Essay on Ethanol Energy

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

In the New York Times article, “As Ethanol Booms, Critics warn of Environmental Effect”, Erica Gies writes about the many misconceptions of how ethanol is impacting everyday lives. She narrates the drawbacks of producing ethanol and how it was suppose to reduce emissions, but this is questionable due to the lengthy process and number of refineries and resources needed. Then she goes into further details about the local effects in our nation’s increased food prices, water pollution and consumption. By writing this article in the New York Times Gies’s primary audience will be those subscribed to New York Times, or follow this newspaper regularly. The secondary audience will be anyone caught in conversation by someone who has read the article and that maybe directly or indirectly related to ethanol issues.

Of course there are reasons why we have not converted to alcohol burning vehicles before.  Ethanol costs more per gallon than gasoline.  However, new technologies have the potential to produce ethanol at significantly smaller costs.   Methanol, a high-performance liquid fuel made from wood or coal, can be produced at prices comparable to the prices of gasoline and natural gas.  In addition, oil does not occur naturally in unlimited supply, and just in the past few years, gas prices have been increasing dramatically.  Those prices will not fall back down.  However, the introduction of an inexpensive alcohol-based fuel would provide an alternative means of power and give consumers more choices.

In the United States, ethanol is primarily used as a blending element in the production of gas and as an alternative fuel. More than 95% of the gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol. Most of ethanol blending into U.S. motor gasoline occurs to meet the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act (RFG Fuel) and the Renewable Fuel Standard set forth in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. (U.S Energy Information Administration)

Mankind has relied on non-renewable resources for thousands of years, and only recently has it started to take its toll on the environment. Chemists have been experimenting with different types of fuels and adding to gasoline to make it more efficient. This is when ethanol made its debut into the fuel industry, as an additive to gasoline. Ethanol is put into gas as a combatant against water, which can find its way into fuel tanks of vehicles. It reduces the effect that this water has on the health of the vehicle, and as a result increases gas mileage, and also increases the amount of complete combustion. Ethanol consumption has severe drawbacks pertaining to its effect on the environment. Production of ethanol increases the formation of

The higher price of ethanol in many areas is made worse by ethanol’s second disadvantage that it, regardless of the price you pay for it, contains less fuel efficient energy than gasoline. In short, this means cars won’t travel as far on a tank of gas, and most cars fuel economy will decrease by 20-30 percent. This is very

Ethanol is now found in most gasolines, except for the few and far between pumps that sell ethanol-free fuel. Ethanol acts as a “filler” in gasoline, because it is much cheaper than many gasoline components, however it comes at a price because ethanol infused gasoline procures about 33% less energy than ethanol free gasoline, dropping its competitiveness towards diesel even more. (Energy, 2015) Ethanol gasoline types include E10, E15, and E85. E10 represents gasoline with a 10% ethanol content, which is the norm now for most gasoline types, and what will mostly likely be in normal unleaded gasoline. E15, 15% ethanol, can only be used in flex-fuel or light duty cars because it produces not nearly enough power to run a large gasoline engine without major modifications. (Energy, 2015) E85, meaning that it is composed of 85% ethanol gasoline mixture (51-83% ethanol), and can only be used by special flex-fuel

This report extensively analyses the production and breakdown of Ethanols, to assess its properties and their relation to being a fuel. The use of Ethanol as reliable source of renewable energy and its current effects on society. The potential use of ethanol as an alternative to coal and fossil fuels, the advantages and disadvantages of Ethanol.

For over forty years now, scientists and researchers have been tirelessly searching for an alternative to fossil fuels. Biofuels have become an interesting contender in the search for the replacement of the non-renewable energy source. Biofuels have been used throughout history for over thousands of years. There is a large debate over biofuels and its true impact on the environment. Those involved in the discussion debating whether biofuels have any real overwhelming benefits compared to fossil fuels could argue for its usage. According to recent research performed by the University of Michigan, biofuels may not be the best alternative for fossil fuels. Regardless of its impact on the environment, biofuels are becoming more popular particularly when the price of oil rises.

When the new Southeast Polk High School opened they added many new energy saving products. This included installing geothermal heating under the high school cutting back on the cost of heating such a large building. Many new windows help save on energy used to light the building along with automatic lights that turn off after several minutes without movement. The new high school shows how easy it is to save money and help the environment. Renewable energy is good for all aspects of the U.S, providing jobs, economical growth, environmental cleanliness, and new research for improving energy efficiency. Therefore the United States should use renewable energy to benefit the economy and environment.

Ethanol fuel has many positive features as an alternative to the use of liquid fuel. First, ethanol is renewable. A relatively safe fuel would show very few engine changes. Second, its energy density is much higher than with some of the other alternative fuels, such as methanol, which means there would be less volume required to go the same distance. With the third benefit of ethanol, it would be able to improve much of the agricultural economies by providing farmers with stable market crops, such as maize and sugar beets, and with

i. Ethanol is considered as a alternative fuel at a lower cost level in relation to gasoline. It is produced by fermenting sugars from a range of feedstock such as wheat and corn. Ethanol is blended with gasoline from E10 (5% ethanol - 95% gasoline) to E85 (85% ethanol - 15% gasoline).

This essay will first discuss the advantages of using corn ethanol as the main source of fuel in the future, such as the renewable features of corn itself, and the benefits of using corn ethanol as an additive of gasoline instead of using gasoline alone. However, everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the second part of the essay will discuss some of the weaknesses in applying the fuel into practical usage. For example, corn ethanol currently encounters technical limitations serving itself as a standalone fuel, meaning that corn ethanol can only function by combining itself with a certain amount of gasoline, while gasoline is a kind of fossil fuel. Lastly, this essay will conduct a comparison with other renewable resources in the world, including solar power, other biofuels, and hydrogen fuel.

Fossil fuels are an important part of life. When you turn on the lights, watch TV, or take a shower, the electricity that you are using is being generated by fossil fuels. The three types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas. They all take millions of years to form, so they are considered to be “non-renewable”- eventually, the fossil fuels will all be used up. One dangerous biological effect of using fossil fuels is ocean acidification. Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can also be very dangerous. Environmentally damaging accidents such as groundwater contamination, land subsidence, and oil spills occur frequently. Global warming is another possible environmental effect. Fossil fuels have a crucial role in modern

What environmental benefits do we receive form an influx in ethanol as an alternative fuel? First let’s look