[Rhodes22-list] E85 fuel

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Slim,
 
Thanks for your info regarding alcol.  I guess Rummy was posting  
figuratively in terms of the effects of the drought on ethanol production.   I 
misunderstood, I took his comment literally. I understood him to mean the  drought had 
literally put the  industry out of business.   I’m  sure a drought will hurt 
ethanol production big time.
 
I’m not uniquely committed to ethanol.  I would like to see some  effort 
invested in alternative, even sustainable, transportation fuels, that  could mean 
ethanol, or modified ethanol, or something else.  I think it was  2 years ago 
that Pres Bush announced in his State Of The Union speech that the  federal 
government was going to spend $15M to develop alternative fuels - and I  
thought, big deal.  It’s at least 2 or 3 decades past time the US got  serious about 
transportation fuels, how about a substantial national R&D  program to solve 
this problem?.  The first oil shock (1971?) should have  been a wake up call.
 
I recall people saying that ethanol made no sense, that it was just more  
pork for the farm lobby.  The case of Brazil is a counter example, they did  it 
and it worked for them - it’s hard to ignore a successful  instantiation.  I 
have no idea what alcol costs are, it may be a lot, but  it appears to me that 
the costs of US regular is closing fast.  If you’ve  filled up your SUV, van, 
or truck recently you know what I mean.
 
Dave