Environment

Cruising On Corn E85 – Not A Smooth Ride :: MAXINE

by Edmund Jenks | February 27, 2007 at 08:07 am

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The average vehicle driving American would dearly love to be able to do their level best to reduce our dependence on oil and the geopolitical pressures its use presents our country.

It would be nice that ALL cars were FlexFuel capable (able to use both gasoline and E85 for ease of transition to the use of renewable biofuel) and every fuel station provided an E85 fuel pump.

The average city living American, however, may be uninformed as to how difficult a proposition this switch can be. Many believe that all we have to do is “just do it” and everything will be fine – but this pursuit of reduced dependence on fossil fuels has its domino effect on the infrastructures that are already dependent on the easy cellular-fiber sources that exist.

Further, it takes energy to convert fiber to fuel so the question has to be asked, is this move to E85 really economically feasible?

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Edmund Jenks

at 09:51 on February 27th, 2007

Concerned TOO, Brighton, IL said...
Think... clearly!

Corn is renewable, no doubt. But, learn all the facts. Ethanol plants burn oil to produce the E85. As much as 1/2 gallon to produce 1 gallon E85.

I recently read an article in a magazine that the efficiency is not there to produce and run our vehicles on E85. There will be too many government subsidies invloved to make it profitable.

It may be a step in the right direction to getting off oil, but it is not the answer. Electric and Hydrogen cells will be the long-term answer. E85 may just be a small step in that direction...