fuel really is, is a subsidy to the corn industry.
My car can't use E85, the people that make my chainsaw, weedeater, backpack blower, zero turn mower and other small engines warn against E85. Can't use it in my Harley.
My truck is a diesel, so I have no use for E85.
When you think of all the petroleum products it takes to grow corn, how green can it really be?

 

[dstig1]

I'm afraid it is more fantasy than fact. Corn to ethanol is a pretty inefficient way of making a fuel. Plus corn is a much better food than a fuel source. If "everyone" went to E85 as you implore, then food prices would go through the roof in an instant. As to your argument about fuel independence, the fracking boom has done far more to change the balance in that equation than ethanol could ever do. Now there is Brazil... A very different situation. They create ethanol from sugar cane. This is a much more direct and less energy intensive method of making ethanol than the corn route. And therefore it actually makes sense. Sugar cane to ethanol? Sure! Corn to ethanol? Nothing but crony capitalism, frankly, as it does not make economic sense. If the SHTF and world oil is no longer being transported, the US could crank up enough fracking capacity to cover within a couple years, I bet. It has improved so much over the past few years, that it would be foolish to bet against it improving a bunch more in the next several years. Eventually that will run out, but it is still quite a young technology.

OP - I'm afraid to point out that you sound like the crony capitalists that are making money from the government mandates and subsidies around corn ethanol....

 

[Garandman]

I have burned 10,000 gallons or more of E85 in my personal vehicles. If all AMERICANS would do this we could spend our $ in the US with American companies and with American farmers. This is about clean emissions and clean air also. This is NOT about food vs fuel. We have an oversupply of corn in US

It's Final -- Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use

The International Institute for Sustainable Development was not so diplomatic, and estimates that the CO2 and climate benefits from replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels like ethanol are basically zero (IISD). They claim that it would be almost 100 times more effective, and much less costly, to significantly reduce vehicle emissions through more stringent standards, and to increase CAFE standards on all cars and light trucks to over 40 miles per gallon as was done in Japan just a few years ago.

This is NOT about food vs fuel. We have an oversupply of corn in US

In 2000, over 90% of the U.S. corn crop went to feed people and livestock, many in undeveloped countries, with less than 5% used to produce ethanol. In 2013, however, 40% went to produce ethanol, 45% was used to feed livestock, and only 15% was used for food and beverage (AgMRC).

The United States will use over 130 billion gallons of gasoline this year, and over 50 billion gallons of diesel. On average, one bushel of corn can be used to produce just under three gallons of ethanol. If all of the present production of corn in the U.S. were converted into ethanol, it would only displace 25% of that 130 billion.

But it would completely disrupt food supplies, livestock feed, and many poor economies in the Western Hemisphere because the U.S. produces 40% of the world´s corn. Seventy percent of all corn imports worldwide come from the U.S. Simply implementing mandatory vehicle fuel efficiencies of 40 mpg would accomplish much more, much faster, with no collateral damage.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Ethanol =GREED pure and simple. Ed

 

[jeff9366]

Wish they would do away with ethanol fuel. Nothing green about it.

~~ X2 ~~

 

[Bird]

Surely, it's no surprise to anyone that our Nebraska farmer members are trying to sell ethanol.:laughing: After all, does any other state produce more corn than Nebraska? For the rest of us, it may not be such a great idea.

 

[Copperhead]

Their is such an oversupply of corn right now, It wouldnt lower feed prices much, it would just force many farmers to change which crops they grow.

What crops would they then grow? Wheat is down relative to historical pricing, oats likewise. Soybeans also. And the list goes on and on. And also, most farmers rotate crops seasonally and do not raise corn on the same ground year over year. So they are already growing other crops. Some folks actually need to check on what farms do than read magazines about it.

 

[Copperhead]

Surely, it's no surprise to anyone that our Nebraska farmer members are trying to sell ethanol.:laughing: After all, does any other state produce more corn than Nebraska? For the rest of us, it may not be such a great idea.

yes, Iowa. Iowa is the largest corn producing state in the country. Followed by Illinois. Nebraska is 3rd. Iowa and Illinois alone account for over 1/3 of the entire U.S. corn production. And well over 90% of that farm ground is not even irrigated.

 

[Copperhead]

Problem with the figures thrown out. Of the entire U.S. corn crop, 20% is used for human targeted food products. Of the 80% left, 40% is used for ethanol production. No one is getting shortchanged. IF they were, the price for corn would go thru the roof because of markets competing for the available corn. Simple economics is lost on so many people.

I'll leave the "green" arguments to others. I really could give a rip about the greenie stuff. I lived thru the days of serious pollution, rivers catching on fire from pollution, serious brown clouds of pollution over most all major cities, etc. We are in far better shape than we ever were during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. I am not a scientist, but I had enough solid scientific methodology in college to know a pile of horse crap when I see it. All of this CO2 is a pollutant nonsense is just that... nonsense. There were significantly higher levels of CO2 during the last Ice Age than now, but we keep getting fed a line garbage about how CO2 leads to global warming while the Antarctic ice sheet has grown to record levels.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I've ran the stuff and was not impressed. Cost me more per mile and was stopping every 200 miles for fuel vs 350. Gas station owners love the foot traffic.

Chris

 

[Copperhead]

That might be well true depending on pricing in your area. In my area as well, E85 is not worth it. But lets look at some other levels.

E0 is currently $2.36 a gallon in my area. Let's say with my 2015 2500HD 6.0L flex fuel I get 15 mpg average with E0. That equates to 15.7 cents a mile fuel cost. E10 is $1.93 in my area. Let's say I lose 1 mpg and get 14 mpg. Based on that, my fuel cost is 13.7 cents a mile. I just saved 2 cents a mile. I use E15, as there is no appreciable mpg difference between it an E10 in my pickup. But the price is $1.86 in my area. Using it saves me an additional 1/2 cent a mile. So using E15 as opposed to E0, I save 2.5 cents a mile. I will concede, at the current $1.68 I can get E85 in my area for, the mpg loss makes it more costly per mile than E15. So I use E15.

While gas stations might like the foot traffic, they hardly get mine. I fuel and pay at the pump and move on most times.

 

[Terry1040]

Wish they would do away with ethanol fuel. Nothing green about it.

Ethanol is 100% renewable fuel. It is totally GREEN. An air quality is not important to you ? important to America ?