We’re All About The Alternative Fuel: Ethanol

A Great Resource For The Latest On Ethanol Production and Products

E85 Alternative Fuel And Going Green

November 1st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

These days, everyone is talking about going green. There is a huge push right now for people to switch from traditional gasoline powered vehicles to those that run on alternative fuels. The fact of the matter is that alternative fuels are environmentally friendly and can actually help conserve natural resources that we use to produce petroleum-based gasoline. Here are some fast facts about alternative fuel:

* Alternative fuels such as methanol, ethanol, compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and electricity produce fewer tail pipe pollutants than conventional gasoline and diesel fuel. Using them could improve air quality.
* According to EPA, the tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks — unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide — account for almost a third of the air pollution in the U.S. Driving alternative fueled vehicles could reduce the level of vehicle emissions. And many alternative fuels are produced domestically, so they promote economic activity in the U.S.
* Some alternative fuels have lower energy content than gasoline. On a gallon-for-gallon basis, some alternative fuels do not allow consumers to travel as many miles as they could in a vehicle powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. In addition, an AFV may cost more than a comparable gasoline-powered vehicle.
* Alternative fuels are made out of a variety of materials including paper and vegetable oil. Some alternative fuel vehicles can run on the old grease that restaurants use to fry foods.
* Cars that run on electric power are also considered to be alternative fuel vehicles.

These are only a few of the facts about alternative fuels. By far, the most accepted right now is E85 Ethanol. The data is changing every day as researchers are finding out more and more about the trend toward “green” vehicles and green fuels. New sources of alternative fuels are being found and the facts about them will certainly be made public as soon as information is available.

If you are considering switching to an alternative fuel vehicle, it’s important to find out all the facts before you buy. An alternative fuel vehicle might not meet your needs or might be financially detrimental. However, when you consider the facts about alternative fuels, it’s difficult not to agree that using them is good for the environment.

The world we live in is ever-changing and part of the reason for that change is due to what we are emitting into the air through our lifestyles. Looking at the facts about alternative fuels, it becomes very obvious that if we start thinking seriously about using these fuels, we might be able to undo some of the damage we have already done.

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The Ethanol Industry: Looking To The Future

October 18th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

A Brief Overview of Ethanol

The rise of the ethanol industry comes in response to the worldwide declining supply of petroleum and its increasing price at the pump. Especially in the US, where $700 billion per year is spent on imported oil, the urgent need for an alternative fuel has led to a cultivation of the ethanol industry in America and worldwide.
Ethanol has been around for a long time in the United States, even as far back as the 1800’s. It wasn’t really an industry back then, but a way for many rural Americans to produce their own libations ie. Moonshine, corn tornado..etc. The actual industry movement began around the early 1900’s.

The common chemical name for ethanol is ethyll alcohol. Ethanol is distilled from the process of fermentation of the sugar and starch from crops such as grain, corn, sugar cane, fruit, and now even cellulose. Ethanol now has its primary use in transportation applications.

The Ethanol Industry

The biggest surge in the Ethanol industry came about when Brazil in the 1970’s began to replace their oil consumption by producing cars that ran on any concentration of ethanol fuel. They then developed an ethanol production and delivery infrastructure for the whole country, resulting in weaning themselves completely off of foreign oil. Brazil today has the world’s first sustainable biofuels economy. This development in turn led to the rise of the Ethanol industry in the heartland of the United States where corn and soy are the main crops for producing ethanol.

What is the industry made up of, and how large is this industry now? The Ethanol industry is made up of a range of farmer cooperatives, small and large corporations, and cooperatives between business and governments. Many of the first refining plants of the Ethanol industry in the United States were built by cooperatives made up of farmers looking to gain larger markets for their grain. The first use of ethanol in the automotive industry in the US can trace its earliest roots back to 1908 with the original Ford Model T, built initially to run on ethanol. Henry Ford believed ethanol was to be “the fuel of the future”. Ethanol was fueling cars well into the 20’s and 30’s before the oil revolution. The US government also created the Farm Credit System to help the farm cooperatives build the first plants. Later, the banking industry and private investors began lending credit to continue the growth of the industry in the US. There were tax subsidies created and also mandates for the production of high oxygen gasolines.

Major Ethanol Industry Producers

Today there are two nations which are responsible for about 70% of the world Ethanol fuel production, the US and Brazil. Brazil is listed as the second largest Ethanol producer and the largest national exporter of Ethanol fuel. The US is the largest producer nation, with its Ethanol industry providing mainly for the American market.

At the moment, Brazil produces about 4.49 billion gallons of Ethanol per year while the United States produces about 4.85 billion gallons. With the evolution of more efficient extraction and distilling technologies, yields have increased in the last decade.

