Ethanol And Hybrid Cars

Hybrid cars are starting to gain a modicum of popularity in the world market and this popularity seems to be growing. Current fears regarding climate change combined with rising costs of gasoline have led to great public interest in hybrid cars although this interest has not entirely yielded huge sales at present. This has led to many people wonder about the future of hybrid cars and this future is based on a variety of factors.

The future of hybrid cars will always center on the state of ethanol as ethanol remains the active component within the internal combustion engine process that makes hybrid cars possible. Since ethanol derives from corn, the status of corn farming will always have an impact of the future of hybrid cars. This can be a somewhat curious status to predict because corn is also an important food source for many people and if corn supplies are directed towards fuel production there is a possibility that an unexpected negative impact can result from reduced food supplies. For example, in Latin America civil unrest almost developed when the production in ethanol threatened to cause food shortages. Because of this, ethanol production was slowed down. This is not to say increased production of ethanol will always cause food shortages because a process can always be set in motion to correct any potential hazards.

Ultimately, the future of hybrid cars will be based on marketplace demand. In other words, if there is adequate demand in the market place for increased production of hybrid cars and these cars sell and continue to sell strong, then the future of hybrid cars will be strong. Of course, there will always be a number of factors that will contribute to the success or failure of hybrid cars in the marketplace. One of the factors will be cost. This includes the cost of the car itself and the fuel costs associated with the car. At present, a hybrid car would save people a great deal of money in both those areas so this is a huge positive for the potential of the cars. The other area that will contribute to the success or failure of hybrid cars is sales and promotions. In other words, a solid advertising campaign would need to be set in place in order to stimulate public interest in the cars. Considering the skill of many ad companies, this should not be a problem and the future of these cars will look bright.

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About the Author

James Gunaseelan writes for India's Leading Automobile Portal to buy and sell second hand and new automobiles

Ethanol Still - Discover How to Make an Ethanol Still

Many people want to learn more and more about how they can make their own ethanol.

Basically, you will only need two very important things. Corn and an ethanol still. Of course there are other grains that you can use aside from corn but corn just happens to be grown in more places and so is a little easier to access. With gasoline prices reaching all time highs once a month it seems, the thought of having your own ethanol still to make ethanol just seems like good logic.

People have been making ethanol for centuries in ethanol stills that they constructed out of what they had. The ethanol that we know today was actually created way back in 1796 by filtering distilled ethanol through charcoal. Johann Tobias Lowitz discovered this process and if he knew what he would be doing for so many people two hundred years later, I bet he would be thrilled. Actually he probably would have celebrated by drinking a little of his creation after it went through his ethanol still. Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, has been made in backyard ethanol stills for decades. But it had a different name then. Then it was referred to as moonshine, or by some, white lightening. Moonshine was illegal in the days of prohibition but that didn't stop those who loved their brew. They would make an ethanol still and hide it in the woods so that it wouldn't be discovered. Some were lucky and never got caught while others had to face jail time. Men of all ages would make moonshine runs with cars that had to be fast so that they could outrun the law if need be. How times have changed. And people always said that you could run a car on moonshine, I just thought they were joking. Who's laughing now?

An ethanol still is a very important part in the making of ethanol. In days gone by people would put together any type of contraption they could so that they could make their homemade ethanol. Now ethanol stills have been perfected so that they do just what is needed. There is still some disagreements as to which material is better to use. A lot of people prefer to use copper for the ability it has to heat evenly all over. Others like to use stainless steel for its corrosion resistance with each party assured that their way is the best. A lot of commercial stills are made out of copper as they want the uniform heating ability that is necessary to make it the same each and every time.

The ethanol still is necessary to heat the corn mash mixture but once its job is complete the mixture will then be transferred to a fermenter that will allow the mash to ferment. This is the place that the ethanol is made. Fermentation is necessary for proper ethanol production.

Having an ethanol still is going to be something that more and more people will see necessary. Many are starting to feel the crunch of the high gas prices and soon will have to do something different in order to live like they have been accustomed to.

