We win.

[jlaird]

Today, the Florida Senate passed SB 320 sponsored by Senator Evers. This language is equivalent to the House bill that was passed two weeks ago and repeals the ethanol mandate in the state of Florida. I am proud to say that both chambers of our Legislature agree that consumers in Florida should not be subject to oppressive mandates.
This legislation will now be sent to Governor Rick Scott. We are hopeful that after this long battle, the faithful patrons of our great state will be relieved of the overwhelmingly negative effects of ethanol. Following two years of fighting for this repeal, there is only one step is left before it will officially become law.

:fat::smile-new::tennis:

 

[nomad]

I can't see how or why a state would ignore a federal mandate but apparently anything or nothing is done by government today. Of course Fl probably doesn't have anyone producing ethanol to fight that. Their ethanol probably come's from Brazilian sugar cane because, yes folk's, we import that too.
Ethanol was originally put in gasoline to replace the oil company's MTBE, a known carcinogen that is long lived and was being found in well water. I wonder what they are using now.

Kurt.

 

[RickB]

I filled up with ethanol free gasoline this morning, I have no idea what additives are in it but at least it's "pure gasoline".
After getting my carbs tuned to the point where I'm regularly getting over 30mpg I was unhappy that I had to fill with 10% ethanol last week.
My mileage should have been around 33 but it slipped this time to only 29 - I blame the ethanol.
Next week it will be up over 30 again with a full tank of pure gas.
The science is sound, gasoline just has more energy per fluid volume than ethanol.
It's understandable they would use it to replace a cancer causing additive but they must have a way to make gas now without the carcinogens.

 

[aeronca65t]

Ethanol in the USA is mostly made from corn. The USA produces more ethanol than any other country, including Brazil (which uses mostly suger cane for a source).
In both cases, there is a question about the net energy result and sustainabilty as a result of coal-generated energy used for farming plus water and land useage.
　
But new uses ofcellulose -based ethanol has improved the energy equation (a lot of the cellulose comes from switchgrass, which is more of less a weed that requires little energy to cultivate).
　
Of course, the fuel itself has less energy, so this results in slightly reduced fuel mileage. That's more of an issue with my normal street car rather than my hobby cars. Interestingly, ethanol can deal with higher compression ratios than gasoline so you will see some modern cars that run regular fuel with 10:1 compression ratios.
　
The big issue with ethanol is corrosion of old-type rubber hoses that they used over 20 years ago. Plus some metallic corrosion due to fuel sitting for long periods of time and absorbing water. None of the hoses on my British cars are particularly old and I tend to drive the cars on a fairly regular basis so the use of ethanol hasn't really been an issue for me.

 

[nomad]

Well, as a lot of you know, I'm a proponent [and corn farmer]. Have been using it in everything since the early 80's without the problem's the fear mongers make a big issue of. Agree that it won't get the mileage but figure the price offset's that. Never really experienced hose issue's. It will clear the water out of your tank unless there is an excessive amount and if you have too high of compression issues and E85 is available it will raise your octane. Having said that, I can't see any real need to increase the amount in regular gas at this time since we now have so much domestic oil. The big oil company's are just going to export the oil if we don't use it here.
Kurt.

 

[MustangSix]

Well, as a lot of you know, I'm a proponent [and corn farmer]. Have been using it in everything since the early 80's without the problem's the fear mongers make a big issue of. Agree that it won't get the mileage but figure the price offset's that. Never really experienced hose issue's. It will clear the water out of your tank unless there is an excessive amount and if you have too high of compression issues and E85 is available it will raise your octane. Having said that, I can't see any real need to increase the amount in regular gas at this time since we now have so much domestic oil. The big oil company's are just going to export the oil if we don't use it here.
Kurt.

Hooray!

In FL, E85 is a rare, exotic fuel. Nearest station to me is over 40 miles away, so it makes little sense to burn two gallons to go get fifteen.

And now my mowers, weed eaters, boat motors, and pressure washer won't need to be drained after every use.

 

[glemon]

In Nebraska, where ethanol is pretty popular, they never required it be put in all gas, they just subsidize the heck out of it. Most every station has regular (no ethanol) mid-grade or plus (with ethanol and 15 to 20 cents a gallon cheaper) and premium (again for the most part no ethanol, but sometimes it is labeled as having it, some station don't bother to carry premium, which is of course the most expensive of all). Anyhow interesting to here (in other discussion I have seen on the subject) how many people don't have a choice, and here in the corn state we do. I didn't think too much about the MPG thing, but then checked with the wife's fit, went from low 30s to about 35 on the highway when we switched from ethanol to regular.

 

[nomad]

Greg, the subsidies, approx 8 billion, for ethanol went away last year. The big oil company's are still getting approx 8 billion as an "incentive" to find more oil. [ Thought that was their business...] The fact is that alcohol at this time is cheaper. And, no, the farmer is not getting a big subsidy for growing the corn. About all we get now is the federal ethanol mandate.

Kurt.