Other countries, such as Australia, Sweden and the Philippines have created incentive programs and initiatives to help alternative fuel production, with the focus being on alternative biofuels becoming the standard for most forms of motorized transportation. Major oil producers such as BP and Shell have entered the Ethanol industry as well. With the efforts of both national and private investments, increasing technological breakthroughs in extraction technologies, and new abundant sources such as cellulose, ethanol as a useable fuel continues to gain momentum.

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Is Run Your Car On Water A Scam or a Reality – Can a Car Run On Water?

October 12th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Is Run Your Car On Water A Scam or a Reality – Can a Car Run On Water?

Read our run car water reviews, by CLICKING HERE

It is apparent that we are in some desperate situations:

Texas (where the large oil refineries are) just experienced a major hurricane disaster and this is the exact climate for high gas price increase

Lehman Brothers just filed bankruptcy and Wall Street is scrambling for help. This is another disaster for high gas prices.

We are in the process of an election and the economy is a steady topic, but there is no immediate help with the gas prices.

Chavez chased the UN ambassador out of his country and his country does supply gas to the US. This is another disaster for trouble with high gas prices.

I could go on and on. You listen to the news and hear how it is all playing out.

Over the weekend, I went to purchase gas to fill up because I know the high price is coming. I filled up my car and two five gallon bottles that I am keeping in my shed (this is unsafe, but I have no choice). The gas then was $3.69 per gallon. This is in Florida.

The next day when I passed by the same gas station, the price had gone up to $3.74 and today it is up to $3.79. It is steadily rising.

Of course, you may have heard about gas gouging in Orlando and other States where the gas prices went up to as much as $5.00 per gallon.

What do we do in this time of crisis? What alternatives do we have?

Of course, there is the option of running your car on biofuel or vegetable oil, but that is just too much work. I saw a documentary the other day with a couple in England driving around looking for vegetable oil. I would rather buy the gas than go on a pilgrimage for vegetable oil.

What about the concept of “run your car on water?” This is a viable option and I have taken a serious look at it and done some intense research on the subject because people like myself want to know what alternatives there are out there since there is no help right now from the government or its entities.

There does not seem to be any end in sight soon either.

Reuters released a video about water powered cars and the video shows how a company in Japan by the name of Genepax utilized the technology and is creating cars to run with water.

As indicated by the published Reuters video on June 13, 2008, the water powered car is selling for about $18,700 US dollars. This does not include the cost of the car, however. You can watch the video by Clicking Here

That sounds a bit expensive to me and probably would not be a feasible option to our immediate problems of high gas prices.

If you want to learn more about how to run your car on water, then you should definitely look into it and go directly to the website with more information to show you how to convert your car to run on water.

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Where To Find Ethanol Fuel Stations Locally

October 11th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you’ve decided to participate in the ethanol fuel revolution, and acquired a car that runs on E85 fuel, you’re going to need to know where to find the ethanol fueling stations that provide E85 fuel. Keep in mind that the ethanol fuel station infrastructure is in its infancy at this time. But it is slowly growing, and many more ethanol fuel stations are being built every year.
A great resource to find the nearest ethanol fuel station near you is right here in this link:

Ethanol Fuel Stations

As you can see, most of the E85 stations in the United States are greatly concentrated in the Midwest region.
Ethanol Fuel Production

Only a few years ago, ethanol fuel production was much less common than it is today simply because of the rise in demand of alternative fuels due to the waning worldwide supply of fossil fuels. Today, ethanol fuel production and production methods are increasing in response to the challenge of decreasing oil supplies.

Benefits
Like many other alternative energy sources, the production of ethanol is bringing forth a great positive potential for new growth and a new economy by way of job creation for North America. Ethanol is a renewable fuel, it burns cleaner and more completely than gasoline or diesel fuel, and it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Farmers around North America and particularly in Canada are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that this is a fantastic new market opportunity and some have even formed cooperatives to grow crops that are specifically intended as a feedstock for ethanol production. Ethanol production also offers some great opportunities to expand cattle feedlot operations and large volumes of distiller’s grain, which is a very high-protein feed ingredient that is generated as a co-product of ethanol production.

If you do not have any ethanol fuel stations in your local area, you can try to do what you can to make it happen. Just remember that a lot of time and effort is going to go into this process and it may take quite some time before it will be complete.

You should really do some more research in your own time and do what you can to find out more about ethanol and about what it has to offer. Its only going to get more popular with time. It’s time for all of us to make the switch to ethanol and commit to ending our dependence on foreign oil.

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Why Biodiesel Is Becoming Ever More Popular

September 28th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Rising costs of energy fuels have pushed corporations and people to search for low-cost sources of fuels for their machines and autos. Biodiesel, in the stern chemistry sense, is formed from alcohol esters that are processed from the oils of veggies like soybeans, mustard seeds and rapeseeds. Fat is also sometimes used.

