Ethanol is a joke!
- Thread starter cyeah
- Start date
As previously mentioned, shame on you. You can send my old man a check for $10 next time you buy a cheeseburger.
Agreed. Ethanol is still an industry in its infancy, and will continue over time with additional research in switchgrass and other biofuel intensive crops. Currently I hear the main problem with switchgrass is transport costs increase very quickly, because it is so dense and heavy. But we have people working on it. Corn was just the foot in the door for the ethanol industry.
Side note, shame on you anyone who claims that all farmers are getting rich on subsidies and/or high crop prices. Most crop prices have stagnated for several years (decades if inflation-adjusted) and were due for an adjustment, ethanol or not. IMO oil prices are driving everything up, because that drives production costs and shipping. Farmers get hit with fuel prices much harder than the average consumer, and those costs are carried over into other agricultural inputs previously mentioned, such as fertilizer. So yeah, they're making a lot more money, but it costs them a lot more and in the end, as always with farmers, it's pretty much a wash. Subsidies are made to help the consumer in the end, that's why you can afford to feed your family and have cash left over...so until you want to start paying $3 for a can of Coke and $15 for a pound of beef, understand that your hard-earned tax dollars filtered through agricultural production is what gives you cheap food.
Sorry about the rant
Actually even without inflation adjustment corn was on the decline from its high of 3.58 in 1974 till finally recovering to 3.75 in 2006. Inflation adjusted you get a price figure of 14.60 back in 74. Just because your used to continually cheap farm products doesn't mean you shouldn't now expect for the prices to correct upwards.
Also, for the complaining that farmers have it easy, bs. To run their business they have to fulfill the multiple facets of: farmer, figuring out how to avoid getting hammered by taxes after a good year, negotiator(renting). They also have the joys of depending on the weather to make their living combined with the fact to make their living they are stock market brokers essentially having to judge when it is most prudent to sell. I'm not saying there isn't money to be made in farming, there is, even in bad years if your resourceful, but overall they have one of the tougher, more thankless jobs.
Why are farmers giving away gifts to children or buying land for high prices? This question is multifaceted but the biggest contribution can be given to taxes. With more money flowing in the government likes to come and take that, to help reduce this, older farmers without heirs to the business send money/gifts to children. Makes sense as if they held onto it until they died they'd get stuck with much of what they accumulate being taken by the estate tax. You don't have to even own vast tracts of land, just be a moderate sized farmer to get hit buy it(farmers are the paper millionaires).
Next reason for buying the land is that its a way to grow the business and make more money, which you know, is kinda most peoples goal. To put a more negative spin on it, to survive as a farmer(and just a farmer) increasing amounts of land are required to make it profitable. It allows for more margin of error. Ahhh those greedy farmers who want to make money what can we do with them, I mean, they have it so much better with their natural unpredictablility over having a set salary and being able to plan around that
I get 80% of the mileage as well. However it usually costs between 60 and 70% of regular gas which makes it well worth it.
I'd say your math is a bit off. Ethanol is actually MORE expensive without the subsidies.
With the subsidies it is currently about 5% less than regular octane.
With the subsidies it is currently about 5% less than regular octane.
I get about that in my 05 grand am (3.4) but I have a K & N Cold air intake installed.
There are those on this board who want to get rid CRP acres. You know paying the farmer for nothing. CRP acres that have been under contract have not been plowed under. I have seen very few CRP acres come out that are under contract. Now maybe if the contract has expired that is a different issue.
In your scientific experiment, did you drive the same miles per hour the entire time? Use the same amount of acceleration at the lights? Use cruise control?
Just wondering, could affect the outcome...
I haven't done a direct "scientific" test, but I notice about a 3-4% drop when I have used ethanol.
For me that is typically going from about 27mpg to about 25mpg.
Dollars per mile, they end up pretty much the same. Travel habits equal.
Because I am lazy and hate filling up, I usually put in 87 and get a few more miles between fill-ups
Very true...when I used to travel back and forth from Ames to my home in ND, I always got a little better mileage traveling back to Ames than going home. The elevation of my home is 2030 ft, while Ames is about 940 ft. More work to go uphill, and less work to go downhill. Wind also probably played a factor. Usually the winds were from the NW. I had a Pontiac 6000, which was pretty aerodynamic from the front, but pretty flat from the back. More wind resistance going home, while getting a push coming back...
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Not that I particularly care, but in my life as "Pizza Man - Deliverer of Pizza!" I put a ton of mileage on a variety of cars and never saw much of a difference between regular unleaded, with or without 10% ethanol.
I kept meticulous records over a 7 year period, driving a bazillion miles under enough different conditions to effectively null out the variables.
I kept meticulous records over a 7 year period, driving a bazillion miles under enough different conditions to effectively null out the variables.
I'm talking about E85. I know what I pay at the pump and I know what I get for mileage.
I figured you were, but most people don't know the difference and just put whatever is "cheapest" in their tank. It's all gas to them.
See you in 2 days when your back at the station filling up because you only got 14 mpg.:smile: