Oregon's Ethanol Law
by Jerry Gregory
A law enacted in 2008 in Oregon requires gas stations to sell blended fuel that's ten percent
ethanol. It's called E-10.
E10 can be used in any car, there is no conversion needed and
shouldn't cause any problems with normal driving in most cars.
Ethanol is a strong solvent and will clean rust and scales out
of the fuel system and run it through the fuel filter, so on
older cars you'll have to change your fuel filter a little more
frequently. It has been especially harder on older carburetor
fueled cars as we've seen many more carburetors fail since E10
was introduced.
Some other differences are:
Although ethanol has a higher octane and will boost octane
slightly, it has less energy than straight gasoline so a mileage
drop of at least 2% to 5% can be expected.
In regular gasoline, water sinks to the bottom of the tank, with
ethanol, it tends to blend in. That could cause corrosion, gum,
varnish, and carbon deposit formation problems with vehicles
that sit a lot.
When a 10% ethanol blend is contaminated with over .5% water,
the ethanol and water mixture will separate from the gasoline
and fall to the bottom of the gas tank.
Ethanol fuel has a very short shelf life compared to the gas we
are used to burning.
Ethanol produces more water during combustion than regular
gasoline which can cause more oil sludging during short trip
driving. Oil changes may need to be done more often.
Something to avoid is adding any gas line antifreeze, “gas
heat” or any other gas treatment that promises to remove water from
the gas. These products use alcohol and will raise your alcohol
content above 10% and can cause breakdown of the fuel systems on
cars not designed for ethanol. This can also cause performance
problems.
There will already be more than
enough alcohol to remove the water.
Because of the energy required to produce ethanol and the
resulting higher food prices from farmers switching to ethanol instead of food
production we are trading one problem for a worse one as increased demand for
ethanol creates food shortages in some parts of the world.
Biofuels May Hinder Antiglobal-Warming Efforts
By Gautam Naik of the Wall Street
Journal
While the U.S. and others race to expand the use and production
of biofuels, two new studies suggest these gasoline alternatives
actually will increase carbon-dioxide levels.
A study published in the latest issue of Science finds that
corn-based ethanol, a type of biofuel pushed heavily in the
U.S., will nearly double the output of greenhouse-gas emissions
instead of reducing them by about one-fifth by some estimates. A
separate paper in Science concludes that clearing native
habitats to grow crops for biofuel generally will lead to more
carbon emissions.
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