Why isn't Brazil's ethanol fuel policy being used as a global model to stop dependence on oil and petrol?
471110
Monopoly, Marketing, Money. Who are the biggest GAS distributors, belongs to wich country? \n\nAnd it is worst than that. \n\nI'm a Brazilian and i'm living in Europe. \nAt end of 80's Brazil has 80% of its cars running by Ethanol. After that, GAS decrease prices and Brazil left this habit to behind until 4 years ago, when everything started again. \n\nUSA has and specific law that require a minimum of Ethanol within their GAS - it isn't being acomplished because they are not prepared to produce too much ethanol and are not prepared to give their money to countries in development. \n\nIn Brazil, Volkswagen already build an engine that works with both kind of fuels. My father has one and it works perfectly. \n\nEverything is a matter of hipocrisy and global domination.
567648
Someone already did invent an engine that ran on something other than gas.  It was covered up years ago and set on a shelf.  Because of the "financial repercussions of putting so many people out of business", so the excuse was at the time.\n\nObviously we should be spending more on becoming less dependent on oil and I certainly think the health care crisis in this nation is more important than seeing how much money they can possibly waste in the space program...good program, but other pressing needs are being ignored!
684875
A) It would make our president less rich.\nB) Americans are WAY too lazy to actually care about our environment because all we wanna do is SPEND SPEND SPEND!\nC) We are neglegent of the benefits of biodiesel and such renewable sources.\nD) We would also be putting Middle-Eastern nations out of business - how sad.\nand\nE) We're Americans - we don't care about anything or anyone but ourselves for the most part.\n\nI agree, it's unbelievably cheap to manufacture biodegradable, renewable sources of energy, but we don't have the time and some of us don't even have the resources.  I also think that if Americans could get up off our lazy butts, we could honestly show the rest of the world that we can change our environment before it's too late.  I spend an average of $80+ per week in gas between two cities.  Biofuels would not only save us, but save our environment.
323031
There are many ups and downs but most importantly in my opinion it's all about the cost.\n\nBut here are some tid bits....\n\nEthanol is a much cleaner fuel than petrol (gasoline):\n\n-It is a renewable fuel made from plants \n-It is not a fossil-fuel: manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect \n-It provides high octane at low cost as an alternative to harmful fuel additives \n-Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications \n-Ethanol is biodegradable without harmful effects on the environment \n-It significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions \n-Ethanol's high oxygen content reduces carbon monoxide levels more than any other oxygenate: by 25-30%, according to the US EPA \n-Ethanol blends dramatically reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, a major contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer \n-High-level ethanol blends reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 20% \n-Ethanol can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100% on a full life-cycle basis \n-High-level ethanol blends can reduce emissions of Volatile -Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 30% or more (VOCs are major sources of ground-level ozone formation) \n-As an octane enhancer, ethanol can cut emissions of cancer-causing benzene and butadiene by more than 50% \n-Sulphur dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are significantly decreased with ethanol. \n\nBackyard ethanol\nAs with biodiesel, you don't have to be a corporation to make ethanol -- you can make fuel alcohol in your backyard, and many people are doing just that, and running their vehicles on clean-burning alcohol instead of gasoline.\n\nIt's more equipment-intensive than biodiesel. You need a still, and you need to learn how to ferment beer. You can build your own still, and there's good information available to help you learn what you need to know.\n\nYou'll find everything you need in our Resources section and in the Biofuels Library.\n\nGet great advice and share information on the Biofuel mailing list -- the biggest and fastest growing alternative fuels mailing list on the Internet.\n\nPermits: In the US, home brewers need to get a "small fuel producer" permit from the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).\nhttp://www.ttb.gov/alcohol/permits.htm\n\nHow does it work?\nEthanol is a very high octane fuel, replacing lead as an octane enhancer in gasoline.\n\nFuels that burn too quickly make the engine "knock". The higher the octane rating, the slower the fuel burns, and the less likely the engine will knock.\n\nWhen ethanol is blended with gasoline, the octane rating of the petrol goes up by three full points, without using harmful additives.\n\nAdding ethanol to gasoline "oxygenates" the fuel, adding oxygen to the fuel mixture so that it burns more completely and reduces polluting emissions such as carbon monoxide.\n\nEthanol and ETBE oxygenator, made from ethanol, are much safer than the toxic and polluting MTBE fossil-fuel-derived oxygenator used by oil companies. \n\nProduction\nEthanol fuel production is a good locally-based industry, providing local jobs and a market for local materials, and helping to keep money and investment within the community. That's why so many of the farming states in the US (and Canada) back ethanol fuel.\n\nOne ethanol plant owned by farmers in Minnesota processes 11,751 bushels of grain a day to produce 33,990 gallons of ethanol and 95 tons of high-protein livestock feed.\n\nIf you happen to have a spare acre in your back yard, you can raise enough maize to make enough ethanol to drive even a gas-guzzling Land Rover (17.5 miles per gallon) about 5,000 miles, along with enough animal feed to help keep you in eggs and chicken.\n\nIf the climate favours sugarcane, an acre's worth will take you nearly 15,000 miles. A few fruit trees would help a lot too. You could put the by-product in a digester, along with other organic wastes, to produce met
167901
Ethanol is not the answer for raising gas prices. They produce it as a cleaner burning fuel. It all deals with the theory of global warming. I don't buy it, but that is the reasoning they use for it.
