The US consumes about 20% of the world’s petroleum, which was 85 million barrels per day last year, or 31,025 million barrels per year. US consumption is therefore 6,205 million barrels per year.
Of that, over 50% is IMPORTS including refined products, or 3,102.5 million barrels per year. At $70 per barrel that comes to $217,175 million per year or $217.2 Billion per year in round numbers. US petroleum and product exports are negligible.
The overall national trade deficit is $700 billion per year, and oil and Walmart style imports (consumer goods) reflect the majority of this.
Whether these imports are from friendly or unfriendly countries matters less than the fact that this is an UNSUSTAINABLE economic situation.
If you want to be a patriot, drive a small car made in the USA, forget about who made it.
a quick summary to your question would be “Gasoline was selling on average Thursday for $2.63 a gallon, while E85 was selling for $2.23 a gallon. That might make E85 sound like a bargain, but cars go fewer miles on a gallon of ethanol than of gasoline. Adjusted for that factor, E85 on Thursday was effectively 31 cents a gallon more expensive than gasoline.” i think that works out to e85 being 33% less efficient. how does that make sense.
My understanding is that the oxygen sensor (or perhaps it is one of two) measures how much oxygen or fuel is left uncombined in the exhaust. Perfect stochiometric combustion would leave zero of both.
Oxygen sensors still detect oxygen regardless of fuel. I don’t know how left-over fuel is detected, but I believe it is.
There are several brands of “adaapters,” as I have called them. They all seem to work.
E85 is not a bargain this year, but it was last year. With Flex-Fuel, you can choose the one that is cheaper to run.
The crunch is coming. Oil went down to $30+ but bounced back to $70+. Peak oil may already be here, and the price of oil can go to $500 per bbl. When it does, E85 will be a great bargain. I may be early, but when that comes, I am ready.
I don’t agree with your arithmetic. 2.23 / 2.63 = 0.85, which is a 15% savings. My car happens to get 15% fewer mpg. So for me, it is a wash, not a 31% disadvantage.
Some studies done on non FFVs have shown that mid level blends of ethanol will actually give you better mileage than straight unleaded. To see an article regarding this go to http://www.ethanol.org/news/index.php?newsid=30
I have run up to a 50% blend in a non FFV minivan for about two years with no problems whatsoever.
I drive a 2010 Ford Escape 6 cylinder with FlexFuel capability. When I use gasoline I get 28 mpg on average on the highway and 25 mpg for mixed city and highway driving. I tried burning E85 and my mileage dropped dramatically. On my third tank I was getting a little over 15 mpg. I am back to burning gasoline. If you factor in the pollution caused by growing, harvesting and processing E85 I doubt that it causes less pollution than gasoline. As for performance, my car was more responsive on E85.