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N.Y. Governor Pushing for Alternate Fuels
Aviran Mordo writes to tell us that the Governor of New York is pushing hard for the widespread availability of both ethanol and biodiesel on the New York State Thruway and 100 more locations around the state. From the article: "Costs and further details of the plan, which 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."
The article speaks the true reasons:
Pataki has been criticized for promoting ethanol because it is made from corn grown in states that include Iowa, which he has been visiting recently to gauge support for a possible presidential run.
and:
Environmentalists have largely denounced making ethanol-capable vehicles, calling that a boondoggle intended for the agriculture lobby and Detroit. When automakers build cars and trucks that can use ethanol, called flex-fuel vehicles, they earn credits that make it easier to meet fuel-economy regulations, in turn giving them leeway to build more gas-guzzlers.
Also, biodiesel will be a huge source of revenue for the political cronies (same people supported by both parties). Gas station ownership is heavily regulated and licensed. Biodiesel won't be just given tax breaks but direct taxpayer-funded subsidies! From TFA:
On Friday, a gallon of E85 was selling for $1.73--in part because of subsidies--at a station in Akron, Iowa, compared with $2.19 for a gallon of unleaded regular.
From a political standpoint, biodiesel subsidies also pay for numerous megacorp farming cronies.
If New York wants cheaper fuel, do two things:
1. Annul all gas taxes
2. Get rid of boutique fuel mixes making refineries wealthy
... NY doesn't make corn like Indiana.
One of the distinct advantages to using ethanol as a fuel is having a local distillation/production facility. While we still have to truck in gas since NY isn't exactly rich in oil wells we still lack the excess starch production that can be used as feedstock to columns.
Given our rather poor winter heat (ie, freezing-ass cold) even MORE energy is going to be required for production.
Now, that said, I realize this only address the distribution points within the state. Having a couple of fuel stops, every other one say, that produce E85 would be great and I'd run it. But there's just no easy way to 'make' it yet because we're so energy poor- the key to cheap fuel is recycling as much waste heat as possible (solar capture to preheat stock, exchangers around the condenser, etc)
But hey, it's a step forward, right?
I'm unfamiliar as a whole with the topic, but is a special type of vehicle required to use ethanol-rich fuel or biodiesel?
Here in the UK diesel and petrol are pushing about $6.60 a gallon (US). We cope by having more fuel efficient cars - 55mpg from my diesel at motorway speeds is the norm. Use less fuel - best way of saving money!
Pataki is a twit. He says he wants biodiesel to be made available, yet he has let the moronic authorities in his state make it IMPOSSIBLE TO PURCHASE A NEW DIESEL AUTOMOBILE THERE (as is the case in a growing number of other states as well). Talk about transparent lip service. What a doofus.
The entire rest of the world outside of North America is embracing diesel passenger car technology, as it dramatically improves fuel economy, lowering greenhouse gas production in the process - even before you consider biodiesel, which is an essentially neutral carbon cycle participant which produces no net CO2.
E85 is a scam. It gives less mileage than an equivalent volume of plain gasoline. Most stations don't acount for the reduced energy output in their pricing. Many even charge more for E85 than regular gas. If you do see E85 cheaper than regular, you can guarantee that that state is subsidizing the producers to attain that price.
This is really just a way to put money into the pockets of the corn lobby, particularly ADM corp. They cringe at all of the surplus corn and other grain we just give away though USAID and would love if they could divert this into a new revenue stream.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
While ethonal does reduce CO2 emissions by burning fuel more completely, (reducing air pollution) it also significantly lowers over fuel economy (upwards of 10% to 20% on most vehicles).
No one in the ethonal lobby ever wants to talk about the nitrogen/oxygen (NO2?) by-products that are increased, which are much worse greenhouse gasses than CO2 ever has or will be. (stays in the atmosphere much longer, and holds in magnitudes more heat than CO2. Coupled with the fact that it's very hard to extract from the atmosphere, unlike CO2)
Then there's the increased pesticide use, the fact that it takes more fuel to produce ethonal than you get back, and it's a giant pipe dream.
When you start mixing politics and science you get shitty science.
The "Big Three" US automakers already have the technology for E85. Ethanol is the primary automobile fuel in Brazil, and all the automakers mass produce cars for the Brazillian market which run very well on ethanol. There is not any need for expensive pie-in-the-sky research projects: the technology is here, and it works well.
Ethanol is 'cheap' because of State and Federal subsidies.
If the ethanol business booms, so do State/Federal outlays necessary to support the industry. It's something to think about.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Alternative fuels might be good for many reasons. But why not also change the engine at the same time? Turbine engines are used in trucks since a long time http://turbinetruckengines.com/index2.html and even Chrysler invested into turbine engines for cars http://www.allpar.com/mopar/turbine-photos.html . Turbine engines have many advantages. Combined with an electric motor-generator concept, like in the Toyota Prius (w/ old piston engine, sigh), things become really interesting. Adding fuel alternative is easy with turbine engines.
Biodiesel only works (from an energy yield standpoint) if it is recycled from used vegetable oils. Ethanol from corn is a net energy loser: takes more energy to create than you get back (not to mention that it also depletes soils that could have been used to grow food).
This site seems to debunk much of the hype over ethanol. It also has some choice things to say about the "hydrogen economy". I don't know how credible their analysis is, comment if you think it's crapola or not.
Seriously... a huge number of this nation's problems have arisen from it's need for Middle East oil. Biodiesel cuts the Middle East out of the equation and gives that business to US farmers and agriculture.
Biodiesel also is much better for the environment because it recycles carbon already in the atmosphere rather than releasing new carbon buried inside the earth.
If New York wants cheaper fuel, do two things:
1. Annul all gas taxes
2. Get rid of boutique fuel mixes making refineries wealthy
A low gas price is just one possible political goal. Another one is energy price stability.
Even if one focuses solely on the economical benefits of such a policy, it could make sense to:
* cut energy consumption where the net economic effect is positive
* raise energy taxes where the net economic effect is positive
* invest in very long term local energy production (think 100+ years or renewable: wind, solar, nuclear)
* invest in small scale local energy production (think straight vegetable oil instead of biodiesel)
* invest in the reliability of partners on which your rely as external energy sources
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