636691
I think it woudl sure be a wake up call for the Middle East if suddenly they had a product that wasn't in so much demand! Consdering their whole economy is based on oil sales, they would be in deep.... I think it would be cool to go fuel up with a tank of Jim Beam! Even south of the border could start making more money, how much for a tank of Tequila? I know of several people that use bio-diesel, and just love being able to bypass fueling stations.
584362
The gas shortage was because they had to completly empty out the underground storage tanks (USTs) to completly remove any water that might be in there before putting the 10% ethanol fuel in there! \nEthanol is a cleaner burning fuel and hopefully will be our new gasoline soon. Ethanol can run in all vehicles and once they figure out how to make ethanol more economically, then I believe it will be a main fuel for the U.S.A.
503007
Of course the main issue is and always will be competition. But as a product standpoint it would have to be rising manufacturing, shipping, and product costs due to the increase in energy prices.  Oil is used in more than just vehicles; it's used in many products or the manufacturing of them.  We have already seen the increase of "Oil" not only in our fuels but in consumer price index that rose last week.  It's a trend that will not fall until alternative energy sources are more widely embraced by the market.
1156456
First, we have an oilman as president! Bush has to go first before we can require that alt. fuels be used. Next, the government has to realize that we need to use alt. fuels for both the environment and for the economy. It would be so great to liberate ourselves from the Middle East and make that area return to its position before oil was discovered.
25
Right.  Fuel additives are helpful for reduction of emissions, although they are not always economical.  For the most part, the US congress has subsidized the creation of ethanol, which tends to be a net cost unless created from waste agricultural products.\nAnother substance that has the same anti-emissions properties as ethanol is MTBE.  There has been a lot of press about MTBE recently due to its tendency to pollute groundwater.
1072850
Interesting...many studies have been conducted regarding Ethanol.  Keep in mind that ethanol is produced from corn.  If every single farm in America grew corn we'd be able to replace about 8% of our oil imports...not really enough to make a significant impact.  Also keep in mind that if for any reason the crop of corn was destroyed, be that storm or drout, we would have no product to convert into ethanol and no fuel.  Before you read on please keep in mind that I'm a registered independent...Under the Bush administration quite a bit of effort was put into the creation of a new agency within the DOE (Department of Energy) called the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Dept....within that department the Hydrogen Infrastructure and Technologies Program was established.  Why Hydrogen?  Because it can't be politicized, don't have to worry about drouts or damaged crops and hydrogen comprises 80+% of the mass in our universe (not something we're likely to run out of anytime soon).  http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/   According to the "Posture Plan" our economy will be carbon free by 2060 with hydrogen as the likely successor.  Also check out Canada's FCC (Fuel Cell Canada) for their plan to globally commercialize fuel cells.\n\nOur current president has done great things when it come to decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.  Just gotta know where to look.  Try this        http://thomas.loc.gov/      and under "search bill text" type the word hydrogen and you'll see every piece of legislation dealing with hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
222252
You haven't even considered the fact that the Automobile Industry has outsourced jobs away from Americans. America has been lead by a capitalist system and removed most of the mass transit systems such as trains, and trolley cars in their infrastructure. Some cities don't even have bus systems, and or are cutting funding to bus routes. We are not expanding in those obvious areas. This hydrogen fuel system has been available for over 30 years. This isn't a public situation, but an obvious Government decision from the start. I don't believe that there is a shortage of oil; because of the wells being capped off in Texas in the 80's as the largest oil reserve in the World.
