Comments for The Great Ethanol Scam »
Posted By STONERS 7 months, 1 week ago in Business & FinanceNot only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers.
Read Full Story at businessweek.com »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 24
-
100%
orndorffter7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I have a small vehicle and that probley means that I have a small gas powered engine. I dont want non of that stuff in my vehicle, thats not right they shouldnt do people this way,only so they can make an extra dime. good story STONERS and thanks for the info.
Reply -
100%
getreal17 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Well now. That explains what may have happen to my truck and whats happening to my other truck. The intake almost every thing on top of the engine melted off my Chevrolet. Cost us $600.00 to fix. Can you sue? One would think that after all the people of this overburden ecomony has been through that these engineers would stop creating money traps. It's money traps like this that keep people from surviving. We are going to stay broke as long as the government keeps allowing these things. Good post Stoners
Reply -
-
-
100%
chevydog7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
One could make the point (some people probably already have) that this again is government mandating something that has not been well thought out. That this is all too typical of government; and is good enough reason that we shouldn't trust them to mandate anything. Put in ideological terms, markets work better than mandates.
Reply
Let me chip in my two cents worth and say I am not one of those that believes that government organizations are inherently less efficient than private ones. The problem IMHO is that government organizations are often required to factor in political considerations that private ones can and often do ignore.
-
-
100%
FrankHummel7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The problem, of course, is that the whole business of devising "new alternatives" is being driven by mere MONEY considerations, instead of by actual technoligical intelligence. The ethanol "craze" appeared to offer agricultural and chemicals interests an opening to "make" more of the stuff, and so it was pursued. Meanwhile, alternatives that actually COULD make really MEANINGFUL differences (e.g. REGENERATIVE BRAKING!) were long AVOIDED because foolish folk have long ranked "finance" as "job 1".
Reply
Well, we can all see where THAT "wisdom" has now led! Contrary to endlessly promoted ideology, the "financial" metric, which IS indeed quite valuable for purposes of "homing in" and "fixating" on (in the parlance of control-systems theory) a LOCAL optimum in a "System State Space", does NOT somehow automatically drive operation of that system to the GLOBAL optimum operating point! To achieve THAT, at some point somebody needs to come along and actually THINK --- like, "OUTSIDE the box"!
The truth of the matter is that by the application of very OLD technological concepts --- applying to the mere automobile things worked out MANY YEARS AGO NOW ALREADY in much HEAVIER-DUTY systems --- "we" could have, beginning DECADES ago, by now easily FLAT-OUT ELIMINATED about THREE-FOURTHS of oil importation to refine into gasoline to fuel "our" automotive vehicular fleet --- had “we” but had the wit and the wisdom to do so!! And “we” would have, incidentally, thereby simply greatly DIMINISHED the "economic" OVER-valuation of the stuff that has ACTUALLY rendered it so "lucrative" to fight over, and thus AVOIDED the huge waste of an entire WAR / WORLDWIDE CONFLICT that has now crashed “our” whole economy!
However OUTRAGEOUS and OUTLANDISH such an assertion may sound to many, make no mistake about it: PRECISELY THAT genuinely, simply IS the implication of the “new” ELECTRIC / I.C.E. "CHIMERA" automotive architectural concept --- exemplified by the (hopefully) soon to be forthcoming (but really much belated!) Chevy VOLT --- or if not that, then by its now slightly-FARTHER-advanced (recently formally "unveiled") EUROPEAN counterpart (jovially dubbed the AMPERE), to be followed shortly (no doubt) by still other entries into the “development derby” coming from all those clever folks over in ASIA.
The idea involves BATTERY POWER carrying the car for a number of miles (in the case of the VOLT, FORTY), with an internal combustion engine then kicking in if (and only if) the battery runs down. But FULLY THREE-FOURTHS of all personal auto usage "fits" within a forty-mile power budget! You go to the store, bank, dentist, etc., and you come back home AND PLUG THE CAR BACK INTO THE WALL. MOST OF THE TIME THE PETROLEUM-POWERED ENGINE NEVER RUNS! The car is mainly powered by resources that “WE” can provide for “OUR”SELVES! -
100%
FrankHummel7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Now actually, BOTH components of this "chimera" are VERY OLD technology. ELECTRIC cars have been around since the EARLIEST days of the automobile! (And by the way, the speed record for ELECTRIC-powered cars these days out at the Bonneville Salt Flats now stands IN EXCESS OF FOUR HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR. So how’s THAT for speed and power?) Moreover, the I.C.E "fallback" component, involving a petroleum-powered engine coupled NOT to an elaborate, troublesome, expensive TRANSMISSION / DRIVE TRAIN but, rather, merely to a GENERATOR that supplies ELECTRIC drive motors (the same ones powered by the BATTERY until it runs down!) --- is a paradigm implemented MANY YEARS AGO NOW ALREADY on a much larger scale on the RAILROADS and also in the BIGGEST SHIPS on the high seas! Anybody ever hear of the DIESEL-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE??
