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Author	Topic: Ethanol lowers gas prices in a host of ways	Post a Reply Back to Topics

jacksfan Champion Author Lincoln Posts:2,554 Points:1,238,380 Joined:May 2006	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2012 11:55:11 AM Ignore jacksfan Report Abuse Ethanol's role in reducing gas prices. Retail gasoline prices are again on the rise, recently reaching their highest level since May 2011. The national average retail price for regular grade gasoline hit $3.79/gallon last week, $0.27/gallon higher than at the same time last year and $1.04/gallon higher than the same week in 2010.1 Prices along the coasts are even higher, with California drivers paying an average of $4.36/gallon and New Yorkers spending $3.96/gallon for regular gasoline. As gas prices typically ramp up in April and May, many analysts are concerned that today’s high gas prices will spiral even higher in the coming months. Experts predict drivers in some parts of the country may be paying as much as $5/gallon by Memorial Day. Link to pdf ...

jacksfan

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Lincoln

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Message Posted: Mar 6, 2012 11:55:11 AM

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Ethanol's role in reducing gas prices.

Retail gasoline prices are again on the rise, recently reaching their highest level since May 2011. The national average retail price for regular grade gasoline hit $3.79/gallon last week, $0.27/gallon higher than at the same time last year and $1.04/gallon higher than the same week in 2010.1 Prices along the coasts are even higher, with California drivers paying an average of $4.36/gallon and New Yorkers spending $3.96/gallon for regular gasoline. As gas prices typically ramp up in April and May, many analysts are concerned that today’s high gas prices will spiral even higher in the coming months. Experts predict drivers in some parts of the country may be paying as much as $5/gallon by Memorial Day.

