The Gas Alternative, Ethanol Fuel
There are many alternatives to gasoline out there now. You have
electric, bio-diesel and even hydrogen engines that are being
researched. But one of the leading contenders to gasoline's crown as
king is ethanol fuel. You could argue that it's leading the pack.
But should we put all of our eggs in one basket?
You may be familiar with ethanol fuel because it is really nothing
more than good ol' corn whiskey. You could actually get drunk off
the stuff but it wouldn't be very good for your health to drink.
It's made by an elaborate process that involves fermentation,
distillation, dehydration and denaturing. All of this is similar to
your great-granddad's moonshine making process. That old adage about
running a car on moonshine was closer to the truth than anyone
thought all those years ago. However, pure ethanol won't run in most
engines as it must go through a process to make it compatible with
modern car engines.
In fact, ethanol fuel isn't made solely from the fermentation
process; it has to be mixed with gasoline to run and then it's a
tricky process. Get the wrong mixture of ethanol and you're likely
to have a bad day on the interstate. But still, it is a viable
biofuel that wouldn't require everyone to purchase new vehicles or
converters.
But is ethanol cheaper than gas? To answer; no. In fact, it's
slightly more expensive and this creates a problem. Most people are
already fed up with the prices being charged at the pumps. If they
have to pay more for a biofuel then it seems likely they may not be
willing to do so. Unless of course it's cleaner and better for the
environment. Ethanol isn't, studies suggest. There is only a minimal
differentiation between the green house gases emitted by gas burning
cars and those emitted by ethanol burning ones.
There's also the fuel efficiency problem. Ethanol fuel is about
thirty four percent less efficient than gasoline. That means you'd
be putting more fuel in your car more frequently and paying the same
or higher price. Outstanding eh? But there is a major advantage to
ethanol. In ethanol engines, the engines that can burn pure ethanol,
you get considerably higher torque and acceleration than gas engines
would get. Not to mention and overall increase in the power
performance of your engine. But most of us don't have ethanol
engines and to enjoy this advantage, we would be forced to replace
our gasoline engines and that would be expensive.
Ethanol fuel is popular, of that there can be no doubt. But it may
not be the best alternative fuel to gasoline for a number of
reasons. When compared to other alternative fuels it just doesn't
stack up. But only time will tell if it succeeds gas as the fuel
choice.
