Author: CE's ECO Article: Is E85 or Ethanol More Eco friendly? CE’s ECO Go Green This is our inheritance to our kids and their kids. "Watch the Clip at the end of this post its great, high school kids building electric cars" With gas prices soaring in the spring and summer of 2008 consumers and auto manufactures were forced to find alternate means of filling up at the pump. Nothing gets everyone’s attention better than hitting the pocket book. But needless to say now that price’s have dropped back down to a 5 year low, we may be lulled back to sleep about the implications of not changing our habits. The automotive industry was slapped again earlier this week by Senate not approving their bailout funds they were requesting. This industry needs to change with the times. Fossil fuels are a thing of the past the combustion engine as we know it has not really changed in more than 50 plus years. Yes it has become more efficient, but really in essence you put gas in the car burns it and emits a rash of nasty chemicals out in to our breathing air. E85 or flex-fuel was created as a stop gap (IMO). Ethanol “a grain alcohol” usually made from corn, sugarcane, wheat, barley, and potatoes. (hey, sounds like hooch made during prohibition) and actually the process is similar to making moonshine. Great this is a fuel made from renewable resources. Yes but take a quick look at the impact of this renewable resource. The fields that are being used to grow the resources to make this form of energy are now not able to produce crops for our consumption or for the consumption of our cattle. This in turn increases the price of our food if these spaces are reserved for creating fuels for our cars. And that is a never ending vicious circle that will continue to spiral till either the fuel becomes too expensive or the cost of food for our consumption gets out of hand as well. Ethanol burns cleaner than fossil fuels due to the fact that its chemical structure contains a lot of oxygen. And it does reduce greenhouse emissions when mixed with regular gasoline. Also when mixed with gasoline with a ratio of 10-90 (called E10) reduces the amount of gasoline we consume which reduces our dependency on foreign sources. But with all of that in mind there just is not as much energy in ethanol as there is in gasoline. It takes more consumption of ethanol to go 1 mile than it does for gasoline. Also farmers that grow these crops must expend energy to harvest and transport to provide the resource for the fuel. And as said be for these areas reserved for this venture are no longer available for our food sources. So what do we do? Solar energy? Wind Energy? Electric Cars? I don’t know see what these folks do you never know what will happen in the future. Several good things will be on the out look for people utilizing real renewable energy sources that do not have an impact on our food supply or reliance on foreign oil. Tax rebates from the Government, rebates for green power from the electric company. And above all a future for our children and grandchildren. About the author: We do need to do something soon to continue to live the way we do with out depending on fossil fuels. This is why I started this. GO GREEN CE's ECO http://ceseco.blogspot.com