Posted on 01/05/2010 5:03:06 AM PST by thackney
Fagen Inc. was pretty busy from 2006 to 2008, building 47 ethanol projects across the U.S., bringing in about $2.2 billion in revenue for the family-owned business in Granite Falls, Minn.
"Corn ethanol has been the best thing that has happened to the farmers since the invention of the combine," said 61-year-old Ron Fagen, who grew up in the tiny community of Maynard near Granite Falls. "It gives them another market for their corn."
But the ethanol party's over, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
...
Fagan is actually taking part in a project to build what is expected to be the largest biomass-fueled (i.e. wood scrap) power plant in the U.S. in the coming years for the City of Austin.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.chron.com ...
Never been fond of the Fuel, but their maybe a technological sweet spot , using it as a supplementary fuel.
Go here: http://www.ethanolboost.com/
Ford is experimenting with it in something known as "Project Bobcat" that is showing Torque numbers through the moon. Diesel replacement? Perhaps...
If a fuel needs subsidy in order to be viable, it is not a ‘fuel’.
Ethanol produces twice the CO2 as its gasoline equivalent.
Ethanol is just a great big taxpayer subsidized waste of money directed at farm votes in a few states, lobbied by the big boy of lobbyists, ArcherDanielsMidland, and a feel-good environmental nightmare.
It cannot compete in the marketplace and is immoral as it robs food from being consumed by poor countries grain was previously shipped to.
the bigger concern these days is the oil import bill.
anything that pulls down the oil import bill is better than the current regime.
this is the first that I’ve heard that biofuel production has been cut in half in 2009. that means that the obama goal of doubling renewable fuel output in the USA three years has no hope of succeeding.
Alcohol based fuels will only be viable is they use a source which does not drive up the cost food. Cellulose ethanol is a possibility.
The best use for pure ethanol is as a fuel for alcohol fuel cells. These could be integrated into a new line of plug-in hybrid type cars.
Biodiesel is a far more thermodynamically efficient fuel than ethanol. For internal combustion engines, biodiesel makes far more sense than ethanol.
We apparently are still far away from efficient production of biofuels. When you need government subsidies for alternative fuel in an world of $80/barrel oil, something is not right.
That 2.2 billion revenue would not have been there were it not for mine and your tax dollars...
ping
I am also curious as to how it affects mileage.
Whenever we drive from Central Florida to Central South Caroline we notice that the Florida tankful gets 360 miles max range and the South Carolina tankful gets 420 miles, in addition to being 20 cents cheaper per gallon.
it is such a scam...and all it has done is raise food prices around the world...when are people going to wkae up and realize that green is now the new red!!!
Ethanol is an inferior fuel compared with gasoline. By volume, it takes 1½ times the ethanol to produce the same energy as gasoline. So yes, your mileage per gallon of ethanol would be considerably lower.
Ethanol is hydroscopic (absorbs water) so must be transported in dedicated tanker trucks....using diesel fuel.
fire departments nation wide are rushing to get funds for this....
.........all your unintended consequences belong to us....
I disagree. We make plenty of corn. I’d rather burn that than buy foreign oil, regardless of cost. It’ll take 10 or more years to supply that oil from domestic sources.
F*** the Middle East.
If we stopped selling our “excess” corn to China and the rest of the world for almost nothing, Ethanol derived from corn wouldn’t even make a dent in the market.
I say, end farm subsidies. Watch what happens to food prices. Ethanol would be cheap as compared to fossil oil.
Please explain how using corn for fuel does not compete with food...
>>>If a fuel needs subsidy in order to be viable, it is not a ‘fuel’.
Does that include the ‘subsidy’ in the form of US military might to keep the free-flow of global crude oil going so we can get what we get?
>>>Please explain how using corn for fuel does not compete with food...
Do you assume once corn is used for ethanol there’s nothing left?
If you do, you are dead wrong.
The production process for ethanol yields other products that end up in the food chain - one is animal feed.
Ethanol not competing with food market would be news to the cattle farmer. It has killed the beef industry and by some studies caused food prices we pay to rise some 15%.
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