Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Democratic energy bill: Stupid is as stupid does
For those few of you who believe that our elected representatives in the United States Congress are serious about promoting the development of renewable energy, here is a quick antidote.
11 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Dec 11, 11:02:00 AM:
After reading your link, I have only one question: Is there anything in there about repealing any of the Laws of Thermodynamics, because most of the outakes that were mentioned are well-nigh impossible by my present limited understanding of engineering and 'heat engines' (anything that has a heating cycle, like power plants and cars and, and....)
-David
By 
Georg Felis, at
Tue Dec 11, 12:02:00 PM:
Heh. I never realized Congress was a big fan of The Tick. One of my favorite quotes from the big blue guy is "Must... defy... laws of physics!"
By , at
Tue Dec 11, 12:05:00 PM:
Leaving aside the questionable wisdom of using our food supply for fuel, has anyone yet demonstrated that there is actually a net energy gain to be had by going to ethanol? Factor in the fuel cost of plowing, tilling, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, transporting, converting (or is it inverting?), and transporting again before this cheap and clean product gets to our cars, are we really any ahead? I'm asking, because I really don't know.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Tue Dec 11, 12:22:00 PM:
Anon (12:05pm)~
I've been told that it does indeed take more energy to do all that to create ethanol than to just use petroleum-based fuels...
Congress is clueless. How about incentive-izing creation of renewables? Research to create more affordable and efficient solar panels - that can be installed both by homeowners AND utility companies. How about disincentive-izing the NIMBY attitude we see from the likes of Ted Kennedy when it comes to viable wind farms, or clean nuclear power plants?
By , at
Tue Dec 11, 01:24:00 PM:
Hey! I live in the heart of 'corn country', and saw E-85 advertised at a gas station the other day for $2.519/gallon. Regular unleaded was about $2.90/gallon.
My country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of subsidy
/sarcasm off/
This first iteration of bio-fuel (corn to ethanol) is indeed a losing bargain, as presently done. In a few years, though, better fermentation bacteria (they are in labs right now!) will create higher yields of ethanol (using cheaper celluosic feed stocks, too), and crops better suited to making ethanol (like sorghum, for instance) could be cultivated. Then it will begin to make economic sense. We hope. Maybe.
The present subsidized growth of 'biofuels' is just getting an industry off the ground. But there is no way we can 'grow' enough biofuels feedstocks to create enough ethanol to power all the cars in this country.
NO. WAY.
-David
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Dec 11, 03:10:00 PM:
The CAFE targets are easily attainable using composites to lighten stuff up, much smaller turbocharged diesels, and vehicles with better drag coefficients, but the rest is poppycock.
My old 2000 1.8L 4-cyl VW Passat will get close to 40mpg on level ground @50mph. That's not a "small car", nor is it a particularly light one. Its got more power than I need and the 5th gear could even be taller to help the MPG. It can be slipped into 5th at 40mph.
By davod, at
Tue Dec 11, 07:32:00 PM:
Ethanol is subsidized. Imagine what it would cost it is wasn't subsidized.
By , at
Tue Dec 11, 08:09:00 PM:
The subsidy is a $0.51 blending credit paid to the company blending it with gasoline. The wholesale price ethanol trades at is before the credit/subsidy, currently that is $1.94 per gallon about $0.30 less than unleaded.
By , at
Wed Dec 12, 10:25:00 AM:
University of N. Dakota, and Minnesota State Study:
3 of 4 cars got better mileage With an Ethanol Blend than with Straight Gasoline.
H/T Maggies Farm
By Purple Avenger, at
Wed Dec 12, 04:12:00 PM:
The problem is -- all three of those cars maxed with significantly different mix levels of ethanol.
That's not a result that can translate into a shippable consumer product. The current retail distribution infrastructure isn't piped to do on the fly mixing. I don't see installing more pumps/tanks as viable unless this characteristic can be made more uniform and common across the board.
By , at
Wed Dec 12, 08:57:00 PM:
Avenger; In a couple of Northern States they're using "Blender" Pumps. They can offer 5 different blends of ethanol out of one tank.
This is pretty neat for a couple of reasons.
Aside from the obvious one - it, also, makes it possible for the station owner to collect the $0.51/gal "blender's" credit. It seems the "credit" has a better chance of being passed on to the "Consumer" if the station owner receives it, rather than the "Blender."
