Biofuels: Tell me it isn't true
 

Right now we are getting ethanol shoved down our throat by both our state and federal governments here in Australia. A good part of the argument is that " this has been a huge success in the USA".

Is this really true?

No. It's not a good idea to make fuel for cars out of potential food. If we had any sense we would have made switch grass the only option, not corn.

it is VERY successful in Brazil, I've heard. They use sugar cane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel_in_Brazil

It's true if you consider paying the same $ per gallon and getting less mileage(~12%) out of it(10% mix) a success. That coupled with higher food prices for everything made out of corn, corn syrup, etc, because half the crop goes to making ethanol. Plus, even the 10% mix stuff eats the pipes of any engine not made for it, ie lawnmowers, snowblowers, cars older than 2002 or so. Not to mention that it can't be distributed by normal means due to the corrosive nature of the junk. Due to this, more fuel has to be delivered by some means other than pipeline resulting in more fuel being burned during distribution.

So yes, it's been a rousing success here if you're a corn farmer, you own an ethanol plant, or you're a politician with corn farmers or ethanol plants in your district. Otherwise, we're getting screwed on both ends and being told it's good for us.

One more wonderful thing to remember about ethanol, now that winter is approaching in the northern hemishpere: It breaks down over time. It will clog anything it is left in over the winter. Boats, Lawnmowers, ATV's, motorcycles....you should have seen the repair business generated by this stuff last spring!

I forgot to mention that prices on most agricultural commodities have gone up due to this crap as well. Meat is more expensive because the corn fed to the animals is more expensive. Soybeans and other crops have increased in price due to smaller harvests brought about by farmers switching their land over to corn, etc...

Corn Ethanol is a racket created to buy votes from farm states and appease the greenies. In reality, it does nothing to help the environment and it increases costs across the board. Plus, since the US is the world's largest exporter of corn, as more countries buy into this garbage we'll all see commodity prices go up further.

Keep in mind that this is coming from a person living in Nebraska on the border of Iowa. We grow quite a bit of corn around these parts.:D

I wonder how much corn sugar is left in this stuff after refining?

That's part of my problem. I have a six-acre property in a small town where there's one fuel outlet with three bowsers - diesel, regular-grade petrol (its just been switched to an ethanol blend), and premium grade petrol. I have my diesel X5, an old V8 Range Rover, a small capacity motorcycle, push mower, ride-on mower, chainsaw, and brush cutter. All the engines that run on petrol, except for the push mower, aren't designed to tolerate ethanol blends. It's especially a problem for the two-stroke bike, chainsaw and brush cutter. I can use premium in both the four-strokes and the two-strokes but it's a fair bit more expensive - not that the small-engine stuff uses much fuel, but it's the principle. I should be able to buy the type of fuel I want, not be forced into buying a more expensive fuel just because the politicians think ethanol is a good idea.

yer all gettin shafted , nae kissin , nae foreplay , jist shafted .
bio fuel can be made from by products . no need to use the valuable food crops .
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT .

It's popular in the US only because the farmers and special interest political groups from the Midwest have too much say over matters like this. Any motor enthusiast hates it.

special interest groups seem to be running a lot of things in this country....and unfortunately this is one of them...