Reply
The truth is, really BIG-MUSCLE machines have LONG relied on relatively simple, UNbreakable MAGNETIC-force drive elements rather than on complex, fallible mechanical ones --- because “we” simply couldn’t BEGIN to engineer a viable FRICTION-based CLUTCH to harness an internal combustion engine --- which by its basic nature cannot operate all the way down to ZERO RPM as an ELECTRIC motor can --- to start a really HEAVY load moving!
As for the operating cost of such a “chimera”, about EIGHTY CENTS worth of “grid” power “fills the VOLT’S tank”. Eight such forty-mile “fill-ups”, costing about $6.40, carries the vehicle about 320 miles --- THE SAME DISTANCE AS A TANK OF GASOLINE THAT COSTS OVER FOUR TIMES AS MUCH! (And if one is smart enough to gather one’s OWN energy for ONE’S SELF via solar photovoltaic panels or a windmill it could even be FREE!) Moreover, such cars should also ultimately be MUCH CHEAPER TO BUILD --- as one simply DISPENSES WITH the complex, expensive TRANSMISSION / DRIVE TRAIN! (Note that there simply IS NO TRANSMISSION on a Diesel-electric locomotive!)
Furthermore, “we” really SHOULD ALSO have (LONG AGO NOW ALREADY!) seriously begun --- as per the recent proposals of famed “oil”man T. Boone (“T-Bone”?) Pickens --- the CONVERSION (which could be accomplished as a RETROFIT!) of all those BIG TRUCKS and other heavy vehicles over to NATURAL GAS (in the form of LNG) --- which “we” possess (for “OUR”SELVES!) in ABUNDANCE for quite a while longer (until HYDROGEN alternatives eventually come to replace BOTH interim “stopgap” technologies!).
So GET BUSY, FOLKS --- doing something CONSTRUCTIVE that would actually be USEFUL (in place of much of the “fluff” on which so many people evidently consume themselves nowadays)!-
FrankHummelComment removed: Spam
-
Neutral
simonsez7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Frank
Reply
I think your comments are probably pretty good, but your attempt to highlight by capitalizing makes it almost impossible to decipher without re-reading several times. Cosequently I, for one, merely skip over them. I don't know what others do ...
Cap once or twice if you must, but not every sentence ... every line.
-
-
FrankHummelComment removed: Spam
-
FrankHummelComment removed: Spam
-
FrankHummelComment removed: Spam
-
100%
rimbaud7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
We can continue to burn oil and natural gas... if we learn to use less of it.
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EZksMbCvxA -
100%
frqtrdar557 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I dont know,of course, who Frank Hummel is, but I TRULY thank him for taking the time to write (and explain) all that he did. I'm a 54 yr old African American woman who lives on disability. Needless to say, every penny is accounted for, like most of us these days, and watch whats goin on in the "fuel/alternative energy" wars very closely. Again, like most of us, I understand some, but definately, not most of whats said, and mostly because its all delivered in news "blips" where if u miss the first words, u miss it all! Thank you for "KISS"...KEEPIN IT SIMPLE,STUPID!! What I do know is that ALL of what you've written is true and frustrating because "we" feel helpless in whatever decisions are being made and shoved down our throats in the name of "saving our planet!" Of course, saving the planet is most important, but in this case, it seems to be more, "lets SAY we're savin the planet in order to get people to get on our bandwagon!" Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for caring enough to write all that. Simply, you didn't have to!
Reply -
Neutral
StevieGee7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I have to agree with Frank above. Ethanol has many problems. Over time it will destroy plastic and rubber parts such as fuel pump diaphragms. Adding more ethanol to gasoline will reduce fuel economy because there's less energy in ethanol. Electric cars or gas/electrics are the best way to go. Contrary to popular belief, electric cars can actually have a stabilizing effect on the electric grid. During periods of very high electrical use the grid can actually "borrow" power from millions of car batteries.
Reply-
Neutral
chevydog7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Not sure about your other points; but ethanol reducing fuel economy depends on what measurement one uses. It probably is true if one uses miles per gallon of fuel. But switching to another basis--e.g. miles driven per calorific equivalent of gasoline -- may give another completely different result.
Reply
Also, you seem to assume that peaks are automatically during daylight hours and that night is an off-peak situation. This is not true for all utilities. there are some (not sure how many) for which their peaks are at night. We had that situation here in MO not too long ago with several of our utiliites during the winter. -
-
-
100%
simonsez7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Regarding natural gas, this is indeed the "alternative fuel" that makes sense in vehicles. The first conversions should be captive fleets such as school buses, county vehicles, UPS and Fed Ex local delivery vehicles ... those vehicles that don't require a national build-out of infra-structure to service. OVR trucks cannot take the chance of being stranded somewhere that he can't get the fuel he needs when he needs it.
Reply -
100%
walleywhale7 months, 1 week ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
In my state of Delaware they use a ten per cent mix of ethanol and since that my car lost three to five mph, my school buses use more fuel and my maintenance has gone thru the roof older engine,s wont preform with the additive,It eats the seal,s right out,scores piston liners and valves.
Reply -
Neutral
getreal17 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Maybe the makers of our horses need to engage more metal in the makings of our Horses and the gases might not eat our horses insides up. They should also compensate for the damage done to these horses out here. Without my horse it is very hard to survive.
Reply
loading ...
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.