How much Corn would i Need to Fuel a Cross-country Trip with Ethanol?
Let’s assume that you drive a Toyota Camry, The Bangkok Condo the best-selling car in America in 2000. We know that the Toyota Camry with automatic transmission gets 30 miles per gallon of gas on the highway. Gasoline is more efficient than ethanol. That is about 26.1 pounds (11.84 kg) of corn per gallon. Through research performed at Cornell University, we know that 1 acre of land can yield about 7,110 pounds (3,225 kg) of corn, which can be processed into 328 gallons (1240.61 liters) of ethanol. This means that same Camry would only get about 20 miles to the gallon if it were running on ethanol. One gallon of gasoline is equal to 1.5 gallons of ethanol.
With so much volatility in today’s world oil market, many are seeking out alternative fuels to power cars. Ethanol-blended fuels account for 12 percent of all automotive fuels sold in the United States, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Some, including corn producers, have touted ethanol is a possible alternative fuel. In very pure forms, ethanol can be used as an alternative to gasoline in vehicles modified for its use. Ethanol is sometimes blended with gasoline to produce gasohol. Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is made by fermenting and distilling simple sugars from corn.
You will need to plant a little more than a half an acre of corn to produce enough ethanol to fuel your trip. How much gasoline does the United States consume in one year? The final cost of the fuel-grade ethanol is about $1.74 per gallon. To produce ethanol that can be used as fuel, it also has to be denatured with a small amount of gasoline. Why doesn’t gasoline burn cleanly? What is the problem with MTBE in gasoline? Cornell report. The corn has to be processed with various enzymes; yeast is added to the mixture to ferment it and make alcohol; the alcohol is then distilled to fuel-grade ethanol that is 85- to 95-percent pure. According to the research from Cornell, you need about 140 gallons (530 liters) of fossil fuel to plant, grow and harvest an acre of corn. So, even before the corn is converted to ethanol, you’re spending about $1.05 per gallon. For more information on ethanol and fuel economy, check out the links on the next page.
A young lawyer-on-the-make named Ralph Nader did the rest. Instead, the market boomed, rendering the Cadet unnecessary. Powered by a short-stroke 133-cid version of the division’s famous “Stovebolt Six,” this 108-inch-wheelbase compact was intended to sell at rock-bottom prices in anticipation of a postwar recession. What’s more, it would have cost as much to build as a regular Chevy, and so was deemed unprofitable at the targeted $1000 retail price. Chevrolet’s interest in a smaller companion car was evident as early as the late ’40s, when it contemplated the Cadet, a prototype 2200-pound four-door sedan of conventional design begun right after World War II. The project was thus canceled in mid-1947.
Of course, this came far too late. Bolstered by a newly optional four-speed gearbox for 1961, the Monza caught fire, uncovering a huge latent demand for sporty, fun-to-drive compacts. Corvair’s decade-long model run divides into two design generations: 1960-64 and 1965-69. Initial offerings comprised quite spartan four-door sedans in “500” and more-deluxe “700” trim selling at $2000-$2100. Corvair was already three years gone. Three-speed floorshift manual transaxle was standard; Chevy’s two-speed Powerglide was optional. Two-door 500 and 700 coupes arrived at midseason, but the real attention-getter was the new “900” Monza coupe, which boasted an even spiffier interior with bucket seats.
