Interesting reading:
http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/ACE_Optimal_Ethanol_Blend_Level_Study_final_12507.pdf http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/A........thanol_Blend_Level_Study_final_12507.pdf
http://www.ethanol.org/video/ http://www.ethanol.org/video/
I personally just filled my non flex fuel S10 last week with E85. The blend I ended up with in the tank was E47. This truck has averaged 22-23 +/-1 mpg for 120,000 miles. The last tank of E10 before I put E85 in it was just under 24 mpg. The tank of E47 calculated out to 22.98 mpg. Basically no difference in mileage. The E85 was $.80/gallon cheaper than E10 and $.92/gallon cheaper than regular gasoline. I could tell no difference in the way the truck ran.
Yes I am biased. My occupation depends on the ag industry. However, I would much rather give my money to the ag industry than to give it to oil sheiks who really don't like us and would just as soon see us dead.
Jim Evans
Iowa Falls, IA
2004.5 Chevy 3500
2001 Northstar 9.5 Igloo
[/quote=bigfootford]
It takes a 118 gallons of water to grow 21 lbs of corn.
There is a goal to produce about a billion gallons of ethanol in California a year. So each of those gallons of fuel, based on the calculations and assumptions above, would require 2,500 gallons of water. That's about 2.5 trillion gallons of water for 1 billion gallons of ethanol.
How much water is that in the scheme of things? Take all the water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that now goes to Southern California and Valley farms, use it to grow corn -- and it still wouldn't be enough water.
Jim
118 gallons/21 lbs = 314 gallons/bushel. If I figure 175 bu/acre corn, which is close to the average yield in Iowa, that is 55,000 gallons/acre. or 1.26 gallons/square feet. Or .008 inches of rain. Iowa gets 40 inches of rain a year. Most of the land is not irrigated.
Each bushel of corn will make 2.5 gallons of ethanol and it will take about 3 1/2 gallons of additional water to process a gallon of ethanol.
Yes I am biased. My occupation depends on the ag industry. However, I would much rather give my money to the ag industry than to give it to oil sheiks who really don't like us and would just as soon see us dead.
I would also if it was not also fleecing the farmers trying to feed us. In most cases worse than the average family.
What is fleecing the farmers is the price of diesel fuel, fertilizer, and other inputs. If it wasn't for the increased crop prices all the farmers would be broke. Then who is going to make your food?
Up until last year the price of corn, wheat, and soybeans was the exact same price as in the 1950's. Not inflation adjusted - the exact same price. Why do we expect farmers to try to live on 1950s income? Do you?
118 gallons/21 lbs = 314 gallons/bushel. If I figure 175 bu/acre corn, which is close to the average yield in Iowa, that is 55,000 gallons/acre. or 1.26 gallons/square feet. Or .008 inches of rain. Iowa gets 40 inches of rain a year. Most of the land is not irrigated.
Each bushel of corn will make 2.5 gallons of ethanol and it will take about 3 1/2 gallons of additional water to process a gallon of ethanol.
All in all, not much water.
Guess it is up in the Dakota's etc....This is a following quote from page 7 of this thread----
"Nebraska, at the present time, is the fourth largest ethanol producer in the United States behind 1. Iowa, 2. Illinois and 3. Minnesota.
At the present there is also a debate about the water needed for these plants in Nebraska. Nebraska is on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the biggest fresh water sources in the United States, and it is being depleted. This is mostly due to over pumping by the farmers to irrigate. New irrigation wells are on hold and some water restrictions now exist. Water may be abundant on the planet, but where a lot of corn is being grown it is becoming a depleted resource. There is great concern that many large ethanol plants may further hasten the depletion."
Guess what we need to do is build a pipe line for water to ship that extra water you have over here so we can make LOT'S of ethanol....
We haven't built a new dam here in over 30 years.
Jim
94 F-250 ex cab,460, E40D tranny,airbags w/pump,bilstein shocks, 2000 Bigfoot 9.6 2500 camper, Progressive Dynamics 9260, Trimetric monitor and an eu2000i honda genny.
Wife and Molly- Ausie,Queensland healer
oldtractors wrote: What is fleecing the farmers is the price of diesel fuel, fertilizer, and other inputs. If it wasn't for the increased crop prices all the farmers would be broke. Then who is going to make your food?
Up until last year the price of corn, wheat, and soybeans was the exact same price as in the 1950's. Not inflation adjusted - the exact same price. Why do we expect farmers to try to live on 1950s income? Do you?
I agree with you.Farming is the riskest businesses I can think of.Farmers need a brake.But this forest of sucking them in to this ethanol cover is not the way to help them on the long term.What it is doing is turning food into ethanol my taking food crops off the land and growing corn.
Ethanol is just a cover up for world price fixing of oil has nothing to do with how much oil we have if it did the US would get off there restrictions of why the oil company's in Alaska could not sell the oil in this country. The powers that be have a deal with OPEC and World Bank Iran starts dumping cheap oil on the world market the US dollar will be nothing but paper why do you think our government is so afraid of them.It has nothing to do with nukes.They can sink our economy and never fire a shot except to keep us away from there pipe lines while they flood the world with cheap oil yes I am proud to be American but not what the government does to country's that will not let them control them.Some time I think our government is our own worst enemy.
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