The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 272
Moreover, virtually all fuels and usable energy sources require the use of other
energy and fuels, so your comment is irrelevant if you are trying to imply that
ethanol production suffers from some unique problem compared to gasoline
and diesel fuel. Petroleum oil fuels are also used to find, ship, refine, and ship
again crude oil and the finished petroleum fuels. In fact, the entire process of
making gasoline actually causes gasoline to be more energy negative than the
production of ethanol.
Therefore, the issue of you getting less MPG by using an ethanol blend is not
an issue of whether ethanol is helping to reduce America's dependency on petroleum oil, it is a personal issue of whether you are saving money by using E10
versus E0 (ethanol-free gasoline).
To determine if it is economically beneficial to use E10 you simply compare the
price of E10 to E0. If you get 8% less MPG with E10 but save 10% on the cost
of E0, then you have a net gain of 2%. In some regions of America, ethanolfree gasoline can cost $2 or $3 more per gallon than E10. So if the cost of E10
is about $2.50 per gallon and you have to pay $3.50 for E0, then you are far
ahead. In some areas, E0 is only about 50 cents per gallon more than E10. This
would result in a net savings of 12% by using E10. Since you find the loss of
8% MPG to be a bad thing, I presume you should be overjoyed in saving 12%
or more on every gallon of fuel you purchase.
But let me take this issue further. Some people would argue that the overall
reduction of petroleum oil that is displaced by E10 ethanol-gasoline is so insignificant that it's not worth the bother. To those people, I say, "fine, so then that's
why America should be switching to E30, E40, E50, or E85 as the required
blend level. This way every consumer would save even more money and we
would be able to displace significant quantities of petroleum oil fuels.
The topic of ethanol versus gasoline is clouded in lies, but they are the lies
invented and disseminated by the oil industry.
December 31, 2015
Posted by GREYSWYND:
Does ethanol effect gas mileage negatively? My mechanic told me it does. My
gas tank holds approximately 17.5 gallons of gas. I'm getting roughly 240 miles
