Almost every station I go to has ethanol (up to 10%) added to gas. For a long time I had the option in my area to buy non ethanol gas but now it’s harder to find.
If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment if I have to fill that much sooner on gas because the ethanol component lowers my tank range?
In: 101
>Almost every station I go to has ethanol (up to 10%) added to gas. For a long time I had the option in my area to buy non ethanol gas but now it’s harder to find.
>If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment if I have to fill that much sooner on gas because the ethanol component lowers my tank range?
Ethanol is a renewable resource.
Not a particularly efficient one and you still have to *set it on fire* but a renewable one nonetheless. That pretty much automatically puts it ahead of **any** non-renewable resource in terms of sustainability with no other factors to consider.
Ethanol is there to increase the octane rating of the gasoline. Contrary to popular myth, a high octane rating doesn’t make a fuel more powerful, it just makes it possible to use safely in a more powerful engine.
Other additives were used in the past, but they were worse for the environment: TEL (tetraethyl lead) led to lead poisoning, MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) is water soluble and led to groundwater contamination, and BTEX (a mixture of benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethyl-benzene) was also toxic.
If you want to learn more about gasoline, this history lesson is quite interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVa-RPNWO6k
>Almost every station I go to has ethanol (up to 10%) added to gas. For a long time I had the option in my area to buy non ethanol gas but now it’s harder to find.
>If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment if I have to fill that much sooner on gas because the ethanol component lowers my tank range?
Ethanol is a renewable resource.
Not a particularly efficient one and you still have to *set it on fire* but a renewable one nonetheless. That pretty much automatically puts it ahead of **any** non-renewable resource in terms of sustainability with no other factors to consider.
Ethanol is there to increase the octane rating of the gasoline. Contrary to popular myth, a high octane rating doesn’t make a fuel more powerful, it just makes it possible to use safely in a more powerful engine.
Other additives were used in the past, but they were worse for the environment: TEL (tetraethyl lead) led to lead poisoning, MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) is water soluble and led to groundwater contamination, and BTEX (a mixture of benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethyl-benzene) was also toxic.
If you want to learn more about gasoline, this history lesson is quite interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVa-RPNWO6k
> If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment
It’s not. It gets you more votes in Iowa and the Midwest since farmers there get subsidies to grow corn to turn into ethanol.
I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but most things are not done because they are right, or better, or result in a better outcome. Most things are done because they benefit the people who decide to do them. Ethanol is a politically motivated campaign, not a scientific one.
It’s not really about mileage or CO2 emissions. You need to get octane rating right and ethanol is the cleanest way to adjust that.
Ethanol is an octane booster. Gas needs this to burn properly in modern car engines. Other alternatives are lead and MTBE. Both being pretty bad for us.
Yes you can still buy gas with all those and there is an argument for their use but for daily drivers, Ethanol is by far the safest.
> If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment
It’s not. It gets you more votes in Iowa and the Midwest since farmers there get subsidies to grow corn to turn into ethanol.
I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but most things are not done because they are right, or better, or result in a better outcome. Most things are done because they benefit the people who decide to do them. Ethanol is a politically motivated campaign, not a scientific one.
Ethanol is an octane booster. Gas needs this to burn properly in modern car engines. Other alternatives are lead and MTBE. Both being pretty bad for us.
Yes you can still buy gas with all those and there is an argument for their use but for daily drivers, Ethanol is by far the safest.
It’s not really about mileage or CO2 emissions. You need to get octane rating right and ethanol is the cleanest way to adjust that.
Latest Answers