Ethanol's Future

Just watched Ted Cruz on Meet the Press. Cruz wants to to allow an increase to the percentage of ethanol in gasoline. The other guys just want to keep the subsidies (welfare for farmers) for the production of ethanol. Yay politicians. To hell with common sense.

Wouldn't worry about it, Congress decides that not the president. It's election time, they're all pandering to the voters, promising things they don't control.

Ted

The last I read was they wanted our gasoline watered down with ethanol by 75% by 2020.

I agree the prez probably can't do it, but he can twist enough arms to get it through it he wanted to.

Too bad people don't know what they are doing and how it harms us in the process. If you figure the cost of all the subsidies for ethanol, the price per gallon is more than gasoline. So we spend more for something than necessary? sugar prices went up, yeast got scarce, bread prices rose. Meat prices rose, because their feed is now making ethanol. Lots of big business is getting fat off the ethanol business, at our expense.

On the other hand, Brazil, with sugarcane can make ethanol cheaper than gas, which makes sense in their economy.

Brazil can make ethanol from sugar cane fairly cheaply for several reasons: cheaper labor, cheaper farm land and almost no environmental controls.

Irrespective of the sugar lobby, in the US sugar cane based ethanol would not be competitive against gasoline just like corn ethanol isn't competitive when all tax subsidies are factored in.

To really make an environmental difference, ethanol will have to be made from switch grass or some inexpensive source of carbohydrate. Unfortunately the fermentation yields to ethanol are miserable.

David

But methanol can be made from many waste by-products. And we now have the technology to make ethanol from methanol.

folivier said:

But methanol can be made from many waste by-products. And we now have the technology to make ethanol from methanol.

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Methanol factories?