Posted on 01/07/2006 7:38:04 PM PST by neverdem
ALBANY, Jan. 6 - Some 200,000 New Yorkers own vehicles that can run on corn-based ethanol instead of gasoline. But many have no idea that their Ford Explorers, Chevy Impalas or Nissan Titans can use this type of fuel, which some view as a way to liberate Americans from Middle Eastern oil.
In any case, the closest station carrying ethanol is in Ottawa, as the Northeast is the one region of the United States that uniformly does not offer ethanol to the public.
But Gov. George E. Pataki wants to change that and make ethanol and biodiesel, two controversial alternative fuels, available in the 27 service areas on the New York State Thruway and in 100 more stations throughout the state as early as this year, in a first small step toward reducing the state's petroleum consumption. The governor is also proposing incentives to bring refineries that produce ethanol into the state.
Costs and further details of the plan, which Mr. Pataki first sketched out in his State of the State address on Wednesday, will not be disclosed until he makes his budget proposal later this month. If the plan is approved by the Legislature, it will give New Yorkers one of the nation's most diverse ranges of fuel choices. Only Minnesota offers an ethanol-rich blend known as E85 at more than 100 stations. Likewise, biodiesel is offered at only a few hundred of the nation's roughly 180,000 stations.
Both fuels can be made from a variety of crops, trees and plant material, and even used grease from fast-food outlets in the case of biodiesel. Ethanol, or grain alcohol, is already mixed with gasoline sold in the New York metropolitan area, but in amounts of...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
When it becomes economically competitive with gasoline they will, without some grandstanding politicians telling them to do it.
When the hypocrite Libs with the weathered Kerry/Edwards bumperstickers on their Lexis SUV's stop driving SUV's...then I'll consider Pataki's worthless proposal.
Won't this increase the price of my tacos and corn chips?
"Pataki Wants Drivers to Fill Up With Ethanol"
He should be pleased with Teddy!
And grain alcohol is heavily subsidized with federal tax dollars. Without that subsidy, ethanol would be 2-3 times the price of gasoline. The reason being that it is far cheaper to make ethanol from oil than from fermentation and distillation of grains.
If economically viable, I have no problem using either. Also, ethanol should be cost-adjusted for the lower BTu value.
Only if you ignore the energy required to make ethanol or biodiesel. Don't forget diesel is required to run farm tractors to plant and harvest corn. Energy is required to distill pure ethanol. The cost of producing these fuels would increase if there were a shortage of oil coming to the US. They would hardly make us independent of Middle Eastern oil.
Just another inconsistency of the Left.
Man, let me tell ya I would love to find Bio-Diesel stations here in NH. There is only one I know of and Bio-diesel tends to gel in the winter so people won't use it in the north ... but I would definitely use it in my Dodge Ram and VW Jetta during the warm months.
It would give the farmers another cash crop, and if more people drove diesels and used bio-diesel the streets would smell like french-fries.
It's probably more energy efficient to make directly ethanol from oil than to make it from grain. See reply #8.
"Spotted Owls and Snail Darters"
Eat the spotted owls, use the snail darters for fish bait and harvest the trees for lumber and the water for human consumption.
" There is only one I know of and Bio-diesel tends to gel in the winter so people won't use it in the north"
that is why it gets mixed with conventional diesel. the mix does not gel. it would be a win-win scenario. less money to arabs and farmers get the profits.
E85 ethanol/gas mix can seriously damage your engine.
"The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is disputing a study conducted by Cornell University's David Pimentel and University of California, Berkeley, professor Tad Patzek that states ethanol has a net energy balance loss of 29%." from Ethanol's energy balance sparks debate
"E85 ethanol/gas mix can seriously damage your engine."
No s4it, but don't tell that to freeper KeithinIowa, who swaers we are Saudi Sheik liars.
I think that the fact that we have goofballs controlling state oil companies in Venezuela, Russia, and Iran adds real urgency to the drive for alternatives, and I have noticed that several local gas stations are digging up their tanks and rennovating in preparation for ????
Much as I hate to agree with His RINOness King George about anything, he's right on the money with this one.
Right now, we could replace 5 percent of petroleum diesel with biodiesel, and five percent of petroleum gasoline with ethanol without any vehicle damage or modifications.
Higher percentages of either require vehicle modifications but are very doable.
But would folks here at FR be willing to increase the nation's fuel supply by five percent without building any more petroleum refineries or importing any more oil?
A note: Adding 5% biodiesel to the new "cleaner" Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) further improves emissions and makes the fuel easier on the engine due to improved lubricity (ULSD doesn't lubricate well.)
This is why we won't be seeing oil go for much more than $70 a barrel. Over that, alternatives such as Biodiesel cost the same, or less, to produce. Then there is also the advantage of diesel engine cars/trucks getting about 30% better mileage.
Please post your reference showing this. In college my roommate used to tell me that electric razors would tear your face off. Obviously he didn't have a reference for that claim.
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