"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "Fuelguru" > wrote
>> The biofuels industry is responding to OPEC's claims that ethanol is
>> the reason for high gas prices. Yeah right! Ethanol keeps the prices
>> lower.
>
> That is arguable at best. The cost of producing ethanol from corn (like
> it is done in the US) is actually very high. It is very inefficient
> (granted, it will improve over time), and it consumes food crop, so it has
> negative effect on food prices. Ethanol price is government-subsidized
> with tax money that could have been used for other purposes (education,
> healthcare, paying off national debt, etc.). In addition, using
> ethanol-blended gasoline (E85) results in degraded fuel economy, so you
> end up using more of it.

I'm noticing poorer mileage even with the ubuquitous E10 we're getting these
days.

> But I do see the benefit of using biofuels to reduce our reliance on oil.
> It's just that currently this benefit comes at a pretty high price.
>
I was using corn along with wood pellets to heat my home until the price for
corn more than doubled - making it equivalent to about $5.00/gal, heating
oil.

Tom K.