You mix the plant oil with the alcohol compound like methanol or ethanol with a catalyst that is hydroxide-based like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Though there are a few alternative sources of fuels that are rising in the market, biodiesel is winning votes and making quite a following. This could of course be because it's so flexible.

So far, biodiesel is the sole alternative fuel that can be employed in engines without the requirement for any alteration. The fuel has similar properties as that of the diesel, making it straightforward to use. The most typical mix is named the b20, which is twenty p.c biofuel and 80 % diesel. And as it is more lubricating than petrol diesel, it is gentler with engines, so extending its life. It’s extremely useful to know how to make biodiesel in the current climate.

The environmentalists too are loving the current crop of biofuels. Having just natural ingredients, it has no emission that can possibly harm the environment. It complies with the Clean Air Act and is located to be safe to use. States who are producing their own biofuel are also ready to cut their importation of fuels and at the same time increase their rural and business sectors. This is maybe because the majority are not yet convinced that biodiesel can have a market. Still, there are sites that milk the increasing demand for biodiesel. Web sites have started to supply fuels at lower costs compared to those being offered in gas stations, catering to those who need to buy in quantity. Some are bonafide but others are now not. So , buyers should be careful in purchasing biodiesel online as they can be conned into purchasing something that does not basically exist

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Your Guidelines to Bio-diesel and Alternative Fuel

September 25th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Bio-Diesel Power

An option many consumers are interested in is bio-diesel power. This is a type of alternative power that means you won’t be relying upon gasoline in order to power your vehicle. It may sound crazy but this process involves using vegetable oil to keep your vehicle running.

The problem though is that the use of bio-diesel isn’t standard in the United States. So getting your hands on what you need at timeswill be not easy. Yet many consumers say they don’t have any problems with their vehicles using this type of alternative fuel. It keeps the insides of it well lubricated and the oil stays clean.

There are starting to be more places where you can get bio-diesel fuel at the pumps though. This is exciting for those who manufacture such vehicles as well as for those consumers interested in buying them. It is sold for a price that is significantly lower than standard fuel as well.

Other consumers with bio-diesel vehicles are content to place fresh vegetable oil into their vehicles. Some people have been known to also use the used vegetable oil from restaurants without experiencing any problems. As you can see people are doing everything possible to stop being robbed blind at the gas station.

Of course that used vegetable oil can’t be dumped directly into your vehicle in such a condition. Instead it has to be processed to remove pieces of food, various debris and glycerin found in such forms of used vegetable oil. Failure to remove them will prevent your vehicle from operating like it should.

The fact that the use of bio-diesel fuel also results in less emissions going into the air is important as well. Not only will you save money on fuel, but you will be doing your part to protect the environment. Many people are buying conversion kits so they can start using bio-diesel and stop buying gasoline. This type of conversion can only be completed accurately if you have a diesel vehicle.

You can also choose to buy a bio-diesel vehicle directly from a dealer. Some of the top vehicle manufacturers now offer such models. All of the Volkswagen models can be purchased with the bio-diesel option.

Large sized pickups are often run by diesel fuel. Chevy, Ford, and Dodge all offer them as well as some being offered by foreign manufacturers, include Volvo and Mercedes. Right now Jeep has a new model that is getting ready for production to take off.

Someone who has bought one of these types of vehicles often needs a great deal of power behind them to get the job accomplished. It is important to realize that there is no difference between a regular heavy duty vehicle that operates on diesel fuel and one that operates on bio-diesel fuel, except for the source of energy. The power of the vehicle will remain the same regardless of which one you use.

One issue that has become quite a concern though is that bio-diesel vehicles can be very difficult to start-up in colder weather because the materials used to make it become thick during the winter months. A solution to this that has been working well is to mix the bio-diesel fuel with some petroleum. Generally this will be a mix of 80% bio-diesel and 20% petroleum in order to get a good balance. Ultimately, the amount of petroleum that will be added will depend on how cold the climate is where you live.

Since bio-diesel is man-made we will always have enough of it. There is a limit to the natural resources we have. Once these resources are depleted, we will never be able to use them again. Saving what we do have for future generations, is something to seriously consider.

It can be very expensive to buy a bio-diesel vehicle, and that is what often holds many consumers back from doing so. Add that to the fact that they are skeptical about vegetable oil being a suitable fuel on which to run a vehicle. However, it is dangerous for us as a society to get too comfortable with the status quo which would be a great hindrance to the advancement of alternative energy sources for our planet. But this does not mean that even if you are planning to buy used japanese car, this is a no to bio-diesel - there are always smart people on this planet that can help.

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