The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 236
humans can safely consume rather large quantities of ethanol (alcohol). Drinking fuel-grade ethanol will make you sick and probably kill you, but that's because of the denaturing ingredient added to ethanol to stop people from drinking
it.
So your only argument left is the food-prices canard. When The World Bank
first issued the report in 2008 that blamed ethanol production for food scarcity
and price hikes it caused a great sensation, and the oil industry jumped all over
it.
Since that time The World Bank has retracted those statements on multiple
occasions and placed the blame of rising food prices squarely on the shoulders
of the oil industry. The myth continues to be spread because it's always much
harder to retract a story at a later time. The oil industry paid a large number of
media personalities and publications to carry the story. When The World Bank
retracted the blame the oil industry didn't pony up the money to try and retract
the story; they've continued to ride the wave ever since.
As for electric vehicles, no, that's not the solution and it probably won't be for
30, 40, 50, or more years. Ethanol is the solution. Methanol is a good 2nd, and
CNG is another good solution.
You are correct that American consumers are not the enemy. I just wish that
the American Petroleum Institute and its members didn't act towards us as if we
were.
September 17, 2015
Posted by SCOTT B:
Hi Marc - I'm a fairly new convert to E85. I started using it when my employer
gave me a nice Ford F150 to drive for my work duties. Being a flex fuel vehicle,
and me being a curious person, I started using E85. I had all the same misconceptions that everyone else has. But I had to know for myself. Needless to say,
I'm all on board now. When the truck kept running and the sky didn't fall down
around me, I started reading everything I could get my hands on about Ethanol.
Which is when I came across your blog on the Auto Channel web page.
