Category: Science Publisher: Prairie Oak Publishing
ISBN-10: 0978629302
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 196
Copyright: September 25, 2007
ISBN-13: 9780978629304
Sustainable Ethanol goes beyond the headlines, uncovering the benefits and
limitations of North America’s fuel ethanol industry. Ethanol production and
use are becoming more efficient and less reliant on fossil fuel inputs. Learn
about the technologies making ethanol make sense for our environment,
economy, and security.
Discover how:
The end of cheap oil is providing an opening for biofuels.
Some existing cars get better fuel economy on 10% ethanol compared
to ethanol-free gasoline!
The next generation of flex-fuel and hybrid electric vehicles could be
optimized to get much better fuel economy on ethanol.
North America can produce significant quantities of biofuels without
damaging our food production capacity.
Sustainable farming methods are reducing ethanol’s reliance on fossil
fuels and contributing to improvements in net energy balance.
Cellulosic ethanol can be made from waste materials and soil-restoring
perennial crops.
“…my very sincere congratulations and admiration. Your book is a very
useful and insightful overview of a complex and promising new technology.”
—Bill Kovarik, Ph.D., Radford University School of Communication
Coauthor, The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the Twentieth Century
The Goettemoeller brothers, with backgrounds in environmental remediation and
sustainable agriculture, are passionate about the natural world and how society
might best sustain the good life over the long term. Both brothers graduated from
Northwest Missouri State University. Adrian also earned an M.S. in Geology from
the University of Iowa. Jeffrey is a horticulturalist and author of Stevia Sweet
Recipes: Sugar-Free—Naturally!
Excerpt
Improving Fuel Economy on Ethanol
One criticism of ethanol is that it replaces only a small portion of our gasoline use. But this is a poor reason to abandon ethanol. It would make no more sense than abandoning wind power because it can’t supply all our electricity. It is, however, a reason to work on conservation and energy efficiency just as intently as production. We use more energy than necessary, primarily because petroleum has historically been inexpensive. As cheap oil becomes scarce, we must find ways to curtail our use of transportation fuels.
Some ethanol critics cite its poor fuel economy compared to gasoline. Actually, ethanol can be an ally in energy conservation and better fuel economy. Preliminary studies show E10 already achieves better fuel economy than ethanol-free gasoline in some vehicles. E85 exhibits reduced fuel economy in today’s flex fuel vehicles, but critics often fail to acknowledge this situation can improve. Manufacturers could optimize vehicles for better fuel economy on E10 and E85. This would reduce our cost per mile driven. It would also improve ethanol’s energy balance, in turn benefiting our environment, energy security, and trade balance.
Ethanol’s energy density is low compared to gasoline, but energy density is not the only property affecting fuel economy. We must also consider how efficiently a vehicle uses energy. No technology is capable of converting 100% of available energy into useful work. Energy is lost to friction and heat. But vehicles optimized for ethanol are able to direct a greater percentage of available energy toward turning the wheels, offsetting lower energy content. This is possible thanks to ethanol’s high octane rating and other beneficial combustion properties. Ethanol optimization technologies already exist. Full implementation of these technologies could yield huge benefits through better fuel economy.
In these times of high fuel prices, we often hear of potential solutions such as hybrid vehicles, biofuels, hydrogen, and fuel cells. We need to resist the temptation to see these as competing alternatives. It is tantalizing to think some single “silver bullet” technology will solve all our energy problems. Realistically speaking, if we reject every energy alternative that can’t single-handedly replace oil, we will have nothing left. We need many different alternative fuels and most importantly, we need to combine fuels and technologies for maximum efficiency. Biofuels such as ethanol can be a valuable component of a highly efficient transportation system.
Where do viruses, such as Ebola and HIV, come from and why they are so aggressive? This book changed tenets of evolutionary virology, developing the concepts of aggressive symbiosis and plague culling, which explain much of the horror of plague virus
Our human genome is full of viruses similar to HIV-1. These have played an important role in human evolution and still play an important role in human embryology and day-to-day chemistry. Just how important are they to our evolution past and future?
Our human genome is full of viruses similar to HIV-1. These have played an important role in human evolution and still play an important role in human embryology and day-to-day chemistry. Just how important are they to our evolution past and future?
