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Stupid Ethanol

82355 said:
http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=us&commodity=corn&graph=domestic-consumption

Imports:

635

Domestic consumption:

300877

So the United States imported .21% of the corn it used last year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Martin
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Thanks for the graphs (both of you). I like seeing numbers on the graph, as it gives perspective to life. 2012 sure sticks out on the graph, but then I don't think I'll ever forget that year. I've lived most of my years in Eastern Iowa, and that's the only year I've seen that area so dry that top soil blew away dust-bowl style. I hope I never live to see that again. It's like Nebraska got lonely and decided to share its droughty climate. :haha:


It is kinda interesting to see the numbers vary so widely. It's almost like this is a function of the weather or something. :haha: :rotfl: :haha:
 
Another issue for ethanol is how they will hold up with the price of oil being so low. As far as imported corn goes. I wonder how much of that % is seed corn? I know with being involved in sales for Pioneer Hybrids that on tough growing years and seed production is low for the next crop a lot is grown in Brazil and imported to fulfill the need for seed for the next year crop.

I'm fairly certain ethanol is not the most efficient fuel but it has done a lot for the midwest economy. Now with low oil and grain prices low the next few years will be interesting, and at $3.51 you are growing corn at a loss or at best break even.

Ethanol may struggle now and some may get there wish. The thing that amazes me and I really think big oil has a lot to do with this, is with all the things that have changed in our lives (technology) oil still rules. We really can't do better and cheaper?
 
I'm glad you can decipher those numbers into % . I guess we're hauling edible food corn then or? The contents of shipping just say corn and point of origin as port Wentworth. We don't haul near as much as we did in previous years or its routed on another line. The hot export on our line this year was grain and coal. The port has been dredged and the super freighter boats are showing up and we are getting overrun with container traffic. That should have been a good thing but now the other railroads are trying to posture for a hostile takeover.
 
campfire said:
And what do we gain by forcing an uncompetitive fuel on an unwilling public? Seems like everyone is losing except the corn growers association. :dunno:
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Didn't you know it's evil to use oil?
 
TREA18 said:
I'm fairly certain ethanol is not the most efficient fuel but it has done a lot for the midwest economy.
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Yeah. It's nice to see the Midwest finally contributing to the energy sector after decades of importing oil. :)

TREA18 said:
Now with low oil and grain prices low the next few years will be interesting, and at $3.51 you are growing corn at a loss or at best break even.
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It is two sides of the same coin, that's for sure. What's good for the feedyard harvest is not good for the field harvest.
 
TREA18 said:
Ethanol may struggle now and some may get there wish. The thing that amazes me and I really think big oil has a lot to do with this, is with all the things that have changed in our lives (technology) oil still rules. We really can't do better and cheaper?
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We've had a lot of close calls, so I think it's just a matter of time before the next great idea comes along. Even one good breakthrough in electrical energy storage technology would be a huge thing. Especially for the plains states. Every time I pass an Iowan windfarm, if there's even a little bit of breeze, at least one of the turbines will be shuttered. If the wind is strong, most of them may be turned out. The grid just can't handle the surge. And yet, even when maxed out, they can't shut down the baseload plants because the lights need to stay on when the wind suddenly stops. So the steam plants start venting steam. Can't shut down, can't dump into the grid, so they just waste the fuel. Life would be so different if that wind energy could be stored. Even a few minutes would be nice. A few hours' worth of storage for the power grid would be a life changer (as the baseload plants could then be shutdown without running a risk of blackouts).

Same for electric cars. Why are they so rarely useful? They just can't store enough energy to compete with gasoline. Advanced lithium batteries are still 50 times heavier than carrying around a comparable amount of gasoline. It's hard to beat oil when you're that far behind. :doah:

So...yeah. A good scaleable energy storage solution would change a lot of things.


Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density



Useless personal trivia for ya, Tony - I learned a lot about this stuff a few years ago while I was in school, as one of my summer jobs was working for your local Eastern Iowa electric utility. I even had a few occasions to go work in your town (and several nearby plants). It's a small world sometimes. :)
 
No facts or anything to add, but my county is considered a polluter county, so all stations in my county and in any county that touches my county are not allowed to sell non ethanol gas. So I can't escape e10. Other than decreased fuel mileage, my daily drivers are new enough that e10 doesn't seem to effect them. Where I do have problems is lawn equipment, four wheelers, and my farmall tractor. I am constantly flushing tanks, cleaning carbs, and treating fuel. My county and the surrounding counties are huge so driving 2 counties over for pure gas is just not possible.
 
When the corn price shot up, so did the costs of inputs. A farmer will now lose money farming with corn at $3.51.

As for the price of feed, the feedyards LOVE ethanol. They haul byproduct out constantly.

The local ethanol plant here also produces dry distillers grain as opposed to apparently more common wet distillers grain. Their are trucks here from all near by states hauling it off. Trucks come from Arkansas for the stuff.

Martin
 
Also, for the past few years, corn price has been down, and beef has been at ALL time highs. Insane highs.

The price of corn does not have that much baring on the price of beef.

Martin
 
You know what pisses me off when I'm getting gas?

This sticker.

upload_2016-1-6_21-30-31.jpeg

The word "enrich"

enrich

verb en·rich \in-ˈrich, en-\

  • : to improve the quality of (something) : to make (something) better

  • : to improve the usefulness or quality of (something) by adding something to it
Ethanol does NOT, by definition, enrich gasoline. It is superior without it. So, they are flat-out lying.
 
An octane level in excess of the base level required for the vehicle is a detriment. It results in lower fuel mileage. One should always use the lowest octane that your vehicle is rated for to obtain best mileage.
 
82355 said:
When the corn price shot up, so did the costs of inputs. A farmer will now lose money farming with corn at $3.51.
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Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that RFS was the only thing in play here. Simply that it is one of several things driving the price of corn. And that it added volatility to an already unsteady market.



82355 said:
As for the price of feed, the feedyards LOVE ethanol. They haul byproduct out constantly.

The local ethanol plant here also produces dry distillers grain as opposed to apparently more common wet distillers grain. Their are trucks here from all near by states hauling it off. Trucks come from Arkansas for the stuff.

Martin
Click to expand...

I knew about the distillers grain byproduct, but I wasn't familiar with the distinction between dry and wet distillers grain. I'm learning all kinds of stuff today. :bow:
 
Stein said:
An octane level in excess of the base level required for the vehicle is a detriment. It results in lower fuel mileage. One should always use the lowest octane that your vehicle is rated for to obtain best mileage.
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This is correct. Too much octane results in a slower burn, thus pushing combustion closer to, or past, TDC which can reduce cylinder pressure and therefore, reduce power. However, the way I believe ethanol is used, is to bring lower octane fuel back to it's nominal rating. Instead of 87 octane gas, they use 85 octane gas, blend in a little ethanol, and Bam!...87 octane "enriched" fuel.
 
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