Alternate fuels are becoming more prominent in today’s society than ever before, different forms of ethanol being the most common. It is now common to see E10 at a pump, a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, as all modern cars can use it. Today, Ethanol makes up 10% of the U.S. gasoline supply. It is often questioned the reliability and effectiveness of ethanol, mainly the CO2 output in the process of making ethanol and the use of, and also the mileage difference between gasoline and ethanol. However, certain types of ethanol do not output as much CO2 as gasoline in both the process and the actual usage of. Ethanol is clean and affordable, reducing gasoline prices, which saves at the pump and in the economy.
Although ethanol has many positives, there are still some negatives, namely, the CO2 output in the production of some ethanol and the mileage rate. According to Nikhil Swaminathan, corn as a fuel actually generates more fossil fuel emissions during its transformation to ethanol than it avoids as a fuel. This has become the greatest controversy in the debate of alternative fuels. Ethanol also has lower fuel economy than gasoline, causing cars to get a little less mileage. The Environmental Protection Agency says E10 lowers mileage approximately 3%. It also absorbs water, causing an issue in classic cars and recreational vehicles such as boats, planes, and other outdoor vehicles. Some also have a concern with the growing of corn for ethanol, as it would replace food crops with fuel crops.
Despite these drawbacks, the number of positives of ethanol far outnumbers the negatives. Ethanol itself outputs less greenhouse gases than gasoline in both the use of the fuel and in the production of some fuels. Ethanol has lower emission...
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...Improved Public Health." SugarCane.org. UNICA and Apex-Brasil, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Meyers, Glenn. "Top Eight Alternative Fuels." CleanTechnica. Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., 08 Mar. 2012. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
The Renewable Fuels Association. "40 Interesting Facts about Ethanol." Western Farm Press. Penton, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
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Swaminathan, Nikhil. "Amber Waves of Gas?: Gasoline Alternative May Be Found in Prairie Grass." Scientific American Global RSS. Nature America, Inc., 07 Dec. 2006. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
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Ethanol is a clean, renewable fuel made from plant material. Ethanol is cleaner than gasoline because it contains more oxygen. The added oxygen increases ethanol's octane rating. The octane rating is the fuel's ability to resist “knock”. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline. Ethanol above fifteen percent can damage vehicles that are designed to run on gasoline. An ethanol/gasoline (E10) blend is cheaper than just gasoline. The blend does reduce fuel economy by up to 3.3 percent. Car companies have started to produce flex-fuel vehicles. These flex-fuel vehicles can run on fuel with up to 85 percent ethanol. The main problem is
Both biodiesel and ethanol are derivatives of biomass that have been processed to create a liquid biofuel. Both types of biofuels have been touted as secure and environmentally safe alternatives to fossil fuels, however the research verifying these claims is extensive but often contradicting. In the following paper, the efficiency and quality of the two types of biofuel will be discussed. The effects of variables such as source materials and production techniques on efficiency and quality will be considered. Due to the limited scope of this paper however, only generalized net analyses of ethanol and biodiesel production will be considered. The production of ethanol requires one of two source materials, cellulose or sucrose, both of which are complex sugars. Currently, corn and sugar cane are the primary source materials for ethanol; however it can be produced from any plant cellulose. Ethanol is created using chemical and non chemical processes. These processes include liquefication, saccharification, fermentation, and distillation (Malca and Freire, 2006).
Cushman, Lynd, Nichols, Wyman. “Fuel Ethanol from Cellulosic Biomass.” Science. March 1991. Vol 251 (4999):1321
The problem today is the gas companies make too much on their products. Shell's profits jumped enormously in only three months. The Company announced an 80% jump in earnings for the last three months, to $3.25 billion (Shell Posts Record Profits). Ethanol would allow these profits to go straight to
In the United States we have been looking into alternative energies to reduce our dependence on oil and help reduce our carbon footprint. One method the EPA has come out in support of is ethanol production. Ethanol is considered a green fuel because it recycles the burned carbon each time new crops are grown. In theory ethanol is a good stepping stone between using gasoline and zero emission power sources. However biofuels are still young technology that has many problems before it can be useful. The EPA is in full support of biofuels and has mandated that by 2020, 36 billion gallons of biofuels are to be produced in America. Currently almost all of America biofuels comes in the form of corn based ethanol which is extremely inefficient and can cause sustainability problems. Due to this reason only 15 billion gallons of the mandated biofuels can be form corn based ethanol. The rest of the biofuel must come from non-corn based alternatives such as cellulosic ethanol which the EPA projects to create all most all of the 21 billion remaining gallons of ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol uses the cellulose that is in all plants matter to create ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is far more efficient than corn ethanol because you can use the whole plant and it sets no limitation on what type of plant matter can be used. Even though the EPA projects that these number will be achievable, due to current setbacks and efficiencies cellulosic ethanol will not be able to meet this output within the time constraints and a goal of 2034 years would be more realistic in the long run.
