The point here is that ethanol can be a big problem for engines, engine systems, certain types of fuel tanks and fuel lines. So as governments, ethanol producers and various proponents promote efforts to increase the amount of ethanol in fuel to 15 per cent from five to 10 per cent now, we should all take a deep breath.
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Category Archives: Ethanol
Ottawa to push ethanol, despite concerns
Ottawa is set to push ahead with a plan to dramatically increase the use of grain-based ethanol, despite growing controversy over the greenhouse gas emissions that result from agricultural practices used to grow the feedstock grains.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice has won cabinet approval to proceed with regulations requiring refiners to include at least 5 per cent ethanol in their gasoline by September, 2010, sources say. A spokesman for Mr. Prentice’s office said the Minister had “nothing to announce” on the issue of ethanol regulations.
The department has invited the industry to a briefing this week in which officials will outline how the government intends to proceed.
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Is wind the next ethanol?
WASHINGTON D.C.: Repeating past mistakes has long been a part of Washington’s energy policy, but Congress used to wait a while before making the same blunder again. Not anymore. New legislation requiring wind energy closely resembles the ethanol mandate that sparked a backlash just last year.
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GreenField Ethanol’s facility in Chatham will get up to $72.8 million in federal funding
GreenField Ethanol's Chatham facility
A major corn-based ethanol plant operating in Ontario since 1998 will get up to $72.8 million in federal funding from an incentive program for renewable fuel production.
Local MP Dave van Kesteren on Friday announced the funding from the federal government’s ecoEnergy for Biofuels program for GreenField Ethanol’s facility at Chatham, Ont.
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Ethanol ‘disaster’ risk for boats
Posted by Ian:
Have posted info on this in the past, but growing evidence that ethanol use in marine engines, generators and off-road vehicles poses hazards. And now more documentation, this time from Sydney, Australia …
Ethanol blend fuel poses a risk for boat owners and is “potentially disastrous” for any vessels that use petrol fuel tanks more than a few years old, industry experts say.
Government and industry adviser Gary Fooks said the blended fuel might be all right for 60 per cent of cars but was a “no-no” for 99 per cent of boats.
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Canada on target to meet 2010 ethanol mandate
Canada currently has 1.4 billion liters in ethanol production capacity, with another 600 million liters under construction – all adding up to the 2 billion liters of ethanol production required to meet the federal government’s five-percent renewable fuels standard (RFS) by 2010.
Canada currently has 15 operating plants with a combined total capacity of approximately 1.4 billion liters.
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Water worries cloud future for U.S. biofuel
Corn ethanol’s future is already muddied by concerns that it requires a substantial amount of energy to produce and that heightened demand makes corn more costly in human food and livestock feed. Now, with climate change concerns mounting and drought becoming more of a problem in many areas, the water-intensive nature of creating ethanol also is a growing concern.
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Global warming and corn ethanol production
Global warming could scorch the corn economy to the tune of about $1.4 billion a year, according to a report that compiles data from academia and government. The damage would come in the expected places: the Midwest and South, according to the Environment America study released Thursday.
The report contradicts assurances from climate-change skeptics that warming would have a net benefit on agriculture by increasing growing seasons and crop yields.
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One-quarter of all corn grown in the U.S. is now used to make ethanol
A new Congressional Budget Office study estimates that one-quarter of all corn grown in the U.S. is now used to make ethanol, and the CBO found that production is pushing up food prices.
However, the CBO did find a reduction in vehicle emissions from the increased ethanol use. Full story
