Hawaii Ethanol Fuel Information

Gas prices continue to rise, and there is no sight of them stopping or reversing in the foreseeable future. As a result, everyone is scrambling for a way to maintain profit margins and lifestyles. One current popular trend is the highly sensationalized hybrid engines using both electricity and fossil fuel combos to keep the motor running. Still, these hybrid engines come with their own cost, both in cost to produce and the loss of horsepower, which makes them less likely to take over sports car and heavy machinery markets. Another alternative to fossil fuels being aggressively pursued is ethanol fuel alternatives. These are cleaner burning and cheaper produce, but ethanol fuel alternatives also come with their own costs.

One major concern is that by utilizing feed crops such as corn and sugar cane, we are diminishing our capability to provide more food. One report released by the World Bank indicates we have seen an increase in food costs of up to 75% due to the increased production of ethanol fuel. This could be countered by planting more crops, but the logistics to make both sides economical is still lacking. The other option is what is known as cellulosic ethanol production. This method would require the bio-mass byproducts of some industries be converted into ethanol. Another newer technology uses a type of blue-green algae to take the carbon dioxide created in the production of ethanol to create more ethanol. Both of these techniques prove promising, as they are recycling waste into a usable product. But, to keep the initial argument in perspective that the amount of food lost in ethanol fuel production in perspective, keep this in mind: the amount of corn it can take to feed one person for a year is consumed in producing enough ethanol to fill one large vehicle’s tank with ethanol fuel.

Another major concern of bio-fuel production is that when removing things such a switch grass from the soil, and converting them to ethanol, we are also removing the nutrients that those plants would normally provide the soil. This makes the soil less viable to support further crops and hastens soil erosion. Beyond that, we must consider that fuel systems not already prepare for E85 that accept any more than 10% ethanol fuel mixtures could erode prematurely, causing an decreased lifespan for the engine. This means that a large amount of retooling and new manufacture would need to take place, which causes another costly swing in the global economy.