Your opinion on ethanol.

[03vert70charger]

My father works for the largest ethanol producer in the world(Verasun). So I am fairly educated about ethanol. A lot of people seem to have a hostile attitude towards ethanol, and I would like to know why some people have this attitude. Verasun sells ethanol for about $1.70 a gallon right now to oil companies, but they go and sell it just under the price of regular. So they make a killing. If they sold it for how much it really should go for, then it would be much more popular, but they have to make a buck.

In 2-5 years we will be making ethanol without using corn. There are many alternatives for ethanol other than corn. It is just currently the cheapest and most abundant. Using crops grown in the US is good for the economy because ever gallon of ethanol used in the US is less money we have to send overseas.

A lot of ethanol critics say that it costs more energy to produce ethanol, than the ethanol made can create. This is not true. That literature was true 30 years ago. The ethanol process is much more effective.

 

[Stanley]

The money stays here, but it also raises the price of food. Now that corn is so expensive every byproduct of it is expensive as well.

I have heard that it is hard to move it around and absorbs water to easy. Know anything about that?

Making fuel from a food source is just a bad idea imo. Hopefully when they can make it out of something else some of the prices of foods will go back down, but I doubt it.

 

[03vert70charger]

I have heard that it is hard to move it around and absorbs water to easy. Know anything about that?

Making fuel from a food source is just a bad idea imo. Hopefully when they can make it out of something else some of the prices of foods will go back down, but I doubt it.

Ethanol has a lot of water in it, and a lot of water is used in the process to make it. Last year, Verasun produced 3.8 billion gallons of ethanol, but used 4.3 billion gallons of water in the process. Water absorption is not a problem with Ethanol though.

Making fuel from a food source is probably the most major knock on ethanol. While the price of corn has increased dramatically over the last years, it has actually gone down the last few months. And again, in the coming years ethanol will not be made from corn, but rather from wastes from other products and other crops that are much more efficient than corn.

 

[PowerWheels]

Why grow fuel when there is plenty to drill. Food prices are going up because of ethenol and the soil will just get depleted.

 

[03vert70charger]

Why grow fuel when there is plenty to drill. Food prices are going up because of ethenol and the soil will just get depleted.

Ask the democrats and tree huggers that!!

With current farming methods, soil will not deplete. Corn takes nitrogen out of the soil. Yet Soy beans put nitrogen into the soil. Farmers rotate their crops with corn and soy beans. Both are profitable for farmers. So soil depletion is currently not a problem.

 

[tallfreak]

^^^ I agree.

Not trying to say ethanol is bad, I have no clue about it other than the gas stations around here now have 10% ethanol. I have heard that you get 30% less mpg with ethanol than gasoline, but if we could get it for $2/gallon, I wouldn't care.

 

[03vert70charger]

^^^ I agree.

Not trying to say ethanol is bad, I have no clue about it other than the gas stations around here now have 10% ethanol. I have heard that you get 30% less mpg with ethanol than gasoline, but if we could get it for $2/gallon, I wouldn't care.

You actually get 15% less gas mileage with ethanol than regular gasoline. Theoretically you should be able to buy ethanol 15% cheaper than gasoline. But the oil companies don't let that happen. If profit margins were the same for ethanol as it was for gasoline, you would be able to buy ethanol for about $2.40 a gallon, and that is a conservative estimate.

 

[RDJ]

Ethanol is a huge joke perpetrated on the public buy liberal asshats in congress and people who stand to make a buck off of it.

For you to use the argument it is ok and won't be made from corn in the future is disingenuous at best. How does that lame ass argument help us today. The biggest reason for the rise in food costs can be laid directly at the feet of your family company. They buy up corn that could be used for food production and pay the farmers a premium compared to what they would get from the places that would normally buy it. this prompted people who would normally plant other food products to plant corn instead since they could make more money from the ethenol producers.

your comment that the negatives against ethanol are based on studies made 30 years ago also shows you don't know as much as you think you do about it. More recent studies have shown that this has not changed a bit. it still costs more over time than it saves.

 

[03vert70charger]

The money stays here, but it also raises the price of food. Now that corn is so expensive every byproduct of it is expensive as well.

I have heard that it is hard to move it around and absorbs water to easy. Know anything about that?

Making fuel from a food source is just a bad idea imo. Hopefully when they can make it out of something else some of the prices of foods will go back down, but I doubt it.

Ethanol isn't the only reason food prices have gone up. The economy in India and China has increased rapidly, which consumed lots of corn, rice and wheat. Which has also caused the price of corn to go up. Don't blame just ethanol for the price of corn. Also, dont forget the energy cost of food production and transporation. That has also increased the cost of corn, and everything in general.

 

[floyd4ford]

Gas mileage sucks, The price of it sucks, It sucks!

 

[bleedingfordblu]

Why grow fuel when there is plenty to drill. .

yep i say we drill!

