"Pindell, Tim" <TPindell@otterbein.edu> wrote:
: Is there a good reason that race cars use it? Does it burn cooler or
: something? Not trying to be a smartass - I just don't know.
All of the race cars, airplanes and such that I have seen or heard of
using ethanol so far have been as a result of a marketing strategy paid
for by the various groups lobbying for ethanol, as opposed to choosing
a fuel based strictly on its merits. As Ray mentioned, the alcohol
associated with race cars is methanol, which is made from wood, coal,
or natural gas. Its been the fuel used in Indy cars for decades. I
believe they use it partly for safety reasons. Although a methanol
fire is invisible which is a tad on the dangerous side, it burns
cooler than a gas fire, and it can easily be put out with water.
I notice that Indy cars will be getting a 90/10 blend of methanol
and ethanol this year and will run on 100% ethanol during the 2007
season. Based on everything I've read so far though, its just another
sponsored marketing efford by the ethanol lobby to increase the
exposure of ethanol to the public, rather than a choice based on
technical reasons because it is somehow superior to methanol.
Brazil has a huge investement in ethanol, I think practically their
entire automotive population is using flex fuel engines.
My main problem with ethanol and other biofuels is that they are
not sustainable with current technology. That is to say, the fuel that
needs to be burned for the cultivation of crops, conversion of the
biomass to fuel, etc. might take 120 gallons in order to produce 100
gallons of fuel. (I don't know what the actual, current numbers are,
those are just made up to illustrate the point.) So, obviously
ethanol production needs an infusion of petroleum fuels in order to
maintain a certain level of production. That's not to say that
through the advances of technology we won't eventually figure out how
to make it sustainable, and more importantly, have production outpace
the input, but it isn't happening currently. (Actually, production will
have to massively outstrip the production input in order to make it
viable for the entire country.) Its for this reason that I find the
"biofuel push" a bit annoying; its the same as people trying to legislate
electric cars on the public before they are technically able to perform
the tasks that are required of them. Keep up the research by all means,
just please don't try and force me to run the stuff in my vehicle before
it is a true, viable fuel source...
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
| 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
| 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
| 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 01 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
`--------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
.
.
.------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! |
| Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Apr 02 2006 - 18:27:16 EDT