330706
Optimum is relative.  Current production is probably sort of close to optimal for the OPEC countries in terms of profits.  It's not optimal in terms of social welfare or price.\n\nIt can probably go up to a few hundred dollars a barrel before people finally get the idea that it might be a good idea to start looking at alternative sources of energy.  The problem is that there are millions of cars out there that run on gas, and it's impossible to get them to switch to, say, hydrogen power overnight.  So, the demand is going to increase over time.
894879
Pretty much any oil can be burned efficiently if placed in an engine that is designed for it.  Bio-diesels and such are on the front line of chem eng research into alternative oil fuels; however, the sheer amount of farm land required to meet the world's demand for fuel makes this idea infeasible.  However, by studying these fuels, scientists can synthesize them, or create them using SCIENCE!  See the link.  \n\nSo, in short:\n\nYour friend is probably right in some manner.  However, he's only right when talking about generating power for people who live near palm groves and have small population densities.  \n\nFor the global need, machinery and artificial fossil fuel production take the forefront over good, old-fashioned palm squeezing.\n\nCheers.
525321
You can convert your current vehicle to be able to take E 85 gas for about $75 to $150.  This is a far better solution than to have all Americans go out and throw away their perfectly good running automobiles and spend their hard earned money on a overpriced Hybrid.\n\nE85 is also not made with just corn it can be made with just about anything that will burn, and it is not using the actual corn it is using the stalks of the corn and converting them to a liquid so the farmers would be able to make money off the corn itself and the leftover stalks to make the fuel.  In Brazil they use Sugar but you could use wood or other crops that are grown.\n\nE85 gas mileage is lower than that of regular gas and you will see about a 25% drop in gas mileage but E85 is only 15% gasoline meaning that each car that converts over would use 1/4 of the gas as they do now. \n\nThe biggest problem with converting over to E85 is that the infrastructure needs to be built this includes building refineries, and converting over gas stations to offer both kinds of fuel.\n\noverall we can convert our energy dependence to the US in a matter of 3-5 years but we just need someone in the government to start making it happen.\n\nIf we make this a priority the price of ethanol could probably be sold for about 1/2 the price of regular gas and would create home based jobs in the US and keep our money home.
547026
sugar cane is recognized as having the least trouble creating ethanol. In Brazil this works wonderfully. They have removed the need to import oil and are actually exporting ethanol. In the US sugar cane doesn't grow as well. sugar cane is best in tropical climates. \n\nIn the US corn is the most common for ethanol. It isn't the best crop but is efficient enough for now. Industry best(meaning in the lab) for producing ethanol is above 1 btu of fuel produces 2 btus of ethanol. \n\nFor non-tropical climates cellulose based ethanol is also making big waves. It's advantages are that every living plant tissue is at least 80% cellulose. Dead tissue like wood is around 30 to 40 percent cellulose. A farmer could sell the normal corn seed, and then bale the corn stalks, which are usually left on the ground, for ethanol. Another advantage is that on irrigated and fertilized lands you can grow better than 10 tons of cellulose per acre per season if grown for harvesting cellulose verus the 2.5 tons per acre of corn seed. critiria for a plant for this process is a plant that grows a lost of mass per acre. \n\nEthanol is meant to replace gasoline fuel not diesel fuel.\nDiesel engines don't have spark plugs, so they can't ignite high octane fuels like gasoline and ethanol. Instead they hammer-strike the better performing low octane deisel fuel. \n\nMost gas engines out there probably can be converted to work with ethanol. There are a number of conversion kits available. It is likely to work better however if they come from the factory. \n\nBio-deisel is wonderful for most diesel engines. I'm afraid I don't know a lot about that topic.
393908
The best thing to do is not meddle. If price gets high enough, people will be forced to conserve. Prices are usually over $4 per gallon in Europe and over $3 per gallon for most of Latin America. Perhaps prices would be more stable if North America were to stop wasting the world's fuel supply.