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inchgallo Rookie Author Manitoba Posts:46 Points:11,220 Joined:Apr 2012	Message Posted: May 2, 2012 7:33:08 AM Ignore inchgallo Report Abuse i look at it this way How much Btu does one gallon have, then you will know how much power it will deliver and distance to travel from it. question is the BTU from your brand , company , this varies a lot i think 114,000 BTU per Gallon is one number but have seen it go down from there and up. more corn less BTU also i think if you are in the prairies and not climbing mountains they could reduce the BTU a little and you would not notice power loss maybe fuel amounts,in the mountains they seem to keep it up a little just a thought
SilverStreaker Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:11,944 Points:2,217,515 Joined:Mar 2006	Message Posted: Apr 27, 2012 5:39:37 PM Ignore SilverStreaker Report Abuse Ethanol lowers my fuel bill.
lanenebraska Sophomore Author San Jose Posts:204 Points:3,745 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 9:20:17 PM Ignore lanenebraska Report Abuse pumpz gets schooled by Goldseeker!
goldseeker Champion Author West Virginia Posts:19,550 Points:2,719,790 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 6:00:45 PM Ignore goldseeker Report Abuse PumpZ: You obviously do not have a clue. Ethanol has a positive energy balance of at least 1.4-1. Gasoline has an energy balance of .8 - 1. The 18.5 cents tax is actually 18.4 and it has absolutely nothing to do with ethanol. And it is collected and paid on all gasoline blended fuels in America. Brazil...sugar cane yes, but sugar beets....wrong! Less energy....so what! Heat energy does not equate to kinetic energy. Unless you want to put some wheels on your furnance and drive it down the street. Absorbs water. So what, that is why you put alcohols in your gas during the winter months, to prevent water buildup which leads to gasline freezeup. Since I have been using ethanol blended fuels for over 15 years I do not need to add additonal heet or other alcohols to prevent freezeup. And I have also been using ethanol blended fuels in all of my small engines for many years and no issues. Storage problems????? I store my ethanol blended fuels for over a year at a time, and with no issues. As I have said before, you do not have a clue. You need to get your facts straight! [Edited by: goldseeker at 3/18/2012 7:02:27 PM EST]
gamechanger2011 Champion Author Wichita Posts:1,539 Points:54,590 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 2:35:56 PM Ignore gamechanger2011 Report Abuse rewt....me too!
rewt Rookie Author Nashville Posts:24 Points:73,940 Joined:Mar 2012	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 2:23:18 PM Ignore rewt Report Abuse I am all for using more alcohol for fuel. I think we need E100.
gamechanger2011 Champion Author Wichita Posts:1,539 Points:54,590 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 10:29:57 AM Ignore gamechanger2011 Report Abuse Pumpz.....please read this. That isn't true. Five ethanol myths busted [Edited by: gamechanger2011 at 3/18/2012 11:30:42 AM EST]
Pumpz Sophomore Author Boston Posts:197 Points:887,125 Joined:Apr 2004	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2012 10:02:02 AM Ignore Pumpz Report Abuse The US government allows oil companies to charge the federal gasoline excise tax (18.5 cents/gallon) on ethanol, but they get to keep instead of paying it to the IRS, as with all other fuel taxes. This is another one of many ethanol subsidies. It takes almost as much energy to grow the corn, harvest the corn, prepare the corn, distill the ethanol, and blend it with gasoline as you get from burning the ethanol. In short, ethanol is a zero sum game as a fuel, and far worse than that as a product since consumers get shortchanged with every drop. Ethanol contains far less energy per gallon than gasoline, absorbs water, and causes issues when stored and in a lot of small engines too. These costs are never figured when the "advantages" of ethanol are touted. Note that countries that use ethanol as a successful alternative (Brazil) use sugar beats/cane instead of corn.
gamechanger2011 Champion Author Wichita Posts:1,539 Points:54,590 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Mar 17, 2012 3:39:25 PM Ignore gamechanger2011 Report Abuse silverstreaker....I hear people talking about getting better gas mileage with E0 versus E10, but what is the price difference of the two. We only have E10 in our area. It doesn't make sense to me if you are paying more for E0. You'd obviously have to take the price difference into account. We have a friend that is experimenting with E15 on his non-FFV. He drives a lot of miles with his job. He says that he is getting 2 MPG more with E15 versus E10. We ran E40 on a trip to try it out. There was no difference in MPG. [Edited by: gamechanger2011 at 3/17/2012 4:41:02 PM EST]
reb4 Champion Author Chicago Posts:19,122 Points:1,823,100 Joined:Sep 2004	Message Posted: Mar 17, 2012 11:56:44 AM Ignore reb4 Report Abuse Silverstreaker, good for you, use more and don't get your hands... [Edited by: reb4 at 3/17/2012 12:57:18 PM EST]
SilverStreaker Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:11,944 Points:2,217,515 Joined:Mar 2006	Message Posted: Mar 17, 2012 11:53:49 AM Ignore SilverStreaker Report Abuse I know it lowers my fuel prices. I run as much ethanol as I can in my non-FFVs and have seen no significant change in milage and no performance or maintenance issues.
hailsupersport Champion Author Cincinnati Posts:1,230 Points:231,060 Joined:Dec 2011	Message Posted: Mar 16, 2012 8:27:05 AM Ignore hailsupersport Report Abuse ok
reb4 Champion Author Chicago Posts:19,122 Points:1,823,100 Joined:Sep 2004	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2012 6:25:25 PM Ignore reb4 Report Abuse This seems all so familiar from reports last time.... Notice the same "experts were used" and note the "funding" from... the ethanol industry group. I hope all you ethanol fans are sitting down... but I do believe the ethanol does lower the cost of our overall cost of fuel for vehicles.. Yes I said it.. But not sure if the net is worth it.. reference to the 89 cents is a little steep.. as the link from truth 0 meter indicates contends. [Edited by: reb4 at 3/6/2012 7:26:49 PM EST]
WEPSMAN Champion Author South Dakota Posts:10,513 Points:2,024,475 Joined:Mar 2005	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2012 3:02:28 PM Ignore WEPSMAN Report Abuse The stats are by a biased company. I am sure the opponents to ethanol can put up a similar argument. At current prices, with ethanol only being .10 cheaper, I make better mileage without ethanol and it makes up way more than the .10/gal I would save at the pump. I have a hard time believing ethanol as being a fuel of the future. It is more of a "band aid" to cover up the current problems.
no25 Champion Author Wisconsin Posts:2,772 Points:769,815 Joined:Oct 2008	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2012 1:26:31 PM Ignore no25 Report Abuse oh boy not the Experts again