 

[03vert70charger]

Ethanol is a huge joke perpetrated on the public buy liberal asshats in congress and people who stand to make a buck off of it.

For you to use the argument it is ok and won't be made from corn in the future is disingenuous at best. How does that lame ass argument help us today. The biggest reason for the rise in food costs can be laid directly at the feet of your family company. They buy up corn that could be used for food production and pay the farmers a premium compared to what they would get from the places that would normally buy it. this prompted people who would normally plant other food products to plant corn instead since they could make more money from the ethenol producers.

your comment that the negatives against ethanol are based on studies made 30 years ago also shows you don't know as much as you think you do about it. More recent studies have shown that this has not changed a bit. it still costs more over time than it saves.

Its true farmers make more off of corn than they used to, and what do they do with that? They invest in new tractors, new equipment. Where does that money go? That goes to US companies, such as caterpillar, JI case, John Deere. It also goes to associated companies that supply parts to those companies. Those jobs are typically in small communities that need jobs. Is that bad for America?

How does that help us today? Instead of buying 10 billion gallons a year of oil from the middle east and other unfriendly countries, we are buying it from our own people. Doesn't that help us today?

Its about time we held people hostage instead of the oil producing countries holding us hostage.

Your comment about ethanol not be energy efficient shows your ignorance of current ethanol production technologies.

 

[03vert70charger]

Gas mileage sucks, The price of it sucks, It sucks!

Thats not the fault of ethanol companies. They sell it to oil companies. Blame the oil companies for the price of it!

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

It makes my lawnmower backfire.

 

[03vert70charger]

Again, ethanol from corn isn't the answer. Ethanol alone isn't the answer to our energy crisis. It is definitely part of it though. Ethanol, coal, nuclear, solar, and wind energy are all part of the answer. We need to get away from our dependence from foreign oil and keep the money in our own economy.

 

[03vert70charger]

30 years ago the ethanol production process used more steam, heat, water, natural gas, energy, etc than it does today. Todays plants recover waste heat instead of using a fuel source to generate steam. 100% of process water is recycled to minimize and reduce total water usage. Anaerobic digesters are now being used to greatly minimize natural gas usage. More and more new technologies are being utilized to improve energy efficiency. The industry is a model for what can be done to maximize energy efficiency.

 

[RDJ]

Its true farmers make more off of corn than they used to, and what do they do with that? They invest in new tractors, new equipment. Where does that money go? That goes to US companies, such as caterpillar, JI case, John Deere. It also goes to associated companies that supply parts to those companies. Those jobs are typically in small communities that need jobs. Is that bad for America?

this does not change the fact that ethenol production is causing food prices to rise, farmers to take food producing land out of food production and put it into corn production now does it? I have seen NO studies that says anything about investment in new farm equipment being driven by ethenol.
You are making a huge assumption in an attempt to justify something your father is involved in. Because he works for an ethenol company does not make him a bad man. there is no reason to try to justify anything based of facts you pull out of your butt. if you can point to a study, or news report that supports what you say post it up and I will give it consideration

How does that help us today? Instead of buying 10 billion gallons a year of oil from the middle east and other unfriendly countries, we are buying it from our own people. Doesn't that help us today?

spoken like a true liberal. No it doesn't help us today. you are right that we need to wean ourselves off of foreign oil. ethenol is NOT the way to do it. the costs are too high and the benefits are not there

Its about time we held people hostage instead of the oil producing countries holding us hostage.

spoken like a true liberal asshat. So you admit that ethenol production holds people hostage. so all you have done is replace one hostage taker with another one. yeah that works :??:

Your comment about ethanol not be energy efficient shows your ignorance of current ethanol production technologies.

Your own words own you fool. my car on ethenol gets 15% less gas mileage which means I am using 15% more fuel to get the same gas mileage I got before. explain how that is more efficient oh mighty expert

 

[03vert70charger]

Why grow fuel when there is plenty to drill.

Many people say that the country that has the most oil left 50 years from now will be in control of the world economy. Let's use everybody else's oil first and save ours, by producing ethanol, and win the energy race in the long run.

 

[RFH]

Again, ethanol from corn isn't the answer. Ethanol alone isn't the answer to our energy crisis. It is definitely part of it though. Ethanol, coal, nuclear, solar, and wind energy are all part of the answer. We need to get away from our dependence from foreign oil and keep the money in our own economy.

quoted for thruth.

Cellulosic Ethanol is going to be key someday. It wont replace gasoline, but if we could make enough to have E50 nationally, it would be huge step to stop importing oil.

 

[F8LSNAKE]

Well I definately think we need to drill for our own oil. It doesn't make sense not too. On the other hand for us hotrodders, ethanol is cheap race fuel. I'm thinking about tuning my car on it for the track. It's about 104 octane and burns much cooler than gasoline. I don't see it as a viable alternative to gasoline for the average commuter though. Just my .02