On 5/1/2014 6:58 PM, jim wrote:
dpb wrote:
On 5/1/2014 4:06 PM, jim wrote:
dpb wrote:
On 4/30/2014 5:50 PM, jim wrote:
...

By 2012 ethanol sales had grown to 10% of market.
The EPA regulations do not allow it to grow any larger.
...

Now you're really making stuff up...

No it is well documented fact.

http://www.granitefallsnews.com/arti...NEWS/312029964

Not pertinent and out of date--hardly "documented fact". Of some
validity at the time, but that history, now.


You are lying. The ceiling exists. It is referred to as the blend
wall. The EPA just lowered the ethanol mandate because fuel
consumption dropped and mandates were above the blend.

"An attorney for EPA defended the delays, saying the agency had to weigh
how to handle the looming "blend wall," the point when the law would
require more ethanol to be blended into gasoline supplies than the 10
percent level that dominates U.S. fueling infrastructure, such as
equipment at gas stations."

....

It also goes on to point out that...

"The Renewable Fuel Standard requires increasing amounts of biofuels to
be blended into U.S. gasoline and diesel supplies each year through 2022
and was designed at a time fuel demand was also expected to rise.

Instead, gas and diesel demand has been limited by rising fuel economy
and slow economic growth."

So that, in fact, the point at which the "wall" would actually be hit
has been pushed back plus the theoretical wall has risen as shown
earlier by the E15 rule. In fact, federal gas tax revenues have
flattened/dropped to the point they're now talking of instituting
widespread tolls on interstates to keep up the highway fund--heard it
just yesterday.

The limit isn't actually one of limitation on the amount allowed, it's
more the existing infrastructure and that there's not enough demand for
the product where the higher blends are available that the retailers see
sufficient reason to invest in the required upgrades in any real rush.

Unless, of course, you want a forced, mandatory outlay from the Fed's to
make that happen.

The oil companies are, as stated before, simply playing the game as they
see is their advantage, too. It's the messy way legislation and policy
gets set in the US.

But, it's still going to be final policy that drives the market, not the
other way 'round.

And, there will be no magic jump in mileage when the testing rules are
modified in a few years -- thermodynamics doesn't know anything about
those rules and the energy density is still what it is. Most of what
mileage advances there will be will, in my best guess, be related to
weight savings and cogeneration rather than some large change in mileage
in conventionally-driven vehicles. That is, I just don't believe
there's that much going to be gained by redesign as you do--with current
computer-controlled ignition and fuel, they're already tuning stuff
pretty finely.

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