Ethanol = 4 mpg LESS

[Darkwriter77]

Ever since all the pumps switched over to the 10% ethanol blend for gas in October (as they do every year from October 'till April), my gas mileage has totally taken a dump. I used to score a pretty consistent 24 mpg on the highway going 35 miles each way to/from work (at about 70 mph average, around 2400 RPM with my 4.10's), with the windows rolled DOWN; now, even with the windows rolled UP, I only get between 20 and 21 mpg at best, and there's been no change whatsoever in my driving habits or anything.

Sure, I can see some of the benefits of running ethanol - it's a renewable fuel source, it's domestically made, it burns cleaner, etc. - but the fact that it takes such a chunk out of your gas mileage only means that you're going to wind up consuming MORE fuel for those 6 months out of the year than you do with regular gasoline (or that stupid cancer-causing MTBE crap they mix in from May to September here). Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of ethanol? I mean, if the whole idea is to REDUCE emissions, isn't it kind of stupid to use something that DECREASES gas mileage and thus INCREASES overall fuel consumption and, thusly, the pollution output?

Why can't they just leave well enough alone and run one kind of fuel all year long? Seems pretty silly to me...

 

[90mustangGT]

A lot of "emmisions" devices do that, they make it burn more, but cleaner. It's a bunch of crap IMO.

 

[Daggar]

A lot of "emmisions" devices do that, they make it burn more, but cleaner. It's a bunch of crap IMO.

Yeah... often counter-productive. I wonder what the overall emmissions reduction is per mile when it's all said and done.

 

[GSP393]

The main reason ethanol is being spoon fed to us is because the mega-farms have a huge lobby in congress. The whole renewable energy idea might sound good on paper, but in reality is a load of bull crap. It takes more energy to produce the stuff than it provides in return.

 

[Strype]

Liberal Idealist Conspiracy

In other words...

Uneducated Hoity Toity Momma's Boy Morons in Congress

 

[Daggar]

The main reason ethanol is being spoon fed to us is because the mega-farms have a huge lobby in congress. The whole renewable energy idea might sound good on paper, but in reality is a load of bull crap. It takes more energy to produce the stuff than it provides in return.

Not too long ago, I read an article about methanol while sitting in a waiting room on tires to get changed o my truck. Not only does it require more energy to produce than it's output but if we used ALL of the farmable land in this country to produce the corn necessary to create methanol and supply the country with enough E85 to run their cars, then we'd still not have enough land to do the job.

In other words: No more farming of ANY kind unless it's corn. All park land and national reserves would be converted to farming. If it's not got a building on it, it must be converted to land for growing corn. Once complete, it still won't be enough to make enough E85 to supply the country.

As for 100% Ethanol or Methanol.... It's a pipe dream.

 

[GSP393]

It'l take a long time and alot of money (tax money) wasted before the ethanol scam will be scrapped. When it comes to logic or what's right and wrong, it's of no concern when big people stand to make a big profit.

 

[Darkwriter77]

So, why is it that us common folks seem to be the only ones smart enough to figure this whole thing out? I can understand the whole bunch of Congress and all being corrupt and refusing to change their policies because they're getting handed wads of money on the side (in one form or another), but how is it that there aren't any folks with common sense in high places that could finally point this silliness out to the world and maybe get things changed a little?

I was reading about this liquid coal thing the other day, about how they're looking at using our big ol' coal reserves as some alternate way of making gasoline that burns a lot cleaner but is domestically produced and costs a lot less to make. China's been doing it for years, apparently, and we're just now catching on. It's just stuff like that I don't understand why none of the folks up there in the high places can seem to see as being a viable solution (even if only a temporary one) to the whole energy source problem.

In the meantime ... yeah. Ethanol sucks mileage. Bleh.

 

[jrichker]

Hydrogen fueled vehicles are next on the list. The common method to make hydrogen is by electrolysis. The electrical power has to come form somewhere, and it isn't sunshine. That leaves coal or nuclear energy.

Coal mining leaves big holes in the ground , and if you are going to do that, why not just make coal into gasoline.

Nuclear energy is cool, high tech stuff, but the waste products are worst pollution hazards than the fossil fuels. Put them in the ground and if they ever leak, they poison whatever they come into contact with for a couple thousand years…

 

[Strype]

I think very seriously that we will prevail and we will find another source.

I mean seriously... If you'd have told someone in 1899 we'd be flying a couple of years later he'd have laughed. If you told someone in the 1950's you were going to the moon a decade later they'd have laughed. Look how much more hp and how much more efficient the cars of this decade are compared to a few years ago. Better yet, go back 30+ years, and then go back to the model T.

In 100 years we have flown above earth, flown to the moon, broken the speed of sound on land, gotten 40+ mpg, and most of all we split the atom.

 

[85ragtop]

Nuclear energy is cool, high tech stuff, but the waste products are worst pollution hazards than the fossil fuels. Put them in the ground and if they ever leak, they poison whatever they come into contact with for a couple thousand years…

It takes forever for that stuff to pose no threat to the ground.

 

[90mustangGT]

Yeah... often counter-productive. I wonder what the overall emmissions reduction is per mile when it's all said and done.

1940's the VW Beetle was getting 40+mpg. Yes, it was grossly underpowered and such, but with all the modern technology you think we could have fixed that. Also, when it was taken off the US market, mainly for emmisions reasons, it was still one of the most fuel effeicient cars on the road. I remember my 5.0 with ported heads, aftermarket everythign else, longtubes and o/r H pipe was getting 270+miles to the tank, an average of about 23-25mpg, and I wasn't light on the throttle.

One main gas burning accesroie in a car is the Hydrolic Automatic Transmission. It's days are numbered because more advancments in auto shifting manuals are being made.

 

[millhouse]

I would say the drop has more to do with differences in temperature than it does the new "blend". From everything I've found on the subject, a reasonable reduction of fuel economy with the 10% blend is ~ 1.5%.

Here is a decent article which directly relates to reduced fuel economy with relation to temperature change.... http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_ques...0CF9-1080-8CF983414B7F0000&catID=3&topicID=10

Pay close attention to the latter half of the article which mentions increased electronics use (heaters, defrosters, lights etc.) as well as the staggering difference in air density related to cooler temps.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I could kinda see the use of a heater with the fan blowing on medium or high, plus the addition of running wipers and such for snow/rain with the related weather, but neither has been an issue for me. I don't even HAVE a heater, hence I don't use the vents or anything, and today's the first rain we've gotten at all in, what, two months, so my driving habits and accessory useage has remained exactly the same. The only change has been that I don't need to roll the windows down anymore, lately, and that should HELP the mileage instead of hurting it (because having your windows down obviously ruins your aerodynamics and adds a lot of drag at highway speeds).

Speaking of accessories affecting mileage, I got to thinking about something else. Obviously, the high point of people using their A/C is going to be in the hotter summer months, which puts a dent in your mileage, and is also the same approximate months that they're mixing in the MTBE crap here in Arizona; in the cooler months, they offset the lesser use of A/C by blending in that stupid ethanol, which seems to affect mileage almost as much as running your A/C compressor all of the time. Maybe it was planned that way, or maybe it's just kind of a coincidence, I dunno...