Ethanol (alcohol), mixed with gasoline, is utterly stupid, uneconomical, and costly. It is one of those habits created by the greenies, and absorbed by the rest of the typically ignorant legislatures. It is now, universally thought to be the salvation of our air. All totally wrong.
Ethanol is derived from plants, through a fairly straightforward process. The most common plant is corn, which is ground into a fine powder, mixed with water, and then heated. An enzyme is added to convert the mixture into sugars, and then yeast is added to ferment it. The resultant liquid is called “beer.” It is then distilled, separating the alcohol from the rest of the mixture. The water is thereby removed, leaving pure alcohol. In America, we use corn, and in Brazil they use sugar cane to make the stuff. There is some experimentation going on now, which theoretically will make it our of algae.
It’s supposed advantages are that it relieves air pollution and can be grown as needed, as a ’renewable’ resource. In actuality, the ethanol has a very low octane rating, and lowers autos mileage per gallon. It cannot be shipped in pipelines, as it picks up water and impurities, so it must be shipped by expensive trucks, thereby increasing the cost of fuels to which it is added. While corn can be said to be a ’renewable’ fuel source, it is a food, and as a result of the ethanol craze and legislation, the price of corn has risen, and productive land is being used for growing non-food.
It is bad for your engine, which no truthful automotive engineer will deny, and as far as saving energy, that is a fable. The fuel used growing corn, the fuel used making fertilizer, tractors, tractor tires, engine oil, etc, the fuel used in distilling, transporting, and mixing it, far outweighs any cost or BTU savings. The cost of ethanol is about the same as gasoline, so there are no savings there. Ethanol now has its own trade magazines, federal laws, and millions of groupies, supporters, corn growers, and legislatures have turned this into a total industry, which shouldn’t exist, in my opinion. I think the entire ethanol industry is a fraud, and worthless. My Mercedes mechanic despises it, but there is no gasoline available now which doesn’t contain the usual, mileage costing, engine harming, 10% ethanol.
Like many other government sponsored laws, regulations, subsidies, and outright lies; ethanol sits up right there with paper money, Afghanistan, fake statistics, and millions of snooping bureaucrats, who harass us daily with their civilization crushing powers. As I said in a previous column, “Stop! It doesn’t work.”
P.S. wouldn’t it be nice if Sheriff Dopynik of Pima County Arizona were defeated at the next election? Or recalled now? What an idiot! Wouldn’t it be nice if the Baptists removed the franchise of those nut balls who plan on parading around the funerals of the deceased in Tucson? I am a Christian Baptist, and I am ashamed of them.