Surprisingly enough, I knew that part already. I was really more interested in the economics of producing the stuff.

 

I posted a link to E85 info in Charlie's earlier thread a few weeks ago...I'll see if I can find it.

 

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=429800

http://www.e85fuel.com/database/search.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

http://www.iowacorn.org/ethanol/ethanol_3a.html

 

Regular diesel has an energy content of 129,500 BTU/gallon, and B100 has 118,296 BTU/gal. Gasoline is around 114,132 BTU/gal and E85 is 83,263 BTU/gal (I didn't get all the numbers from the same page, so I do not know if they were calculated comparably). I do not have the numbers of BTU/kg or pound (which I think might be more helpful). If we were to grow our fuel, would it be better to grow soy and make biodiesel, or corn and make ethanol? Clearly you can make a car run on diesel, so it is not like it would have to be limited to trucks and tractors. Anyone know the difference between growing soy versus corn?

 

On a related note-some hybrids aren't doing so well in sales these days. The Toyota Highlander and the Honda Accord hybrids seem to be the biggest disappointments. http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109932

 

Bio-diesel would be my choice.

 

Well another thing I have seen is that supposedly pure biodiesel (B100) gels at warmer temperatures than dinodiesel, so if you were in a cold climate you could potentially turn your fuel tank into a tub-o-lard. Another thing is that supposedly it is easier for B100 to slip past piston rings and contaminate the oil, but I don't have any quantification to that. Partly because of those reasons, I think the only "commercial" biodiesel produced is B20. So it isn't like it is hands down better than ethanol or anything.