There isn't enough farmland in the US to grow enough corn to convert everything over to pure ethanol. It's not the answer, for now at least.

I'll put money on the fact that there won't be a feasible alternative fuel developed and put out to the public until foreign oil runs dry. The hippies won't let us use ours, and at that point, nobody will be there to buy patents to keep new inventions from surfacing. With our current level of technology, I find it hard to believe a solution can't or hasn't been found, it just hasn't surfaced because of the reliance on oil.

 

Any gas stations that dont use ethanol exclusively?

octane boost might be an option...but a shitty one.

 

Thank you! Lets not be naive.

 

Yeah this ethanol stuff is junk. I know all the boat guys gotta be careful now. If you have fiberglass tanks ethanol eats through them very fast. I read an article in the new boat mag about it. Sad part is its not somethign that happens over time it happens in like a week. Imagine how that would ruin your day. Most of these tanks are like 100 gallons and sometimes you have 2 of them. Not only do you waste 200 gallons of fuel but you just paid $4 a gallon for but you nee to have your tanks replaced as well.

 

The local Wal-mart has been using ethanol fuel for 5 years or so. I used to get it because it smelled better than normal fuel and was cheaper.

What about aviation fuel? It's like $3.26 for 114 octane, but it is leaded. It's okay to mix it with pump gas. A lot of guys around here use strickly this for their old street rods.

 

Aviation fuel is oxygenated. Unless you want to run really LEAN, I suggest staying away from it.

 

There is a gas station here in Middletown/Newport near First beach that still uses MTBE - it even advertises on the pump "with MTBE" - Lucky Me I'm not too worried about the ethanol - I'll just adapt - it sure beats complaining to an empty theatere

 

i filled up again last night. looks like my local station here in nh doesn't use etoh, or at least they don't advertise that they do. I saw that sign i mentioned earlier in Worcester where i bought my new truck.

I think Maine might still use MTBE. I'll swing up there later and check. i'm like 15min from kittery.

 

Around the Brunswick/Bath area I havent seen any signs saying that they sell the ethanol...

 

All the stations that I would use around me have converted over. The No-Name gas places don't have the stickers yet. But I'm a little nervous about filling up there. Last week I stopped at litterally 6 gas stations trying to find one that didn't have the eth. mix. I don't think I'll be as lucky the next time I fill up.

I think it's a law that all the staions have to make the switch. I hope I'm wrong about that though.

The contour mpg went from 27 to 28 though! That car is a beast!

 

some interesting info

An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, according to Pimentel’s analysis. Thus, even before corn is converted to ethanol, the feedstock costs $1.05 per gallon of ethanol.
The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain is crushed and fermented. As many as three distillation steps are needed to separate the 8 percent ethanol from the 92 percent water. Additional treatment and energy are required to produce the 99.8 percent pure ethanol for mixing with gasoline.
Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion to ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTU. "Put another way", Pimentel says, "about 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in ethanol. Every time you make 1 gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTU".
Ethanol from corn costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce, compared with about 95 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline. "That helps explain why fossil fuels-not ethanol-are used to produce ethanol", Pimentel says. "The growers and processors can’t afford to burn ethanol to make ethanol. U.S. drivers couldn’t afford it, either, if it weren’t for government subsidies to artificially lower the price".
Most economic analyses of corn-to-ethanol production overlook the costs of environmental damages, which Pimentel says should add another 23 cents per gallon. "Corn production in the U.S. erodes soil about 12 times faster than the soil can be reformed, and irrigating corn mines groundwater 25 percent faster than the natural recharge rate of ground water. The environmental system in which corn is being produced is being rapidly degraded. Corn should not be considered a renewable resource for ethanol energy production, especially when human food is being converted into ethanol".
The approximately $1 billion a year in current federal and state subsidies (mainly to large corporations) for ethanol production are not the only costs to consumers, the Cornell scientist observes. Subsidized corn results in higher prices for meat, milk and eggs because about 70 percent of corn grain is fed to livestock and poultry in the United States. Increasing ethanol production would further inflate corn prices, Pimentel says, noting: "In addition to paying tax dollars for ethanol subsidies, consumers would be paying significantly higher food prices in the marketplace".
Nickels and dimes aside, some drivers still would rather see their cars fueled by farms in the Midwest than by oil wells in the Middle East, Pimentel acknowledges, so he calculated the amount of corn needed to power an automobile:
The average U.S. automobile, traveling 10,000 miles a year on pure ethanol (not a gasoline-ethanol mix) would need about 852 gallons of the corn-based fuel. This would take 11 acres to grow, based on net ethanol production. This is the same amount of cropland required to feed seven Americans.
If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent ethanol, a total of about 97 percent of U.S. land area would be needed to grow the corn feedstock. Corn would cover nearly the total land area of the United States.

 

this does suck as most stations have already switched . it may be a higher octane but actully has less power output from the burn. just another way for the rich to get richer mtbe worked fine for years but i guess that wasnt good enough

 

damn looks like cam2 110 at my sunoco will be getting all my money..oh well

 

Good thing my brother buys VP C16 by the 54 gallon drum

 

what would be a good alternative for an N/A car over the new gas or any additives that would help?

 

don the *** wont let me buy one an put it at his house *****

 

just hide it in the woods next to his house. he will never know

 

The Flex-Fuel vehicles all have stainless tanks and lines to prevent corrosion.

This will be the future right here.. sorry to say:

1. Honda Insight — 60/66
2. Toyota Prius — 60/51*
3. Honda Civic Hybrid — 49/51*
4. Volkswagen Golf TDI — 37/44
Volkswagen New Beetle TDI — 37/44
5. Volkswagen Jetta TDI — 36/41
6. Toyota Corolla — 32/41
7. Scion xA — 32/37
8. Hyundai Accent — 32/35
Kia Rio — 32/35
9. Honda Civic — 30/40*
10. Pontiac Vibe — 30/36
Toyota Matrix — 30/36

http://edmunds.nytimes.com/reviews/l...7/article.html

 

Yeah!! We'll all chip in to buy a drum!

 

I've been having some mild pinging action under WOT from this shitty gas. I run premium pump all the time too. Sucks.

Andy