67mustang302

The problem with California and ethanol is rainfall. ~80% of all corn based ethanol made in the US comes from corn harvested within 50mi of the distillery. In other words, it's local. So translate that into California, where some areas see an average yearly rainfall of less than 6", some places less than 4. Most of California's farmland is in less than 20" per year areas, with ~1/2 being 10" or less. What that means is that it requires a lot of irrigated water to grow the corn to make ethanol.

In some places in the mid west where corn grows with very little to no irrigation due to natural rainfall, it may take as little as 5-10gal of water(from irrigation and for distilling, not counting rainfall) to produce 1 gal of ethanol, including growing it. In places like the dry California farmland where it needs a ton of irrigation, it can take over 1,000gal of water to produce 1gal of ethanol due to extremely high irrigation requirements in some areas. Water that simply isn't available in an area that sees constant drought year after year.

There's just not enough water out here for corn, which is very water intensive. Not enough rain, and too many people that have to drink water that comes from the same place crops get water.

California is also hyper political, and the CARB is all about making money. Makes for a lousy combination when it comes to trying to get ethanol.

kalli

quite sure the problem in Ireland is not rainfall:-) i have sent an email to Maxol a year ago on their plans of introducing more E85 stations, but no more info than "they're looking into it".
we don't have many LPG stations either so no point in conversion and to top it all off:
1 litre of petrol is currently 1.52EUR. that's 8.57USD per gallon ... .absolute nightmare
I recently bought a beautiful 230HP 1996 AUDI S6 quattro estate, and I think I have to sell her again as it's drinking my wallet empty (17mpg). 100 miles cost me nearly 50USD :-(

jcoby

If you want to keep a German sports car you'd get better mileage and more power with an M3. I get 22-24mpg in mixed driving with my e46. Closer to 30mpg on the highway with 340hp. Euro spec has even more power plus you have the option of picking up a CSL.

JMD

I bought a high dollar E-85 carb for my 39 when I lived in NM, by the time I was ready to put it on the engine they STOPPED selling E-85 in my town... (I am glad I didn't build the engine with an extreme c/r)

I still have the carb.......

kalli

jcoby ... i'm at a point of thinking buying a Diesel as I already have a fun car ... just such a shame. Beatiful driver that thing

JMD: what a blx. i remember that you were thinking about this a long time back. which carb did you get for yourself? the QF?

andrewmp6

Search e85 on summit or jegs they have a few kits and a few carbs already done.

67mustang302

Does corn even grow in Ireland? What we need is a plant that produces a large amount of ethanol for low acreage use and limited water consumption, that grows in various climates. If we wanted to be clever, we could find a multitude of sources that could be used for ethanol production. How many restaurants throw out food products that could be broken down into ethanol?

There's other ways to do it, we're just too lazy or too political.

TexasAxMan

Sugar cane and related bagasse are used for ethanol production too.

kalli

ahh *****, it's over with E85 in Ireland :-(

it was made from waste wood and sugarplants here (you are correct, no corn in Ireland. at least I never saw a corn field here)

this is from Maxol Ireland:
----------------snip--------------
However, while biofuels continue to be heavily marketed in the motor fuel business in such places as the US, Sweden and Brazil, the Irish Government has decided not to continue the duty derogation on the bioethanol content of E85, thereby spelling the end of this product’s viability. When the full duty component is applied to the price of E85 at the pumps, this product becomes prohibitively expensive for motorists. Regrettably, the end of the duty derogation marks the end of the road for this environmentally friendly fuel in Ireland and E85 will be phased out of Maxol’s service stations from 1st January 2011, with site stocks expected to run out in early quarter 1.
----------------snip--------------

E85 was about 90% of the price of unleaded and with the changes it would become 40% more expensive at pump than unleaded. hence noone would buy it anymore.

67mustang302

Yeah, and with all the import duties we put on foreign sugar, it'd be cost prohibitive to produce ethanol for fuel from imported sugar. Again, politics. That's why Brazil is almost entirely ethanol and biofuels, sugarcane. =)