In the end, this can be traced back to global warming. After all, ethanol is (supposedly) better for the environment.
Ethanol, simply, is corn that has been converted to fuel. Personally, I think I'd try the used french fry oil thing first, but that's only because using that won't starve the planet.
Ethanol is supposedly better for the environment than your typical gasoline because it doesn't put out as much co2. However, there are downsides to this. According to Business Week Technology:
Are there any problems with ethanol?
Oh, yes. Ethanol can't travel in pipelines along with gasoline, because it picks up excess water and impurities. As a result, ethanol needs to be transported by trucks, trains, or barges, which is more expensive and complicated than sending it down a pipeline. As refiners switched to ethanol this spring, the change in transport needs has likely contributed to the rise in gas prices. Some experts argue that the U. S. doesn't have adequate infrastructure for wide ethanol use.Also, ethanol contains less energy than gas. That means drivers have to make more frequent trips to the pump.
Guess how they're going to power the trains, trucks and barges they use to send ethanol on it's way? Somehow, I don't think they're using ethanol.
Also:
Doesn't producing ethanol on a large scale use a great deal of energy?
Yes. Some ethanol skeptics have even argued that the process involved in growing grain and then transforming it into ethanol requires more energy from fossil fuels than ethanol generates. In other words, they say the whole movement is a farce.
Well it is. But, to be fair....
There's no absolute consensus in the scientific community, but that argument is losing strength.
... Producing ethanol could get more efficient soon as new technologies help farmers get more corn per acre of land and allow ethanol producers to get more of the fuel from the same amount of corn. The companies developing new corn technologies include chemical giant Dupont and Monsanto, which sells genetically modified seeds as well as chemicals for protecting crops.
Another interesting note I took from Business Week:
Is ethanol cheaper than gas?
Surprise, surprise, it isn't. The move this spring by more regions to use ethanol means that demand has spiked, driving up prices. On Monday, the New York harbor price was around $3 per gallon compared with about $2.28 for gasoline (before being mixed with ethanol). In other words, for now ethanol is helping to increase prices at the pump, not to push them down.
This article was written back in 2006, so I'm sure things have changed since then. There's only one gas station around here that I know of that sells E85, and I haven't been to that gas station in eons. But thanks to the Internet, I learned that the prices per gallon for ethanol is about $1.63. i don't know where the pricing came from. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Indiana is about $1.57, or something like that.
Thanks to the bailout the Automakers needed, Congress is now, in effect, controlling the auto industry. So now we can expect to see more "environmentally friendly" cars. What a shame.
My number one personal reason for despising ethanol is that it causes food prices to go up. Corn should be eaten, not put in cars. Of course, Congress will never believe this.
To make ethanol, we have to use fossil fuels. Isn't that defeating the purpose?
Date begun: 10-27-08
Date completed: 12-10-08
Yeah, it took forever. But not really, once you realize I took the month of November off.
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