Oh, where to start? Where to start?
1. Alcohol is a LOUSY motor fuel. Low energy content to begin with, very high latent heat of vaporization, hygroscopic as hell, etc.
2. Production is an energy hog as well. I see all kinds of numbers about how much energy it takes to produce a gallon, and no-one can claim it’s cost-effective.
3. Corn production uses a lot of chemical fertilizers, which are significant contributors to river pollution.
4. High feed corn demand means higher meat, dairy and poultry prices, no doubt about it. We see it already - who has paid $4.00 for a gallon of milk lately?
5. Acetone is very aggressive toward the plastic seals and hoses in your fuel system. I would not add it to anything of mine, except my 1962 BSA which was made before plastic.
6. There are FAR more useful bio-fuel technologies coming along - let’s not waste our subsidies on grain alcohol, which is a dead end.
Very good post, especially that point.
There is 20c worth of flour in a pizza. Is that why its gone up three bucks?
There is probably 20c worth of wheat in Wheaties, and 20c worth of corn in corn flakes. Hell, the BOX probably costs more. Its clear that the underlying retail prices have little to do with the food value.
Corn was $2 in 1947 and various other years all the way up to a couple
years ago. Everything else went up, so why not corn, or wheat, or beans?
Looking at the figures, corn is still pretty cheap. I think it went to 5 in the 70s for a while, which is probably like 15 or 20 today?