With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.
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dtroutma
said, 10 months ago
Well, a lot of the ethanol corn isn’t edible anyway, but it IS a wasteful process. A lot of things will go up in price, but the real question is, because of drought, or those “farmers” plowing in the futures market.
T.E. Lawrence said, 10 months ago
Ethanol corn is a waste of water. Ethanol can be produced just as easily using whip-grass, which has a far more extensive root system and can provide for itself more easily.
formally known as doc white said, 10 months ago
With ethanol you get less MPG. It will kill lawnmores and weedesters. It sucks.
Have you noticed thst breakfast cereal costs about as much as Gas.
rightisright said, 10 months ago
I’m sure more government will fix everything.
MortyForTyrant said, 10 months ago
@dtroutma
I also support making ethanol from stems, leaves etc. exclusively. Cuba and Brazil are well off with their sugar cane, but ethanol is not a one-size-fits-all approach. We here in Germany base our bio-fuels on rapeseed, others might be better off with soybeans. In any case energy consumption must take second place behind actually feeding people…
capndunzzl said, 10 months ago
…there’s always frozen corn.
MortyForTyrant said, 10 months ago
@formally known as doc white
Check out the Koenigsegg CCX. With U.S. fuel it has ~800 BHP, with U.K. fuel it has ~850 BHP, but tuned to and fed with pure ethanol it has ~930 BHP! You can’t put ethanol in an engine without adjustments, that’s clear to everybody who has a basic grasp of technology.
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Germany recently introduced “E10 Super” (10% ethanol mixed into 98 ROZ gasoline). Huge uproar! Same arguments you made. The discussion has died down now and everybody is (quietly) enjoying the 5 Euro-cent per liter tax credit this stuff gets…
masterskrain said, 10 months ago
Some places around here are going to 15% Ethanol. My local mechanic tells me NOT to use it in my lawnmower or yard tractor, since it will trash the engine due to fuel separation, which will force pure Ethanol into the carb for several seconds each time you start it.
morningguy said, 10 months ago
the best, as in most abundant, plant source for bio-mass would be the hemp plant; yes, cannabis grown for bio-mass
algurka said, 10 months ago
Don’t forget all the corn syrup being used to sweeted everything we eat and drink. That’s got to be a lot of wasteful use of corn!
Harleyquinn
said, 10 months ago
I am agreeing with Toles?????? Ok only part. I know he is still a big man made global warming guy. But this does go to what I have said. Starving the horse did not bring about the car. But we are doing that all over again with Ethanol.
As for feeding the beef? Funny story. Traveling out west with scouts in three different cars. One car thought it would be cute to stop and pick some corn. Later that night they found out it was field corn that you used to feed animals. Not up to par with what you would feed a person. So my guess is it takes less to grow field corn then it does sweet edible corn.
Nantucket19 said, 10 months ago
Legalize hemp – the plant can be used for ethanol and the seeds for animal feed. Can also be used to replace cotton, paper, petroleum by-products. Seeds are also good for human consumption – they are high in Omega 3s. And no, you cannot smoke it to get high – it was made illegal because of a push by DuPont and Hearst to protect their petroleum by-product and paper from trees industries.
TheTrustedMechanic said, 10 months ago
@formally known as doc white
Not to mention that boats and just about any other engine with a carburetor will be ruined by ethanol. And they are trying to push E15 which is 85% gasoline and 15% ethanol, an increase from the E10 polluting our pumps now. Before it was mandated in all gasoline – thank you corn lobby – the stations that had E10 charged just as much as the stations with pure gasoline, even though their E10 garbage was less expensive.
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You are correct, Ethanol, or E85 (15% gasoline and 85% ethanol) will yield lower mpg due to its lower heat energy content, approximately 75-80% that of pure gasoline. So you need to be able to buy E85 for 75% the cost of gasoline to simply break even. And given that the most credible studies of the carbon footprint of ethanol conclude it is at best neutral compared to gasoline (at least according to Pop Mech. A few years back) where is the benefit? They are taking farm land that could be yielding food crops to feed the hungry in this country (we have that you know, it’s not just third world countries).
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One word of advice regarding E85, if you have a flex fuel vehicle, it will have an E85 sticker on the gas door, and it has never seen E85, if it has over about 50,000 miles on it DO NOT use E85 in it. Unless of course you really like your mechanic and want to make a few mortgage payments for him. Ethanol is highly corrosive and it will “clean” all of the deposits and dirt from your fuel system and deposit them all in the smallest restriction in the fuel system. That is usually the inlet screens in the fuel injectors. And at $50-$500 (usually $125-$200) each that will add up quickly. And if your vehicle is not flex fuel equipped do NOT use E15 or E85 as both will cause performance problems and may destroy fuel system parts like the fuel pump ($500-$1000) and fuel injector windings.
TheTrustedMechanic said, 10 months ago
@rightisright
If you were genuinely honest you would not make that inflammatory comment. No one thinks simply MORE government will help anything. The liberals, progressives, independents and moderates think that SMART government (yes it is possible, just not with the current re DUMB lican party) is the correct approach. Creating regulations that address a concern, listening to and acknowledging the FACTS and avoiding lobbyist interests is a start. There is a difference between smart regulations and just regulations. But with the partisan divide, and mentalities like yours, smart regulation is not possible, so the government has to try and protect the people anyway they can. And in doing so, your attitude and the actions of your party act directly to prevent the smart governance we need and cause the excessive governance we have. Not until the rethuglicans come back to the table and accept that this is not a “their way or no way” situation and will actually work to correct what everyone identifies is wrong will we be able to address those problems and return this country TO THE PEOPLE. But that would mean taking it from their overlords, corporate America and their wealthy campaign buyers.
ARodney said, 10 months ago
Um, Harley, EVERYONE is a big “man-made global warming guy.” You missed the bus, but it’s easy to catch up. I’d start with Richard Muller’s op-ed in the NYT last weekend. He was a reasonably informed, Koch-brothers-supported skeptic, but even he can no longer deny the truth uncovered by tens of thousands of scientists over 100 years.