10% Ethanol in Gas
in [Technical]
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From: phaeton on 19 Dec 2007 20:59 I hear a lot of people up in arms about the addition of Ethanol to gasoline. Many places do it just in the wintertime, others do it year round. One of the gas stations in my little town even has a bunch of "100% REAL GAS - NO ETHANOL" signs up all over the place. With all the whining and crying about "people putting water in the gas[sic]", I've honestly never noticed a difference in operation or efficiency. My guess is that Ethanol earned a bad reputation (1970s, maybe?) when cars used to be carbureted and timing advanced with mechanical weights and such. However, modern cars with EFI and its associated arsenal of sensors simply adapt to whatever difference it makes, but many people are still stuck with the 'ethanol sucks' mentality. True?
From: news on 19 Dec 2007 23:16 phaeton wrote: > I hear a lot of people up in arms about the addition of Ethanol to > gasoline. Many places do it just in the wintertime, others do it year > round. One of the gas stations in my little town even has a bunch of > "100% REAL GAS - NO ETHANOL" signs up all over the place. With all > the whining and crying about "people putting water in the gas[sic]", > I've honestly never noticed a difference in operation or efficiency. > > My guess is that Ethanol earned a bad reputation (1970s, maybe?) when > cars used to be carbureted and timing advanced with mechanical weights > and such. However, modern cars with EFI and its associated arsenal of > sensors simply adapt to whatever difference it makes, but many people > are still stuck with the 'ethanol sucks' mentality. True? I'm not anti or pro ethanol. Here's what I know/read/been told as to why some people like/don't like it: You know how some cars just don't like certain brands of spark plugs? Some cars just don't seem to like ethanol. Ethanol has a higher octane rating, so, in theory, you could make more power from it. Ethanol has less energy per unit volume than gasoline, so, in theory, you get worse fuel economy, but not always: http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:kxYYXxNR684J:www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/ACEFuelEconomyStudy_001.pdf+ethanol+fuel+economy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=ca&client=firefox-a I liken it to comparing vodka and rum. They're both alcohols you drink, but they're definitely not the same thing. Ethanol is NOT gasoline, so running a car designed for gas on ethanol may or may not work out 100% perfectly. Lastly, the production of ethanol has caused the prices of corn to rise due to increased demand. There's just not enough land to grow it. I looked into this a couple of years ago, and IIRC I needed to grow either 2 or 20 acres of corn just to provide enough ethanol for my own use. Even if it's only 2 acres per person, that's 600 million acres of land for 300 million people worth of ethanol. Ray
From: "Paul From: "� Paul �" on 20 Dec 2007 01:18 phaeton wrote: > > I hear a lot of people up in arms about the addition of Ethanol to > gasoline. Many places do it just in the wintertime, others do it year > round. One of the gas stations in my little town even has a bunch of > "100% REAL GAS - NO ETHANOL" signs up all over the place. With all > the whining and crying about "people putting water in the gas[sic]", > I've honestly never noticed a difference in operation or efficiency. > > My guess is that Ethanol earned a bad reputation (1970s, maybe?) when > cars used to be carbureted and timing advanced with mechanical weights > and such. However, modern cars with EFI and its associated arsenal of > sensors simply adapt to whatever difference it makes, but many people > are still stuck with the 'ethanol sucks' mentality. True? My car gets 10% less mileage on 10% ethanol.
From: Frank on 20 Dec 2007 08:14 phaeton wrote: > I hear a lot of people up in arms about the addition of Ethanol to > gasoline. Many places do it just in the wintertime, others do it year > round. One of the gas stations in my little town even has a bunch of > "100% REAL GAS - NO ETHANOL" signs up all over the place. With all > the whining and crying about "people putting water in the gas[sic]", > I've honestly never noticed a difference in operation or efficiency. > > My guess is that Ethanol earned a bad reputation (1970s, maybe?) when > cars used to be carbureted and timing advanced with mechanical weights > and such. However, modern cars with EFI and its associated arsenal of > sensors simply adapt to whatever difference it makes, but many people > are still stuck with the 'ethanol sucks' mentality. True? I notice a slight decrease in mileage but ethanol sucks for numerous reasons. It is an irrational approach to energy independence which puts the burden on the tax payer and lines the pockets of agribusiness.
From: Scott Dorsey on 20 Dec 2007 09:17
phaeton <blahbleh666(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >I hear a lot of people up in arms about the addition of Ethanol to >gasoline. Many places do it just in the wintertime, others do it year >round. One of the gas stations in my little town even has a bunch of >"100% REAL GAS - NO ETHANOL" signs up all over the place. With all >the whining and crying about "people putting water in the gas[sic]", >I've honestly never noticed a difference in operation or efficiency. 10% ethanol is good. Yes, it slightly reduces the total energy of combustion a little, but it prevents knocking and it's much less hazardous than the other popular anti-knock additives like MTBE and lead. >My guess is that Ethanol earned a bad reputation (1970s, maybe?) when >cars used to be carbureted and timing advanced with mechanical weights >and such. However, modern cars with EFI and its associated arsenal of >sensors simply adapt to whatever difference it makes, but many people >are still stuck with the 'ethanol sucks' mentality. True? Also, realize that ethanol dissolves a lot of rubber formulations. Run pure ethanol in your car and you'll find hoses and seals going bad right and left. A lot of people had that experience trying pure ethanol back in the seventies, too. Of course, back then it wasn't quite so bad since there weren't anywhere near as many hoses and seals to replace.... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |