Quote:
Originally Posted by Loud_Noises
So will govco compensate owners of non-ethanol compatible cars when they suffer signifcant engine and/or fuel system damage?
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Of course not...you have the free choice to park up your old care and buy a brand new shiny one every couple of years like a good consumer.
Brazil and other countries where they run almost straight ethanol are great...because all of their cars are built from the factory to run on the stuff, and as I said, sugar coming out of their ears and low cost of production. Not sure people would want to turn over all arable land to producing ethanol crops or lower our standard of living to "compete" with Brazil.
Not to mention one other tiny point which is very much worth making while people flog themselves stupid over the idea of ethanol being the only fuel available...
Food production.
Already in a lot of poorer countries, big ethanol companies are buying up land and convincing farmers to grow crops for ethanol production. This is drastically driving up the cost of food in those countries and areas around them, as you need a
lot of land and a lot of ethanol if you plan to even begin to try and "replace" oil.
But to hell with those brown buggers...as long as we can sit back and feel smug about somehow helping the environment...somehow...as long as that ignores ploughing up even more farmland to keep up with demand.
You can't get away from it, full stop. If a product takes far more energy to produce than is contained in the end product (or even just "breaks even" or near to it), there is no way it can stand on it's own two feet without massive taxpayer subsidies.
Wonder what will happen to the price of fuel if the government mandates ethanol usage...I seem to recall another incident where they convinced lots of people to go to LPG for their cars, and then whacked on a big excise which is still growing, not making the fuel practically not worth using for any economical benefit. But surely they wouldn't do that again with ethanol...they'd keep the massive subsidies wouldn't they...?
Right...?
