tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448236113415406620.post530230050926360662..comments2007-11-08T13:41:14.145-06:00Editornoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448236113415406620.post-41687500832200682012007-11-08T12:58:00.000-06:002007-11-08T12:58:00.000-06:00Stop subsidizing the failed ethanol and biodiesel from food program estimated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development to cost taxpayers $92 billion from 2006-2012. Here’s why – ethanol and biodiesel are terrible fuels. Ethanol is corrosive, dissolves rubber and plastics, absorbs water, causes inconsistent engine performance, is conductive, has only 70% of the gasoline energy value, has a 90 day shelf-life in gas tanks, decomposes older fiberglass gas tanks, and takes more energy to make than it produces. It destroys some of the farm equipment needed to grow food. My own experience is that it dissolved a rubber fuel line in a piece of equipment causing gasoline to leak out of the tank. The equipment manufacturer technical support acknowledged the problem to me as caused by 5% ethanol in our state’s fuel. The Consumer Products Safety Commission ignored my complaint. Fuel leaks, such as I experienced, can be catastrophic. Ford Motor Company, as an example, limits warranty when over 5% biofuel is used, and cites on their website some of the problems of biodiesel. And assuming one thinks man is responsible for global warming – ethanol and biodiesel production actually increase carbon loading. Even Greenpeace opposes ethanol. Biofuels cost us five times: once at the pumps, again with subsidies, again with higher food prices, again with having to replace gasoline use equipment that deteriorate from biofuels, and lastly from increased safety hazards of ruptured fuel systems, stranded boaters and motorists, and failing power tools. Want cheap liquid fuel? Get the US to tap the 800 billion* barrels of recoverable, high quality shale oil in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming (valued at $48 trillion at $60/bbl)<BR/> * 2005 Rand Institute Study. (Available oil estimates actually go upwards of 2 trillion barrels)<BR/>The cost of tapping is estimated at $20-30/barrel. <BR/>With the oil resources, America can:<BR/>get off Mideast oil; <BR/>reduce terrorist funding; <BR/>reduce influence of rogue states such as Venezuela, Iran, Russia; <BR/>be energy self-sufficient; <BR/>reduce our trade deficit; <BR/>reduce our budget deficit; <BR/>create millions of new jobs; <BR/>increase our US industrial base; <BR/>predominate in shale oil recovery technology; <BR/>still protect the environment (if we use the best extraction technology and CO2 injection we can reduce the overall global emissions); <BR/>reduce ocean oil spills from imported oil; <BR/>save Social Security; <BR/>and make greater investments in renewable energy and education.Technologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05745385026469210742noreply@blogger.com