<VV> Ethanol? filter problems? (HUH?) (minimal Corvair content)

[RoboMan91324 at aol.com]

Hi Tony,

Are we talking apples and oranges here?

"BTUs" would indicate energy content of one of the fuels.  By the way, 15% 
gain of what over what?  The section you snipped from my previous post is part 
of a statement expressing concern about the amount of energy it takes to make a 
specified amount of alcohol and if it makes technical sense compared to other 
energy sources.  I used gasoline for comparison because it is the competing 
fuel we are discussing here.  Most of the energy use in the USA comes from 
fossil based fuels.

I will readily admit that the basis of my statement may come from an aged 
source.  What is the source of your information?  I would be happy to look it 
over and change my opinion if presented with actual facts.  Please send the link 
or links off digest.

Please note that the cost of a gallon of gasoline includes the costs of 
pulling it from the ground, transporting it, refining (cracking) it and a bunch of 
other things all of which take energy.  To be comparable, the energy cost of 
alcohol should include the energy used to plant it (grain, ?), the energy it 
takes to make the fertilizer, harvest it, transportation, changing the grain to 
alcohol, etc.  Comparing purchase price to purchase price gets very clouded 
when you include subsidies, price gouging, etc.

According to the other posts in this train, it seems that our Corvairs are 
capable of using a certain percentage of alcohol in the fuel.  I question 
whether it is a viable alternative from a technical perspective, not from a PC 
perspective.  If it is viable, perhaps we will be better off in the long run.  If 
not, I strongly object to having it forced down my throat especially 
considering that the "powers that be" are benefiting from what appears to be a campaign 
of misinformation and picking all of our pockets in the process to pay for it. 
 Government intrudes into our lives in so many ways.  Much of it is thinly 
disguised as a "benefit" to us all.  A case in point is the repeated efforts to 
have us remove our classic cars from the road.  Edited, incomplete and false 
information is often used to justify these self serving bills that politicians 
propose.  The politicians know that even though their bill may have a negative 
overall impact on the environment, they will get more votes for "getting 
those polluting Corviars, etc. off the road" than they will lose by pissing us 
off.  Yes, this is a little off the topic of gasohol but is on topic in the 
larger picture of politicians and special interests forcing things down our throats 
through the use of misinformation.

I will get off my soap box for now.

Doc
~~~~~~~~~
In a message dated 6/18/2005 10:33:31 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:
Message: 4
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:10:00 -0500
From: corsaconvertible <corsaconvertible at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: <VV> RE: Ethanol? filter problems? (HUH?)
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Message-ID: <7c51866205061822103eae7786 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Very old and inaccurate figures. Currently there is about a 15% gain in BTU's.
-- 
Tony Hansen
corsaconvertible at gmail.com

<snip>
On 6/17/05, RoboMan91324 at aol.com <RoboMan91324 at aol.com> wrote:
> When it takes the approximate energy equivalent of 1.5 - 1.7 gallons of 
gasoline to take corn, sugar beets or whatever from the ground to the end 
product, how is that less expensive?  I am not certain that 1.5 - 1.7 is the real 
range but estimates are close to that. <end snip>
~~~~~~~~~~~~