Pitfalls of Ethanol Fuel

I agree with you IQ174. When I first heard about the subsidized conversion of a valuable food crop such as corn simply to fuel our SUV's (read Stupid Useless Vehicles) I almost couldn't believe it. Talk about a mistake of biblical proportions! Stop the madness.

ethanol is only good for race cars. It burns clean emissions and you get a better mpg at high speeds only. The fuel's octane is high great for horsepower thats why IRL uses 100% ethanol. I think formula one should switch to Ethanol they would make much more hp.

Shinjitsu2: ethanol does not burn clean. In some respects it might be cleaner than gasoline. However ethanol produces more smog components than gasoline. So in some respects burning ethanol is actually less environmentally friendly. It can still produce nitrogen oxides that can become nitric acid and acid rain.

Ethanol mixed fuel sucks. Regular gas has a larger energy density than ethanol mixed fuel. Which means it diminishes fuel economy so you actually wind up losing money, since you have to buy more gas to drive the same distance you used to with regular gas. And they are trying to make it the standard, which means that soon we will all be filling up our tanks everyday reminiscing about how you used to be able to actually drive somewhere with half a tank of gas.

I just had a thought. You know that ethanol is produced by yeast fermenting sugars . It seems there is one other byproduct of this process . Hmmmm, what could it be. Oh yeah CO2, and a lot of it. Isn't that what some people believe to be a greenhouse gas?

for once democrats and republicans can agree that ethanol is a big scam

Ethanol is corossive to metal

100% correct

ethanol attracts water in any fuel tank that is not completely sealed. boats are a prime example... this destroys gas tanks, fuel lines, and can ruin a motor. Its also less efficient in normal engines, reducing mpg by a factor that makes any benefit of emissions totally negated. This is not a feasible alternative to gas... we need to stop putting it in gasoline and find better alternatives, of which there are many

Methane not ethanol. Methane from waste not ethanol from corn & sugar. Also, methane doesn't use fertilizer, it's usually a byproduct.