About the Author:
Allen Walker is a hard working american man who decided to do something about the high costs of gasoline that was affecting his life and family. He constructed his own ethanol still and now manufactures his own fuel from his backyard. You too can save money on gas by visiting his website http://www.ethanol-earth.com\">www.ethanol-earth.com" target="_blank">www.ethanol-earth.com">http://www.ethanol-earth.com\">www.ethanol-earth.com to learn how to make ethanol fuel.

Home Ethanol Production And What Is Involved

The words home ethanol production is creating a buzz all of the USA, because of fears of fuel shortages and price increases, plus global warming and pollution, people are getting more interested in home ethanol production. One thing to take into consideration with the production of ethanol, is safety, so it would be a good idea to get as much information as you can before starting. If your intention is to run your car on it you will probably need to check ethanol conversion kits. Relating to

Home Ethanol Production:

Home ethanol production is considered essential a major deal in the renewable energy debate, and in regards to the issue of homespun ethanol production, there are some facts that should really be known relative to an acre of US corn yielding approximately 7,100 pounds of grain for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol; the energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain is crushed and fermented, as many as three distillation steps are needed in order to separate the 8% ethanol from the 92% water. When adding up the energy costs of grain production and its following conversion to ethanol, it has been found that 131,000 BTUs are needed in order to be able to make just 1 gallon of ethanol; one gallon of ethanol only has an energy value of 77,000 BTU, which is considered as being clearly not good.

Possible negatives with ethanol production:

Figures show that US grain production today erodes the top soil about 12 times faster than it can be reformed or replaced, with irrigated grain using groundwater 25% quicker than it can be naturally be replaced by rain etc. If you add to these figures that corn ethanol costs approximately $1.74 a gallon to produced, in comparison to the 94 cents per gallon that gasoline costs, its clear that more investigation is required before committing more and more remorses to ethanol production.

Therefore, there are so many questions with regards to the production of ethanol and the environment and with regards to life in general, as to whether or not ethanol is the proper choice as renewable energy source; there are actually so many positive factors that stem from it, and yet many negative ones as well, and so this is a matter which is almost certainly going to take some serious time and consideration to accurately figure out. However, there are some top-notch brilliant people in the world who are looking closely into the ethanol situation at this moment, this will also include home ethanol production, and so we can rest assured in knowing that the problem will be taken care of properly.

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For more information about Home Ethanol Production go to
http://www.ecoholistic.com/ethanol/ethanol-fuel/home-ethanol-production.html

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Is it Possible to Build a Cellulose Ethanol Plant Using Hemp?

Not long ago, a gentleman noted that hemp would be an excellent source for an ethanol plant. If it could be grown in large quantities and harvested, then it could assist the US in her addiction to Middle Eastern Oil. The man who came up with this scheme from Santa Barbara, CA stated:

My Dream is to Build a Hemp Ethanol Plant"

Indeed, hemp is extremely high in cellulose, perhaps four or five times higher than what they are using now. It might be nice to use the sage brush along the coastal mountain range where you are, by harvesting some of it, you could prevent fires, if you did not take too much you would hurt the erosion problems there. Hemp makes sense of course but in Santa Barbara there is a water situation too, so it might be tough to build a plant there.

Ethanol Plants use lots of water at ratios of 8:1 or 8 gallons of water for one gallon of Ethanol in the refining process. This does not include growing the crop itself, however in the case of Hemp, it can grow in the wild like the "Switch Grass" scheme that a University in Texas came up with not long ago.

Therefore the Online Think Tank asked the individual;

1. Do you have any preliminary studies, information, drawings of the plant design?
2. Do you have investors, backing, supporters for this concept?

Using the highest cellulose plants to make cellulose ethanol makes the most sense and for those plants that grow in the wild, helping them along a little bit, means we are not sacrificing farm land for food in trade for fuel. So, perhaps it is worthy of more inquiry?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance Winslow's Bio

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