Ethanol Mandates

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There is a battle brewing in Wisconsin to mandate the use of a 10% ethanol blended gasoline state wide. Some of the reasons we are hearing for this mandate is cleaner air and more jobs for Wisconsin people. This has support from both sides of the caucus, has already passed the assembly and is currently waiting to be voted on by the state senate. The rumor is there are not enough votes to pass the senate right now so they are holding off on the vote until they can get a few more votes. Govenor Doyle (November can't come soon enough) has already said he would sign the bill.

First off the idea of mandating anything is usually a horrible idea. This however, seems to be taking things to new heights of political corruption.

Research is begining to prove that ethanol gas is actually worse for the environment. Cars using ethanol get worse gas milage and therefore require more gas to travel the same distance. Ethanol is a very volatile. It takes more energy to produce ethanol than using ethanol saves (energy to farm the corn, transport the corn, make the ethanol from the corn, transport the ethanol because ethanol can not be piped). All of this and we haven't even begun to talk about fertilizer seeping into ground water, vast amounts of land needed to farm all this corn and damage to cars not yet equiped to handle ethanol blended gas. I neverthought I would use a SFGate article but here is one source for some of the above topics.

The second argument of creating more jobs for wisconsinites is simply ludicrous. Harleys are made in Wisconsin, should we mandate the use of Harleys in Wisconsin in order to make more jobs? Kikkoman soy sauce is also made in Wisconsin, should we mandate the use of Kikkoman in order to create more jobs? You could mandate the use of anything if your goal is to create more jobs.

Third, Ethanol is expensive. lundbergsurvey.com has a pdf (free to register) documenting the price of ethanol. Since Congress passed the law mandating 9% of the US gas be blended with ethanol the price has risen from $2.06 per gallon on Jan. 1 to $2.87. A barrel of ethanol is estimated at over $100 per barrel compared to $60 per barrel of oil. This inevitably is bound to hurt low income households a lot harder than higher earners.

All around this sounds like a bad idea for the american people. Do you support ethanol use/mandates? If so why?

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I'm also leery of mandated anything. Too easy to run into the law of unintended consequences, if nothing else.

You missed a significant negative to ethanol production, by the way. The fermentation process produces CO2. Lots of it.

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Re: Ethanol Mandates

jpinMilwaukee wrote:

Research is begining to prove that ethanol gas is actually worse for the environment. Cars using ethanol get worse gas milage and therefore require more gas to travel the same distance. Ethanol is a very volatile. It takes more energy to produce ethanol than using ethanol saves (energy to farm the corn, transport the corn, make the ethanol from the corn, transport the ethanol because ethanol can not be piped). All of this and we haven't even begun to talk about fertilizer seeping into ground water, vast amounts of land needed to farm all this corn and damage to cars not yet equiped to handle ethanol blended gas. I neverthought I would use a SFGate article but here is one source for some of the above topics.

I disagree with the idea of mandates but a lot of what you've listed here as fact needs additional info to put it in proper context.

Cars only get lower gas milage when the ethnol blend starts to exceed approx. 35%. With blends below that the gas mileage is consistant with straight gasoline.

Also, every car made and sold in the U.S. is capapble of running on a 10% ethanol blend. 30% of the gas sold in WI right now is blended with ethanol and it's also sold in a lot of other states because it's used instead of MBTE as an oxyginate which is required by the EPA. Cars wouldn't be damaged unless they are not flexi-fuel compliant and try to burn the E85 (85% ethanol) blends. A 10% blend causes no damage to any car built after 1986. (It can cause damage to lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc.. They aren't supposed to use any ethanol at all.)

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Clearly stepping over a dollar to save a dime at this time.

Ethanol is also heavily subsidized by government right now, or 10% ethanol gasoline would be more expensive.

The market will push us naturally in this direction if oil reaches over $100/barrel - why push it artificially before that time? Better to harness all the hot air generated by politicians and various other assorted talking heads - now there's an untapped energy source!

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Oh, the myths of ethanol promoted by the oil companies.

A barrel of ethanol may cost $100 (It probably costs about $75 in reality) but you can't forget that ethanol is the refined product. A barrel of crude oil at $60 only makes about 19.5 gallons of gasoline. A barrel is 42 gallons, so a barrel of gasoline at $2.38 is $100. At these prices ethanol is as cheap to produce as gasoline. When gas was $1.00 at the pump ethanol needed a heavy subsidy. At today's prices it is cost effective. When I travel to SD, E85 sells there for 40-50 cents less than regular gas.

You also have to realize that it costs energy and money to produce gasoline. If anyone bothered to realize the actual costs to produce a gallon of gas we would be paying a whole lot more than what we are now. Just consider the costs of US foreign policy in the Mideast. A 3000 gallon tanker truck driving the 1500 miles from a refinery in TX to the midwest uses 200 gallons of fuel to transport it at a cost of $400-500.

This from the US dept of agriculture

Quote:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, July 2002. This study analyzes many of the previous studies on the energy balance of producing ethanol. The conclusion by the study's authors is that there is 34% more energy in a gallon of ethanol than it takes to produce it.

Ethanol is becoming more cost effective over time. New ethanol plants are using the heat from the fermentation to produce electricity to run the plants. The byproducts are sold and used for animal feed. Ethanol is getting cheaper.

Here is a study with complete figures for costs to produce
How much Energy does it take to make a gallon?

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Gasoline with ethanol added is cheaper because of the government subsidy. I'm just saying we need to drop the subsidy and it will sell where it is cheaper or even where it is more expensive to those folks who believe (however erroneously) that purchasing it will help the environment.

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Ethanol Mandates

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