Saturday, June 20, 2009

Something ELSE You Can Do With Ethanol

Ethanol is good for us. (Repeat until in zombie-state...)

Tank cars loaded with thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol exploded and blazed through the night after a freight train derailed, killing one person in a car at a crossing

That's not the worst part.

Firefighters say the best tactic is to let the ethanol burn out. They're staying a good distance back and have some unmanned hoses on the cars. They don't want to risk any injury to firefighters.

They're keeping the firefighters 100 yards out, and watching with binox.

Oh, there's more:

There is a mandatory evacuation for the area around the scene. If you live 1/2 a mile from Sandy Hollow and Mulford, you are to leave your home until further notice

Three others were treated for serious burns.

18 comments:

capper said...

Wow, you convince me! Gasoline isn't flammable at all.

Dad29 said...

Gasoline, by and large, is NOT shipped by rail, Capper. Keep up with the times.

capper said...

So your problem is with trains, not ethanol?

Are you saying tanker trucks never caught on fire and exploded?

How about those storage tanks? They always seem to be exploding, especially down south in the spring so that there is an excuse to raise prices. Maybe we should get rid of them too, eh?

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Capper, you are such a laugher. So you are in favor of starving third-world children so we can use a highly flammable, poorly transported, not-quite-energy-neutral-and-almost-certainly-not-green, water-hogging biofuel?

Is that right?

Oh...and gasoline is statistically much safer on a per-gallon basis than ethanol.

At least fire departments are equipped to put out an ethanol fire.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Ummmm that should be "gasoline fire".

capper said...

Besides the Freudian slip, what other fairy tales do you believe in?

Taking corn from the third world, really? Are you even from Wisconsin?
Y'know, there are many types of corn, and not all of them are fit for human consumption, twit.

Now go guard your toilet for the alligators that will be coming up them.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Again, Capper is unable to answer a question. Thanks for your irrelevance.

Yes, there are many types of corn, but only one type of cropland. Take away cropland for food to make ethanol and you reduce the food supply.

So, again, you are in favor of starving Third-World children, right?

And what are the advantages of ethanol? Any? No.

Dan said...

"Y'know, there are many types of corn, and not all of them are fit for human consumption, twit."
Umm, there is also corn that is made for cattle and other animal consumption.
No matter what, it has been proven that ethanol uses more energy to produce than save and that it does take away food from the third world and even food from the U.S.

capper said...

Where's your proof and who paid for the study?

capper said...

Geekman goes for the stretch, and fails, as usual.

Dad29 said...

Au Contraire, union guy.

In fact, the price of corn has risen substantially since the ethanol mandates became operative. As Deekaman said, it's not the 'type' of corn--it's the cropland which has become scarce.

You can find a chart here:

http://headlessblogger.blogspot.com/2009/06/markets-in-action-oilcornethanol.html

...which also tracks the price of gasoline. They run parallel, which is not a big surprise.

There are numerous studies which demonstrate that the energy derived from ethanol is LESS than the energy required to manufacture it; the only question is "how much less," as the studies range from a net-negative 1% to a net-negative 25%. Just taking the average you have at least an 8-12% loss on the transaction.

And then there's the "bomb" quality of ethanol which is the actual topic of the post...

Capper, your "concern for the poor" looks kinda fake...

capper said...

Not at all, Daddio.

You are merely complaining about the system of supply and demand, which I thought you believed in.

There is still more than ample food, at a reasonable price. You haven't shown that.

As far as the efficiency, I'm not that up on it to say yea or nay.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

So, Cap...you are just a moron? Or does someone else buy your groceries for you? I'm sure you didn't notice last summers' ridiculous increase in the price of corn, in particular (as I recall, it increased by about 2-3X) and other related items. But, if you are as smart as you think you are, you can look that information up yourself.

Dad29 said...

Deek, Capper's smart enough to know that he HAS to defend ethanol because it's Gummint-imposed, just like he will HAVE to defend Gummint-imposed dying-deadlines, one-child laws, and work-camps for capitalist dissenters.

Starving Mexicans? Pishposh. Our Government imposed it, so it must be right.

capper said...

And did we suddenly stop using ethanol? Why aren't gas prices or food prices so high? In fact, food prices are dropping.

Did it ever occur to you two DENSA members that maybe the food prices jumped because transportation costs jumped. And gas prices jumped because Big Oil wanted to get one last gouge in.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Yes, yes. Evil big oil. The Bush-cheney-Halliburton-Big Oil cartel that runs the world. You guys have thrown that around way too long.

Transportation only accounts for about 5% of the total cost. Nice try though.

Get a clue. Try thinking instead of throwwing out Leftist mantra.

capper said...

Proof of the 5%, please.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

You're "the smartest guy in the room". You have internet access. Look it up.

Oh, sorry...8%. So I'm a liar.