Man, that's a great story. I'm so sick of hearing "environmentalists" criticize E85's proliferation... Who care's if it's not the "best" possible solution to ending dependence on oil? It's something we can do TODAY to stop making the middle east so rich and help our own farmers andour own environment.

I wish we had it in Jersey and I wish the H3 Alpha was E85 capable...

 

Exactly my point.

And notice how nobody has talked about the fact that the H3 Alpha uses E85. Does the standard '08 models do that also?

 

YUP!!!

 

While I see ethanol (the E in E85) as a viable fuel source, I don't see it as the silver bullet to solve the perceived energy crisis. It is a good alternative to petroleum fuels, but the at the cost of food for human and animal consumption. Because of all of the interest in ethanol, the cost of corn has risen worldwide and isbeginning tohave a detrimental effect on the global economy, hitting developing third world countries the hardest. By no means am I a nay-sayer and think ethanol is bad, but it does come with a cost. In my opinion, the path away from petroleum fuels will be paved with hybrid technology, improvements in bio fuels such as ethanol and bio diesel, fuel cell developments, and full electricity power. I don't think any one source will replace petroleum fuels, but a combination of these sources and others yet to be invented and developed will be the solution.

 

Holy crap........................I had to **** twice and eat once throughout that post.

 

 

Linus, you're right - like I said, it's not "The One" answer, but it's better than what we do today. I haven't checked out the world corn prices to see the effect yet, but if our E85 production is having an effect on world corn, it's only because of the hype about it and not the actual use so far. We're the only country doing corn-based E85 and we're really not making much. Now, as the use proliferates, there's sure to be an impact, but hopefully, that's when we incorporate some other ethanol sources to balance things out.

Obviously, fuel cells seem to hold some great long term potential, as could plug in hybrids, but I think the key for the future is that we have to FIRST move away from our one-mode infrastructure with respect to vehicle fueling... One of the drawbacks for anything other than gas and diesel is that gas stations don't have the equipment for it and won't put the equipment in until enough people want it to make it worthwhile. That's why E85 is so good, since you can put cars on the road today that don't use it, but once you get a critical mass of those vehicles on the road, it makes sense for gas stations to look into it. There's was a lot of research into hydrogen power over the last 20 years, but the biggest problem with it is refueling - it's hard to store, hard to transfer, and it's not available anywhere, so unless you have a car that runs on both hydrogen and gas, you're going to have to have a hydrogen tank at your house to fill up your car and you better not drive too far from home...

 

Here is a good article on Bio-fuel andBRAZIL

 

This article just came out. We are #5 on the list.

http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/am...g_suburbs.html

 

I think there are many alternatives that can create a colloboration of fuel sources that would reduce our dependance on foreign oil. E-85 wont solve our problem, but it will help with a big part of it. There are many many alternative fuels out there.

I never understood the hybrid concept, batteries are very hard to dispose of and very dangerous to not only people (firefighers or rescue workers) but also to the enviroment.