Alternate Energies — Part 1
About a year ago, I bought a 2001 Ford Taurus wagon because it runs on E85. I wanted it for it’s cargo capacity and it’s superior mileage versus a truck. In fact, the Ford Taurus (wagon or sedan) is one of the few non-truck/SUV/Minivans (aka “cars”) you can purchase that run on E85. As tempting as a 2000 Nissan Hombre is to the Vladimir Guerrero’s of the world, that was not for me. (That’s a culturally-divided-nomenclature-loving joke, in case you missed it.)
Living in Wisconsin, there are lots of E85 stations. Plus, a lot more stations and plants (both vegetable and manufacturing) continue to come online. You can even plan your route based on alternate fueling stations. I have more than once.
I’m not going to waste the effort wading into the question of whether corn-based ethanol is energy-efficient, good or bad for farmers, consumers, and the overall economy. There are already good articles on the web laying out the facts, pros, and cons.
Corn is a transitional source of ethanol in America. It’s a great starting point. We have a fairly sophisticated infrastructure around corn production. We have lots of it relatively cheaply: we know how to make it, process it, distribute it, and sell it. It’s helping us build alternative fuel manufacturing and distribution facilities. And it’s getting lots of people thinking about alternate energy sources.
The best part though is that this is just the beginning — research breakthroughs and economic milestones are just in their infancy. And just recently, plants came online that convert cheese waste into ethanol and biodiesel and cow manure into natural gas.
The energy producing potential of the Midwest looks very bright — if there’s anything we have an abundance of in Wisconsin, it’s cheese and manure.