Alt fuels was Re: [AT] Gasoline $

[Rob Wilson]

I don't understand why a country like Brazil has Ethanol 
fueled cars available and we don't. Ethanol costs about 
1/2 what gasoline costs and is renewable. The article even
talks about an owner of a 2004 Chevy Montana pickup happy
to be paying $10 to fill up instead of $17. 

http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=21731

This is ridiculous! If we really want to stop buying 
imported oil, we could burn ethanol made from American
grown corn and use it in your General Motors built truck.
This would make corn worth more than $2.00 a bushel and
we can't have that. Sort of like the bio diesel made
from US grown soy beans now. 
Then again we could always look into the technology
that bankrupted Allis-Chalmers when the government pulled
it's money out of coal gasification that A-C had invested
everything in when the foreign oil got cheap again. The 
thought of using USA coal to power our cars and homes and
keep the people working in the places the coal comes from
sounds good to me. It seems every time we get close to 
developing a new source for fuel the foreign oil prices 
drop making the alternate fuel more expensive and the 
bottom drops out and we go back to oil. Sounds like a 
conspiracy to me :)
Rob 


-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Al Walker
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 11:28 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: Alt fuels was Re: [AT] Gasoline $


Len Rugen wrote:

> My son has a 2-wheel drive Ford Ranger with the 3.0 liter FFV that can
> burn anything from 15% gas / 85% Ethanol to regular.  I noticed this 
> morning that E85 was 20 - 25 cents less than regular here.  We have a 
> fuel chain with some farm interest (MFA) that sells E10 at the same 
> price as regular. Almost anything would burn up to 20% Ethanol, E20 
> (never seen it however) without modification.
>
> He says that the reduced MPG is just shy of offsetting the lower cost
> of E85 in his Ranger.  

I believe the state of Minnesota has required E10 fuel for several years

now. My vehicles and tractors and small engines run fine. I also believe

that the MN legislature passes a law requiring fuel to change to E20 in 
the near future.  There are a fair number of gas stations adding E85 
pumps as many vehicle manufacturers produce units designed to use it.  
If the lower price offsets the reduced mileage AND the money stays in 
this country, that sounds like a win-win situation to me. Isn't the gov 
paying out billions of dollars to idle millions of acres of farm land?  
An alternative fuel, that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is corn. 
Economics may not have favored alternative fuels in the past, but with 
$4 or $5 per gallon of our present fuels, we may need to make some 
adaptations.  That statement of modification also applies to the methods

of production for our agricultural endeavors as well. I think we may 
just have to WANT to do it bad enough. (Can we do it? Yes, we can) Al in
NW Minnesota _______________________________________________
AT mailing list http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at