The United States can decrease its dependence on oil-producing nations and improve the environment without robbing every citizen's pocketbook. The gasoline used in most cars today produces pollution, endangers people's health, forces us to be dependent on OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Companies) or other oil production organizations, and contributes to global warming. The main reason people have not converted to cleaner, healthier fuel is that hybrid and electric cars are more expensive than the cars and gasoline we are using now. However, we could implement a program for selling cleaner fuel at a lower cost than it is now offered. If this program were organized correctly, the increased costs would be minimal in the long run and the benefits would be enormous. After considering several possibilities, I concluded that alcohol-burning cars are more practical than other environmentally friendly options because electric and h...
Ethanol production was developed in hopes of severing our ties with fossil fuels in favor of alternative energy, such as biofuels. Although, VOCs emissions are released during production of ethanol in a factory, the quality of air is greatly improved when burning ethanol versus fossil fuels. Burning ethanol instead of fossil fuels reduces the amount of cancer-causing greenhouse gases that go into the atmosphere. Ethanol production ranks at the bottom of industrial water usage, but is still not out of the woods with the abundance of water usage needed in corn feedstock and ethanol manufacturing and processing facilities. Many acres of land are needed to grow corn crops, however, many corn farmers are successful in growing more corn on less acreage.
Biofuels, fuels that provide energy using relatively recent organic sources, have been around just as long as cars have. In fact, the first cars ran on peanut oil. Henry Ford, founder of a multimillion dollar American car company, planned to fuel his massively successful Model T’s with ethanol (National Geographic 2013.) However, this revolutionary idea was swept under the rug when the discovery of massive petroleum deposits kept gasoline and diesel cheap and affordable. As 2014 rolls around, consumers are starting see that the amount of petroleum in the Earth is shrinking and the same story goes for their wallets (Avro 2012.) Not only does burning gas and diesel empty out the wallet, it is also slowly covering the Earth with a warm carbon dioxide blanket that causes global warming. Transportation, which is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses (Biofuel Association of Australia 2013), is dependent on finite amounts of gas and diesel for its energy needs so it is very important we move towards a more renewable and sustainable fuel source. Biofuels, both ethanol and biodiesel, have the potential to fuel transportation efficiently and drastically reduce the carbon footprint, thus reducing the warm blanket of carbon dioxide on the Earth.
Devlin, Lee. “Can Biofuels Save Us From Peak Oil?” Biomass Authority. 2010. 21 May 2010 .
This project investigates alternative fuel source cars, such as Biodiesel, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Natural Gas, Ethanol (e85), and Hybrid. I choose this topic when I realized how much people are paying for a fuel (gasoline) that only gives you 30% efficiency per gallon. This means that for every $100.00 that you spend on gas, you are wasting $70.00.
University of Illnois Extension. (2014). Biofuels and the consumer what are biofuels? Retrieved from http://web.extension.illinois.edu/ethanol/consumer.cfm
For cellulosic ethanol to be put in large-scale production, the benefits need to outweigh the concerns. Some of the benefits are that it releases 86% less greenhouse gasses than gasoline, and 52% less than corn ethanol. Also, it lowers the emissions of two cancer causing substances, benzene and 1,3-butadiene. Maybe the most important is that cellulosic biomass is more available than any other source of ethanol. Some of the concerns of cellulosic ethanol involve expenses, low fuel mileage, and not being able to produce enough. Cellulosic ethanol costs more to make than gasoline. This is largely because of the expensive enzymes used to separate the sugars. Also, 100% ethanol is not used as an automotive fuel source. The highest allowed [ethanol] is 15%. This is called E85. E85 produces 25% less miles per gallon than gasoline (Nasr,
First of all, the reading passage claims that ethanol doesn’t solve the global warming problem, since ethanol releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere likewise gasoline does. However, the professor contradicts this point and points out that it is true that ethanol releases CO2, where as its production from plant source counteracts the global warming. He adds that the growing of the plant absorbs carbon dioxide and removes it
...self to not be such a good place for hard earned taxpayer money. It shows great signs of reducing of automobile pollution, decreased foreign oil dependency as well as steps towards being a greener society. On the reverse, the implicated price would be significantly higher, at a starting price of $3.95 per gallon, the induced miles per gallon in FFVs takes a huge hit and are the miles per gallon are significantly lower which would lead to an even higher estimated cost for consumers. Not to mention the production of corn ethanol draws a net negative energy loss due to ethanol’s weak energy output. This all meaning that more money goes in to get less energy out. Over all, ethanol is a great idea in the mindset of moving towards a greener society and becoming self-sustainable as a country, but proves to be a negative investment choice as far as a government subsidy.