Quote:
Originally Posted by ISUKappa
As far as being as "unclean," the ethanol itself is not - it actually helps reduce certain emissions created by gasoline engines. What those opponents are usually talking about is the emissions produced by the agricultural machinery needed to plant, grow and harvest the corn and also by the trucks needed to ship the corn to the processing plant and the finished fuel to fuel pumps
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For some reason there's an emphasis on corn for making ethanol while other grains (such as wheat) are more often used for making the kind we drink, as in vodka (corn is used for bourbon). But whatever the material, it has to be fermented, which gives off CO2. The end product of ethanol combustion is CO2 and water.
Ethanol might eliminate other pollutants released by fossil fuels, but with respect to global warming it gives off as much, if not more, CO2 than gasoline. And CO2 is supposedly the culprit in global warming.
I'm not an opponent of ethanol or using corn to make it - these are just the facts as I understand them.
BTW gas at the two stations nearest my home is $4.34 and $4.40 today. It's always high around here but I drive a Honda Civic.