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[ChipBeck_imp]

At first I had to ask myself, why is ChipBeck so negative about ethanol. And is it just ethanol or everything other than gasoline. Than I looked back and found that you have a number of Chevron gas stations. Of course it makes sense, gas is at least part of your bread and butter. I admit I'd probably be a little defensive myself. Maybe you're forced to sell ethanol and of course I'd be a little po'd at that as well. I care about what happens to this great country of ours. I spent 20 years in the military and a couple of times in the sand pit fighting for this country so I care.

My bottom line isn't ethanol, it's the fact that we as a country need to get off our addiction to gasoline. It's the only fuel we have. I don't love ethanol, I don't hate gasoline, I just know that when the gas stops, if we don't have an alternative it's going to really suck to put it mildly. Anyone else remember the 70's. There was plenty of gas then and more being found every day but we couldn't get much of it.

This is a very good and detailed writeup on running ethanol:
"Ethanol and Internal Combustion Engines" by Bob Glicksman 9/6/2011
This link should take you straight to it: http://www.liquidsunenergy.com/learning/ppt/ice.pdf

It will explain in detail what's going on with your gasoline engine when running ethanol along with the very little difference between flex and non flex vehicles.
Thank you for your time.

Twin,

I'm a former United States Marine. I volunteered during the Vietnam War to fight for freedom, not a set of borders. I love this country and I believe ethanol is hurting the U.S. It certainly isn't hurting me as I sell over 350,000 gallons of E-85 every year which adds nearly $100,000.00 to my Phoenix stores bottom line. We sell over 3 million gallons of E-10 Chevron gasoline so that's another 300,000 gallons of ethanol in that mix. I'm not forced to sell E-85 ethanol, but all dealers are forced to sell E-10 and all drivers are forced to buy it here in AZ. It makes economic sense for me because cab drivers are forced to use it. Still, I object to Americans being forced to buy products that cost more money to use than easily available alternatives. I read every word of that article and it's a joke. The article admits that Ethanol absorbs water and grudgingly admits that most cars get significantly less mileage on ethanol. It's not hard to understand why when he writes , "Ethanol is an oxygenated fuel and has a lower stoichiometric ratio than does gasoline. The air/fuel mixture MUST BE SIGNIFICANTLY ENRICHED when running an engine on high ethanol blends". Because gasoline contains much more energy than ethanol it is mixed with the air and a 14.7 to 1 ratio. Ethanol must be mixed with air and a 9 to 1 ratio. One third more fuel must be consumed per unit of air to produce the same amount of power as gasoline. After admitting this and telling us that most vehicles get substantially poorer mileage he then claims that "some studies" show an increase in mileage without listing a single one because no such legitimate study exists. Tell us how an engine needing to use one third more low energy fuel per unit of air produces mileage that magically increases? The author fails to mention something else quite important. While E-10 blends can be put in a pipeline and transported efficiently, E-85 cannot be put in a pipeline and must be trucked everywhere it goes, using a substantial amount of diesel in addition to all the diesel fuel required to farm the corn in the first place. Ethanol is a net energy loser for this country. Again, if it made economic sense then people wouldn't have to be forced to buy it and that is my objection.

I don't hate ethanol and if you want to use it that's fine with me. Especially since I sell it for a living. But I don't think everybody in this country should be forced to buy it when it doesn't make economic sense for consumers or for this country. Yeah it's about 20% cheaper than unleaded regular but it typically gets 30% less mileage. That's why Phoenix cab drivers hate it and resent being forced to buy it. If you think it's a good deal that's fine by me. Perhaps somebody will develop a fuel that costs 50% less than gas and gets 80% less mileage. Then you could really save big.

The final statement by the author pretty much says it all. "If we just had the political will to do it, ethanol use would increase". This is patently absurd as there is no law preventing the use of ethanol by anybody who wishes to use it. What the author is saying is that Americans should be stripped of more of their personal freedom and forced by the heavy hand of government to purchase E-15 or E-25 that will cost them more while providing them with less. This nation is not addicted to gasoline, but it is currently addicted to forcing U.S. citizens to buy products they don't want. Every American is free to buy and use as much E-85 as they want to buy. You can buy an electric car and charge it up with a windmill or solar panels. You can buy a new Honda Civic that runs on natural gas. I have auto propane fueling at my stations as well. You can use CNG if you can afford it. Gasoline and diesel are the most popular because they are the best and lowest cost fuels available today and America is now the worlds largest producer of oil and natural gas. We produce more today than Saudi Arabia. Forcing us to use more expensive alternatives is nuts. All the best.

Chip