Cant get E85 anywhere near here.

 

I thought that one of the things that needed to be taken into consideration was changing out fuel lines that can corrode using the E85.

I also thought that there is no conversion kit certified by the EPA that meets the standards to maintain clean exhaust emissions. Technically speaking, converting a vehicle that was designed to operate on unleaded gasoline only to operate on another form of fuel is a violation of the federal law and the offender may be subject to significant penalties.

Am I off base here?

 

Fuel lines on Fords are made of plastic.

 

YES! Running E85 in an 'unleaded' car is legal and approved in all states except California, and that is only because they have a longer, slower process to pass the approval.

The E85 box I use is EPA approved (aka Federally approved), just California has chosen not to blindly accept the approval. Why? I guess it has something to do with being the land of fruits & nuts.
-John

 

Well, in reality it will end up in the pockets of one the wealthy agro conglomerates....but yes, I supposed that is better than going to Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.

 

I won't denounce your claim that Agro Conglomerates will benefit from the current Ethanol craze. That's why the BIG continue to stay BIG, by capitalizing on the moment. That also explains why the big oil companies are grasping the BIG profits in petroleum while the 'gettin's good'. You can bet your boots, the smart ones are looking into diversification, much like the tobacco companies invested in Kraft Foods, etc.

I’m originally from Fayette Co., IL, where the land is as flat as Kansas, and thousands of acres of corn are raised. Virtually every one of these farming families, generation-to-generation, has struggled financially. Now they are Finally getting their just reward for hard work and persistence. The $600/acre land value has finally risen to respectable levels. The big Iows/Texas/Nebraska/Kansas farmers with ten’s of thousands of acres are the minority. The majority of farm operations are moderately sized.

I dislike high fuel prices as much as the next guy, but if Ethanol were readily available in my area, I would willingly pay the same price per gallon for it, realizing the xx% FE penalty. I LOVE TO SEE THE AMERICAN FARMER get a break, and the $$$ stay here. I would look to cut costs elsewhere if necessary.

Reducing foreign dependency and promoting self-sufficiency is important to me. Yes, being raised in the corn belt and watching my family and town folks trying to farm with broken down 40 year old equipment, and NO government subsidies back in the day, has influenced my opinion, which all of us good Americans are entitled to

 

My family was and still is mostly farmers as well... The ironic thing... one of them does a fair amount of cattle farming, and the increased feed costs due to ethanol diversion are cutting pretty deep and driving up the price he needs to get for beef. Everything in this world has its good and bad side.

 

Price of cattle feed depends on how close you are to a distillery.
Distiller's Grain, which comes out after ethanol production is a better than corn feed for less than corn price. Distiller's grain has 28% protein, and corn has 9% protein.

If you do not farm close to a distillery and can't get this product, yes, the price to get regular feed corn has gone up.

However, on a national average, feed price should be pretty "normal".

BTW, the 25 year average for corn export has been ~2 billion bushels annually. In 2007, the corn export was 2.45 billion bushels.

Ethanol production only removes the sugary parts of the corn.
All the protein, fats, oils, and fiber goes out the back end and is sold as feed at discounted prices. One plant in the USA is sending some distillery grain to Frito-Lay for use in corn puffs ( aka "Cheetos" ). It is only one place in the U.S. that can send the stuff into the human food supply because most distilleries are not "food grade" clean. ( ie: they use raw water for process, and put waste water / rain water detention pond water back into the process to reduce water demand )

 

And who says you can't have your Ethanol and Eat it To? The country needs to think positively, glass 1/2 full, not empty, and continue to harvest sugars from corn, sugar beets, etc. Certainly there are obstacles to increased crop production, but in the state of IL alone, there are probably tens of thousands of acres sitting idle in the Gov't funded CRP program. It's unimaginable how much in just this one county. Much of this dormant, now VERY fertile land, needs to go back into production, including my 100 acres, just as soon as the CRP contract ends.

 

Wonder what the price of corn syrup is doing these days. We eat tons of the stuff (mostly without knowing it) because its a cheap substitute for cane sugar and such.... clearly ethanol is consuming that source.

Now.... frankly, I'm not thrilled with the high use of corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup in my food (it causes issues with some people). So I'd have to say that I'm all for ethanol eating up all of the crap so I don't have to avoid it in my food.