A blog on objective thought in today's irrational, subjective world tackling some of the hardest questions of existence using reason and logic.
Published on May 7, 2006 By John Galt In US Domestic
Dan Rather just did a piece on 60 minutes...

Pushing ethanol fuels...

It has to be the worst piece of reporting since Rathergate Part 1.

Things he didn't mention or got plan wrong:

Ethanol fuels barely has a net gain. That is it takes 99% of the energy that is produced from the end fuel to actually create the fuel. Given that oil works out to about 40%, that means that we have to produce about a billion times more ethanol to meet our needs. No mention of this stupidity.

Ethanol and the law requiring ethanol in all gas that started in January is the #1 reason why your gas prices are so high now.

Ethanol has absolutely 0 effect on green house gas. He contended that ethanol lowers green house gases. Ethanol does not have any green house gases because it uses carbon that is already in the atmosphere unlike oil that uses trapped carbon that hasn't been in the atmosphere for eons.

End result? Ethanol is a political game that is costing us billions for no reason and cannot alleviate the oil crisis at all as it currently stands.

The only thing interesting about Ethanol is the use for direct injection to increase octane by huge amounts so that turbo chargers can work about 100% more efficiently. Thus lowering the amount of gas needed per horse power.

Hydrogen is the interesting fuel source, not Ethanol. But of course that doesn't get you votes in Iowa and Indiana.

Comments
on May 07, 2006
With palms together, Gee I thought ethanol was supposed to save us. At least that's what I thought I heard Mr. Bush say. Be well.
on May 08, 2006
With palms together, Gee I thought ethanol was supposed to save us. At least that's what I thought I heard Mr. Bush say. Be well.


Want to try again?


"It's good public policy for America. It's good for your air, it's good for our economy and it's good for our national security," President Bush said. "Thank goodness we're self-sufficient in food. But we're not self-sufficient in energy. The less reliant we are on foreign sources of crude oil, the better off we are in America."
John Fiegen was one of the farmers who came to listen to the president in Wentworth. Fiegen's a stockholder in the Dakota Ethanol plant. He appreciated the president's strong support of ethanol. But he was disappointed Bush didn't come out in favor of expanded ethanol production. There is a bill in the senate which could triple ethanol output over the next decade. Fiegen says the agricultural economy is so poor farmers need all the federal help they can get.


Link

Nowhere in there does he say that it'll save us. Sounds like you're waaaay off base. Instead of being well, try being truthful or more informed.
on May 08, 2006
Electric cars, another god send for the environment, are actually more poluting than oil based engines.  Why?  The fuel to create the power comes from very dirty sources, such as coal.  The only thing good about them is that you cant use coal in a car, so it is just a conversion to a usuable mobile energy source.  So is Ethanol.  It can be produced from non-mobile sources.  The greatest coal deposits in the world exist in North America.  Converting that coal into different energy sources would still help the oil issue.  But it is not a magic panacea.
on Jul 31, 2006
Actually Dr. Guy, even the dirties coal generation station is about 100 times more efficient than the number of cars required to produce the same amount of energy. It's called efficiency through making things big. Further most coal plants aren't all that dirty anymore. It's just there are thousands of them across the mid-west so it creates a lot via accumulation. But if you were to replace every fosil fuel burning peice of equipment with electic generated by coal you would still be about 100 times further ahead in the amount of polution and consumption. (EPA's own numbers here)

The point is that the batteries required to store the power are the big polluters. But that goes into the ground, and in the case of lithium-ion, most of them can be recycled... well when they're not exploding in Dell Laptops that is... but the point being is that the next gen of hybred cars and all electric use Lithium-ion to run and thus are much more environmentally friendly than the current lead-acid batteries thus eliminating most of the problem.
on May 24, 2009

I wish the media would expose the ethanol mtyh more vigourously. Ethanol only benefits the corn growers and the ethanol producers.....what a shame. And Congress wants to require more in our gas. Here is an article talking about how ehtanol is suspected in a lot of engine failures...

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/may2009/bw20090514_058678.htm