Maybe everybody else knew this already, but I’m damned if I did. More good news on energy, brought to you by the agribusiness lobby and the quadrennial bad joke known as the Iowa caucuses:
Conventional gas delivers more energy than a gallon that contains ethanol. If it’s a gallon of E-10, which is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and conventional gas now widely available in the Kansas City area, there’s an energy difference of about 3.4 percent.Now that may not seem like much when you’re topping off the tank this week. But over the course of a year of normal driving, it would take an additional 40 gallons of E-10 to go the same distance as conventional gas. If they were both priced the same, it would mean an extra $120.
If it’s E-85, a blend containing 85 percent ethanol that can be used in specially equipped vehicles, the energy loss soars and more than offsets its lower cost, even though E-85 is about 60 cents per gallon less at retail than conventional gas.
Mileage can suffer by about 25 percent with E-85, according to AAA. Over the course of a year, that amounts to an extra 300 gallons of E-85 to go the same distance as when using conventional gas. That means an average household, when the total cost of conventional gas and E-85 are compared, would spend nearly $100 more per year for E-85…
If you know a place to get 40 gallons of gas for $120, I could sell that information in the Bay Area and get rich. Last sign I saw for regular was $3.99.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on April 28, 2008 9:42 PMOh, and shouldn't that be a thousand rather than a hundred more dollars per year for E-85 users? Three hundred gallons…
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on April 28, 2008 9:44 PM10% ethanol in your fuel tank might also damage parts of your engine, requiring you to buy a new car. Which is even better for business.
Posted by: Peter on April 29, 2008 6:40 AME10 is unlikely to damage your engine. Ethanol is not particularly corrosive, unlike methanol, and 90% gasoline is still plenty to lubricate the internals of your fuel pump and injection system. It just doesn't have as much energy as gasoline.
The difference in energy between alcohol and gas isn't surprising to those of us who are into backpacking. We know it takes approximately twice as much alcohol as it takes gas to boil a liter of water over a backpacking stove. The only reason why people use alcohol stoves is because a) they're much safer than gasoline stoves (since alcohol doesn't explode like gasoline can and burns much cooler), and b) an alcohol stove is much cheaper and lighter than a gas stove since it doesn't need all the stuff a gas stove needs to keep from exploding (less than one ounce, and you can make an alcohol stove out of a couple of old beer cans with no tools other than a knife and a needle). But if you're having to melt snow for water because you're above the snowline, you leave the alcohol stove at home -- alcohol simply doesn't have the energy for that.
Posted by: Badtux on April 29, 2008 10:15 PM