Ethanol requires subsidies and subsidies require payoffs in DC which creates PORK. A vicious circle.

Forests are a better source of fuel since we are not using them for 2×4′s. Wood has more BTU’s than corn as does sugar which is cheaper. But the smart scientist take a basic food and run up the price with no concern for crop rotation.

We have coal, we have shale, we have oil, we have wind, we have tides, we have solar, nuclear and natural gas.

WE need to be a net exporter of energy!

get Congress out of the legislation for profit business and dump the trial lawyers and enviro whack jobs.

DRILL, DIG and BUILD NOW

dream on)))

you can also dream about this one: http://www.teslamotors.com/

BUT YOU CAN NOT HAVE ONE

http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/vehicles/index.php

http://www.lightningcarcompany.co.uk/home.php

These batteries are advertised to recharge in 10 minutes. With reasonable manufacturing costs and good reliability, what more can we want? Especially if we’re generating the electricity with thorium nuclear reactors.

I hope your money is not wasted

You know anyone who is contemplating something serious in energy/transportation field

should AT LEAST talk to engineer or better to several different engineers

I was thinking today of an ideal individual-family hybrid vehicle for a city transportation solution and came up with an idea of a hybridizing of
pedaling(bicycle) and small electric motor on direct METHANOL-HYDROGEN fuel cell

well, it took google some fraction of a second and here we go:
http://xyu.livejournal.com/666914.html?mode=reply

i saw them in the city but out of my ignorance and stupidity never bothered to RESEARCH

In my prototype the vehicle is more suitable for roads and semi-highways then this City Cruiser II

it would have a pedaling sits for 4 and a non-pedaling bench in the back for tree

-seat belts
-convertible folding roof or something like family has
-a square bumper for head-in or side-in collisions

This prototype i guess will be able to achive speed up to 40mph and will be MUCH safer to drive or ride in then any vehicle known as CAR in the last century:):):):)

The KABUD WAGON could be ordered in 4 different varieties:

1.MIN style(pedal only for young and furious cyclist’s families)

and next 4 styles will have PEDALING hybridized with added engine:

2.CEL style(electric motor on direct methanol fuel cell)

3.WAT style(electric motor and regular battery

4.MET style(regular combustion flex fuel engine)

5.COATES style( coates sferical valve combustion flex fuel engine)

but i am serious. You should have invested in something more realistic and extremely inexpensive like this.

Methanol can be made from coal and we have more coal reserves than almost any other country in the world. It has great advantages(high octane, clean burning) and a few disadvantages (mileage.) I suspect it can be produced and sold for a fraction of the cost of gasoline. It certainly won’t endanger the world’s food supply. But, in order to make M85 a going industry, we need to have enough cars on the road that can run on it.

If the government mandated flex fuel cars, it would have to repeal the CAFE standards, which have proven to be useless. Methanol would also make the Clean Air Act irrelevant.

Finally, to those who think hydrogen is a solution to the energy shortage, I can say that I already made an investment in that idea and I can tell you that its a dead end as a vehicle fuel. Sorry. The company I had an investment in commissioned an engineering study of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel. They were and are in business of producing viable standalone hydrogen electricity generating units. They found that it would take 22 compressed hydrogen tanker trucks to replace one tanker truck of gasoline. It was insanely inefficient, and deadly dangerous.

methanol has higher octane rating, so as far as performance go- it may be even better in some respects

Toyota manufactures some cars, i think Corolas, that run on 96% or 100% ethanol

for Brazilian market. 100% ethanol is something i am not sure about cause it absorbs water from the air hence i am not sure if it is ok for an engine- will have to look into it

but i would prefer my car to run on ZERO gasoline even if i need to fuel up TWICE A WEEK WITHY METHANOL then ONCE A WEEK WITH GAS

methanol is not cancerogenic- this may and will sufficiently cut number of cancer cases in US

we just dont realise it how many of those happens just because 300 mil americans are in contact with this cancerogen: gasoline

it could be a nice added benefit

Anyway for a price to build 1 oil refinery which is 5 billion for a big one or 2-3 billions for a small one

one can build 50 methanol plants 100 million each

each of those methanol plants will be producing 250 million gallons of methanol a year

just the cost to build 1 refinery if properly routed to methanol industry build up

will take care of 1/40-th of our nation’s transportation fuel need WITHOUT any need to have even a drop of oil.

15% of gas that is added to M85 can be substituted with something that is not gasoline, i am sure

the only reason gasoline is added is:

to make the flames of methanol visible if a fire breakes out

other technological solutions are possible here

Do we have enough time to switch to alcohols?

not many of us realize that

WHEN USA PAYS ALMOST THE SIZE OF ITS DEFENSE BUDGET A YEAR TO TOTALITARIAN REGIMES

AND OTHER WESTERN IMPORTERS OF OIL/N-GAS PAY EVEN MORE-

it is not going to be nice in this world for long

enemy understands that we can do without oil/n-gas

so they MUST PLAN SOMETHING NOW

to take a full advantage of this temporary situation of wealth redistribution

Judging by russian action in the course of 2008-

a real HOT WAR is brewing

It may start in IRAN, create fuel shortages all over the world , economic chaos will definitely follow it

then we should expect a strike on USA with WMD
it is going to be a perfect moment to attack us

American elites will suffer MUCH MORE in it then we, the regular people,

because AFFLUENT AREAS are THE PRIMARY TARGET

Thats why i can not call todays energy policy of Washington nothing but SUICIDAL in a literal sense of this word

Flex fuel cars cost about $150 more than a gasoline only car. If straight gasoline is cheaper than E85 or M85, then people will use straight gasoline. Frankly, my next car will be a flex fuel car with or without the mandate.

If Joe Lieberman and RINO Collins of Maine are involved you can bet this is more government cr@ppola.

John Moore nailed it above. Nobody in the government has a crystal ball that can see the best technology before they’ve had an opportunity to compete. Central planning brought the USSR famine. Are we really so narcissistic that we believe that our central planners are better?