IF a close investigation is made the politics seems obvious to me and the administration’s promise to mandate the increase to 15% ethanol recently seemed to confirm that.
IfI
I agree that the extra 5% is all politics all the time.
Drill, baby, drill…
For ethanol?
Producing ethanol to reduce oil consumption actually doesn’t work. From what I can find out, it takes between 0.75 to 1.5 gallons of oil to make a gallon of ethanol. A losing proposition. This is supported by an ethanol producers statement during the last ethanol boom that high oil/gas/diesel prices really hurt their ability to make money producing ethanol.
Well I think it gained traction way back when we were dealing with fuel shortages for one reason or another. Then the solution to dilute gas with corn found much support among the farm community who gained another market for falling commodity prices. Now they do quite well selling corn to the plants and also investing in the plants. Can’t really blame them for it. So now pretty well ingrained whether we need to boost supplies or not. Well intentioned but no longer relevant but hard to stop as with many federal programs. Some years ago I remember one of our farmer relatives who had invested in a local plant, was very pleased and was planning on investing another $20,000.
and so it goes- another massive fiefdom built on a previously worthwhile solution to a problem that no longer exists.
Do you recall what kind of counterweight the Whirlpool machine had?
Counterweights are pretty standard in washing machines. Concrete can be popular because it’s dense, durable, and low cost.
Its counterweight was apparently the motor and the rest of its running gear.
And when vibrated it can crumble into pieces. Concrete used as a counterweight in something like a washing machine isn’t practical.
And yet, it is fairly common. Because it is cheap. It’s not a brick of concrete in the traditional sense and “concrete” is not all created equal. Formulations vary. That’s not to say it can’t eventually fail from repetitive shock but they typically last a lifetime of the machine-
I’ve had the unfortunate task over the past few decades to repair several washing machines (mine and my tenants) and I’ve never seen concrete used. From GE to Maytag and everything in between.
Back (sort of) to the original topic…
I’m headed out to do some yard work, I’ll be firing up the 2-cycle weedeater and the gas pressure washer, both of which have been sitting in the shed since last fall as-is. I’ll report back later with how well they start and run.
Yardwork season starts a little later for us up in the Pacific Northwest.