Canadian Government Struggles With Biofuel Issues
Last year, the Canadian government initiated an "aggressive push" to produce fuel from crops. The 2007 federal budget included a C$2.2b support package for biofuels. According to a report in the Globe and Mail, "political consensus in favor of biofuels is suddenly breaking down." Member of Parliament (MP) Keith Martin thinks it's time to step back and "put a moratorium on it now so people can actually wrap their heads around the facts; the current biofuel strategy is deeply misguided." The president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association claims "the issues that come up have nothing to do with food supply." Gord Quaiattin says concerned Canadian should blame rising oil prices for food costs. "Everybody's screaming about 'food for fuel'; it's too bad we can't have a rational debate in this country," sighs MP David McGuinty. Still, it may be too late to shut the door: the government has poured billions into a biofuel facilities fund. Fourteen plants are running already and six more being built- so this horse may have already left the barn.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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@Powell Lucas The same UN that was screaming AGW and we need biofuels is now declaring they will fix the food shortage. The UN has become such a corrupt useless organization mirroring most of the third world governments that run it.
Folks familiar with me here at TTAC know that I've written before, that I've tried E10 (aka "gasohol") whis is 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol, in cars since 1979, and in virtually EVERY case, my efficiency (MPG) has dropped from about 5% to 25%. In EVERY CAR. I've tested probably over a dozen cars. So, ethanol is WORSE than wasteful, because we are obviously not only burning food but we're having to import MORE oil because of a lack of efficiency in the cars caused by corrupting the fuel with ethanol. Yes, post-1984 cars particularly suffer, because the oxygen sensor on the exhaust "tells" the computer to enrichen the mixture (because ethanol is an oxygenate). Plus, ethanol has fewer BTU per gallon, so even 10% ethanol causes folks to push the go-pedal harder to get their expected performance, though I think people do this subconsciously. Ethanol will prove to be one of the biggest mistakes the world has ever seen. We should not starve people so we can drive SUVs, oversized trucks and powerful cars. Anyone saying "oh it's the oil which is causing the food crisis" is being disengenious. Corn being planted in massive quantities to make ethanol is displacing other crops, which raises food prices. It's not brain surgery to figure this out... Glad to see Canada following Europe in smartening up on this situation, hope America follows soon.
Some truth about gasahol and mileage. http://www.autoblog.com/2005/08/25/ethanol-fuel-study-provides-unexpected-results/
It only seems like yesterday that everybody was on the biofuel bandwagon...