From Clean Air Choice, this link presents a comparison cost of E85 to Unleaded.
Consider the following:
1)Ethanol contains approximately 76% of the energy as gasoline (see below)
2)Ethanol's Return on Energy is approximately 1.24:1. That means that the BTU expended yields approximately 24% more BTU.
ETHANOL BY THE NUMBERS
Energy for Ethanol (100%) EEtOH = 75,700.00 BTU/Gallon
Energy for Gasoline (100%) EGAS = 115,000.00 BTU/Gallon
Energy in E85 (Ethanol Content Ranges from 70% to 85%)
EE85 = [(0.85 * EEtOH + 0.15 * EGAS) +(0.70 * EEtOH + 0.30 * EGAS)] / 2
EE85 = 84,542.50 BTU/Gallon
Energy in Blended Gasoline
EPUMPGAS = 0.10 * EEtOH + 0.90 * EGAS
EPUMPGAS = 111,070.00 BTU/Gallon
Comparison of Blended Gasoline to E85
Efficiency of E85 = EE85 / EPUMPGAS
Efficiency of E85 = 76%
This evaluation reflects the energy that is available for the automobile to consume. For E85 to break even with gasoline is must cost at least 24% less for the economics to be attractive. The following factors in that the Return on Energy for EtOH is
Equivalent Cost of Fuel based on Energy
Gasoline $2.85
E85 $2.17
FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION
1 gallons of E85 = 84,542.50 BTU
Fossil Fuel Energy Expended = 68,179.44 BTU
1 gallon Gasoline = 111,070.00 BTU
Based on equivalent energy: 1.31 Gallons E85 = 1 Gallon Gasoline
1.31 (Gallon E85/Gallon Gasoline Equiv E85) * 68,179.44 BTU Fossil Fuels
= 89,572.58 BTU Fossil Fuels / Gallon of Gasoline Equivalent E85
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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3 comments:
there was a great article in this wknd's STL post-dispatch about the water demand for the newer plants. typical plants cited in IL will need to withdraw 1.3 million gallons of gas per day from the ground.
pretty frightening
When it comes down to it, my opinion is that the two reasons corn based ethanol is considered is for getting the "farm/rural" vote for politicians in the grainbelt and for American car companies to "greenwash" their products.
From an environmental standpoint corn based ethanol is ridiculous. Due to population growth, fresh water will be the next scarce global resource after fossil fuel based energy. Using corn based ethanol results in exporting water via national fuel consumption. Corn based ethanol has gone from "wet milling" operations to "dry milling" operations which helps the water situation, but not enough. Ethanol must switch to cellulosic ethanol from corn based to have a legitimate future.
(Let's find a rural politician that is going to tell his constiuent that!)
Frigtening indeed.
Why not continue to develop hybrid technology that ultimately utilizes a green (ethanol/biodiesel) fuel? Instead, the american car companies badge their autos as ethanol vehicles, and it is impossible to fuel those vehicles in most places in the country. A hybrid realizes a greater reduction of fossil fuel based energy demand when compared to a non-hybrid than an ethanol fueled gasoline vehicle does (as shown presented in the post)
What's not being addressed is the fact that producing ethanol consumes more energy than it produces...why are we even going DOWN this road?
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