**I goofed and identified my ethanol fuel as E85 in this post two days ago, when I was in fact speaking of E10. I have been purchasing E10 at the pump for some time now, and so has my brother. This post is about my decision to scale back on the E10 until further notice.**
Do you buy an ethanol product when you fill your car? I have been buying a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, as identified by a little sticker at the pump. It contains 10% ethanol (this is E10) and is a little less expensive than straight unleaded gasoline. Although I am not crazy about ethanol, I have figured that since its impact on the environment is more or less equal to gas (depending on your sources), why not use it? Some calculate that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than can be extracted from it, and others calculate that more energy can be extracted from ethanol than it takes to produce. The benefits--cleaner emissions, for example--are debated as well.
At any rate, over Thanksgiving, my brother said that he had noticed a significant decline in the mileage he was getting on his Honda Pilot, and had pointed out this problem during a service visit to the dealership. The technician said that his use of ethanol (it was E10) was likely to blame--and what do you know? When my brother switched back to straight gasoline, his higher mileage was restored.
In road tests, mileage with ethanol blends is worse with ethanol as compared to straight gasoline, even when using a flex fuel vehicle designed to operate more efficiently on ethanol.
Consumer Reports found a 27% difference, as mentioned in this blogger's post:
http://i-r-squared.blogspot.com/200
I guess my vague discomfort with ethanol as a fuel source has been with the idea that we're going from burning one thing to burning another. It seems that an alternative to gasoline ought not to be an incredibly labor intensive, soil depleting method of burning yet another resource. Sure, it's renewable, but soil nutrients are used in growing crops. It's not costing us nothing. It seems like such a mediocre alternative.
Why can't we be bigger thinkers?
The fact that I'm not so sold on ethanol, mixed with the new information (for me) that it's less efficient, makes me not so inclined to buy it at the pump.
By the way, it's not all about dollars with me. I will spend more money on something that I think bears a real benefit to my family or my community even if there is a less expensive alternative. Sometimes the "greater good" is more important than my personal bottom line.
Try your own mileage test with and without the 10% ethanol blend. (Hopefully your pumps are marked.) I can't do the test because our odometer stopped working in August, but I'm back to straight gasoline for now.
At this point, I am gunning for straight veggie oil for our next car.
Do you buy an ethanol product when you fill your car? I have been buying a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, as identified by a little sticker at the pump. It contains 10% ethanol (this is E10) and is a little less expensive than straight unleaded gasoline. Although I am not crazy about ethanol, I have figured that since its impact on the environment is more or less equal to gas (depending on your sources), why not use it? Some calculate that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than can be extracted from it, and others calculate that more energy can be extracted from ethanol than it takes to produce. The benefits--cleaner emissions, for example--are debated as well.
At any rate, over Thanksgiving, my brother said that he had noticed a significant decline in the mileage he was getting on his Honda Pilot, and had pointed out this problem during a service visit to the dealership. The technician said that his use of ethanol (it was E10) was likely to blame--and what do you know? When my brother switched back to straight gasoline, his higher mileage was restored.
In road tests, mileage with ethanol blends is worse with ethanol as compared to straight gasoline, even when using a flex fuel vehicle designed to operate more efficiently on ethanol.
Consumer Reports found a 27% difference, as mentioned in this blogger's post:
http://i-r-squared.blogspot.com/200
I guess my vague discomfort with ethanol as a fuel source has been with the idea that we're going from burning one thing to burning another. It seems that an alternative to gasoline ought not to be an incredibly labor intensive, soil depleting method of burning yet another resource. Sure, it's renewable, but soil nutrients are used in growing crops. It's not costing us nothing. It seems like such a mediocre alternative.
Why can't we be bigger thinkers?
The fact that I'm not so sold on ethanol, mixed with the new information (for me) that it's less efficient, makes me not so inclined to buy it at the pump.
By the way, it's not all about dollars with me. I will spend more money on something that I think bears a real benefit to my family or my community even if there is a less expensive alternative. Sometimes the "greater good" is more important than my personal bottom line.
Try your own mileage test with and without the 10% ethanol blend. (Hopefully your pumps are marked.) I can't do the test because our odometer stopped working in August, but I'm back to straight gasoline for now.
At this point, I am gunning for straight veggie oil for our next car.
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