Myth: 15% Ethanol Fuel Will Destroy My Engine

[Bill USA]

18. GW is on course to start feeding on itself. I believe the best we can do is mitigate the disaster

Last edited Mon Oct 28, 2013, 07:29 PM - Edit history (6)

The corn used to make ethanol is of the type grown to feed cattle and pigs. People won't eat it. The supply of corn has not been adversely impacted by growing corn for ethanol as domestic needs are being met (for people and cattle... most corn is grown to feed cattle not people*) and exports have been growing. ONLY the starch from the corn is used to make ethanol. The protein portion is recovered and becomes Dried Distillers Grains and Solubles (DDGS) a high protein feed supplement(which can replace corn and other sources of protein) for cattle. THERE is NO LOSS of Protein for this process.

Nonetheless, since the Government has prohibited making much more ethanol from corn than we currently are we are now at about the limit of ethanol we can make from corn. We should start rapidly increasing the current production of methanol and add that to the ethanol being blended with gasoline. We currently make methanol for about $1.45 a gallon, wholesale. This is the quickest and cheapest way we have of cutting our consumption of gasoline/petroleum for light transportation.

Even with rapid increased production of methanol, with which we could eventually replace ALL gasoline being burned in light transportation sector, the best we can hope for is to mitigate the soon-to-be runaway GW.

I, of course, don't expect us to do this. The Oil industry disinformation machine is too powerful. In the future the Greenland ice sheets will be sliding off into the ocean and causeing an abrupt rise in the oceans - no this will not continue at a nice linear pace. THe ice will at some point get enough melt water underneath it to hit an inflection point where the speed of sliding off the Greenland landmass will abruptly increase. At this point there apparently isn't enough data to model when this will occur. But whenever it is will be a calamity like we have never seen in Human history.

..... if you are not under the age of say, 40 you probably don't have to worry. Otherwise, good luck ... and if you live too close tothe shoreline, move inland .. and upland... from the sea while you can afford to.

... beyond the melting Greenland Icesheets (and of course the Antarctic Ice sheets) there is the acidification of the ocean. Shell fish in the Northern Pacific are already starting to show the affects of this. At some point in the future, the food supply from the ocean will crash and billions who count on the ocean for a some or all of their food supply will be in dire straits. But at least we didn't use corn for starch to make ethanol - whew!

* BTW: corn is fed to cattle because it is cheaper. Cattle evolved eating GRASS and they do much better on grass. You know why red meat is not good for our cardiovascular system (cholesterol, heart attacks) it's because the cattle were fed CORN. The Japanese will not eat our beef from cattle fed corn. THey will only eat beef from cows raised on grass ... AS NATURE INTENDED.