Gasoline/Ethanol Mixture

[duckman]

Here is a story by my local news station about the use of ethanol in gasoline. According to the report, ethanol causes the gas mileage of vehicles to go down significantly and one gas station is advertising that they don't put ethanol in their mixtures:

hxxp://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=8438903

[stevew]

The concentration of Ethanol in the mixtures is less than 10%, I don't know how this could give you substantially less miles per gallon. Maybe you get 28MPG instead of 30, but not 21MPG instead of 30.

For instance, every night I run a 140 mile drug route in my car. I usually go exactly the same route. So my conditions are probably a lot more controlled than most peoples would be. The few times I have used the station that marks 10% ethanol, I may have gotten a bit less mileage. We're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 26mpg instead of 27.5. But it could have been that I was driving as more of a jackass that night.

It may be that people with older shit cars, ie the ones that need to get off the road, get less mileage with ethanol based fuel. Because they aren't as advanced as stuff made in the last several years.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by duckman

Here is a story by my local news station about the use of ethanol in gasoline. According to the report, ethanol causes the gas mileage of vehicles to go down significantly and one gas station is advertising that they don't put ethanol in their mixtures:

hxxp://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=8438903

I saw a couple stations with the 'no ethanol' advertising in Wisconsin.

Loss of mileage isn't the reason I don't support corn-based ethanol, though. The algae-based stuff, though, that sounds interesting and might be useful without driving up the cost of food.

[Sgran]

Leaving the food-price debate aside for the moment, the problem with ethanol (assuming you're using corn-based ethanol in the US) is that it isn't doing the environment or climate change any favors. US agriculture has become so heaviliy dependent on petroleum (for equipment and fertilizers) that you're actually using more gas at the end of the day. The only reason to use ethanol is to support your local agricultural megabusiness.
There is no doubt that the right biofuels can play a positive role in the energy mix, but US ethanol at the moment is nothing but an excuse to subsidize agri-business.
There is also debate over whether biofuels are in fact carbon neutral.
As for the original post, I don't know about ethanol, but I know that cars fitted for biodiesel (like the famous McDonald's-used-freedom-fries-oil burners) are actually good for the fuel lines.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

For instance, every night I run a 140 mile drug route in my car. I usually go exactly the same route. So my conditions are probably a lot more controlled than most peoples would be.

stevew = heroin mule?

SI

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by duckman

Here is a story by my local news station about the use of ethanol in gasoline. According to the report, ethanol causes the gas mileage of vehicles to go down significantly and one gas station is advertising that they don't put ethanol in their mixtures:

hxxp://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=8438903

There's less energy in a gallon of ethanol than there is in a gallon of gas. So, your car has to burn more ethanol to do the same things it did on gas. That's one of the reasons we've been running on gas for the last 100 years rather than running on corn squeezin's.

You're going to get slightly less gas mileage but it depends on how much less you think is "significant".

[Fidatelo]

The move to ethanol gas is stupid on several levels, and I'm shocked it is being allowed to continue (or even got to this point in the first place).

But that's ok, it seems reasonable to pay more for a loaf of bread than a 12 pack of cola anyways.

[st.cronin]

I noticed a pretty massive loss in gas mileage whenever I filled up with ethanol. This is when I was driving a Sebring - it went from 28 to about 20.

[BishopMVP]

Here in Massachusetts, we're going to start moving towards ethanol/biofuel-based heating oil too! Sweet!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

I noticed a pretty massive loss in gas mileage whenever I filled up with ethanol. This is when I was driving a Sebring - it went from 28 to about 20.

e-10, e-15 or e-85?

[-apoc-]

Originally Posted by stevew

e-10, e-15 or e-85?

e-xaggeration is my guess.

[JW]

Stop using food for fuel. Drill everywhere we can (like Florida coast, before the Chinese and Cubans take it all), exploit shale oil, turn coal into liquid fuel, use natural gas for transportation, build lots of nuclear plants (like the French), wind power, solar power, hydrogen, alternative biofuels.

Or we can tax the oil companies and sue OPEC and keep subsidizing corn-based ethanol so Iowa will be happy next election cycle.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by -apoc-

e-xaggeration is my guess.