Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Thank you for the freedom
Just thought would extend my gratitude to the men and women that serve for our freedom!! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
2009-10 Gators’ football season opening Boston
I must say thumps up to the Gator club and McFadden's lounge located at 148 State Street in Boston. Trust me; they had to shut down the venue so that the Gators would get first priority. Believe it or not, they actually could not hold anymore patrons since the establishment was full to capacity of Gators. It is amazing that they had to get surrounding pubs to air the game. Go Gators!!! And, thank you for coming out!!!
Friday, September 4, 2009
National Championship
The college football season is about to start. Being miles away from my alma mater I can just image how this year’s season is going to turn out. Hopefully it will be a success since we are highly favored to take it all. We can just anticipate that there will not be any of that BCS mess as our previous national championships.
All in all I am looking forward to another National Championship. And just to let you know, there is no bond stronger than the one formed when you become a member of The Gator Nation. In every corner of the globe, Gators accomplish remarkable feats…GO GATORS!!!!!!
All in all I am looking forward to another National Championship. And just to let you know, there is no bond stronger than the one formed when you become a member of The Gator Nation. In every corner of the globe, Gators accomplish remarkable feats…GO GATORS!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Is Ethanol a viable Alternative to gasoline?
If at all you have been following the news lately there are a number of topics that have been getting a lot of attention. For starters, unless you live on another planet or may be you just chose to hide under a rock on planet solitude like I do sometimes; you have definitely heard about the “Economic recession”. Similarly, I can bet my money that you have heard of either Michael Jackson or Ted Kennedy’s death because even the poorest of the poor in a remote rural area somewhere in “BFE” (in the middle of nowhere) or at the end of the world have heard of Michael Jackson’s passing by now. You have possibly heard of the heated town hall debates about health care in the United States and may be the new cash for Clunkers program. Well, if you have not heard about the cash for clunkers, then I can somewhat understand or sympathize with you because the program has not gotten as much publicity as one would image. In a nutshell, the cash for clunkers is a bill that was passed by the Obama administration where car shoppers can take advantage of big government incentives to receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. But, what does cash for clunkers have to do with our topic today “Is Ethanol a viable alternative to gasoline”? Of all these topics that I mention earlier, the one worthy of your time to read and educate yourself about is possibly the cash for clunkers program and it has a direct correlation with our topic today “Is Ethanol as an alternative for gasoline”
In my opinion, the cash for clunkers program was introduced to bump up the US economy and may be revamp the US auto industry. I think it would be fair to say that the program is just a quick fix that does not solve the problem in the big picture. Not long ago, a friend of mine and I went car shopping so that he could trade in his “gas guzzler” for a safe, more fuel efficient, environmentally friendly car. He had done some research and was leaning towards getting a Toyota Prius so that he could take advantage of the Cash for clunkers program. Although my friend was very excited about the gas mileage the Prius gets, he just could not stop wondering if there was a better and more energy efficient alternative. He kept wondering, pondering, and asking me questions on whether a time will come when cars would be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The car salesman so happened to have eavesdropped into our conversation. He had this look of a person having a burning urge to offer his opinion. He then came up to us and confesses that the discussion we were having was rather interesting. It turns out that he was born and raised in Brazil but currently lives in the US. He seemed to agree with our position on the issue of ethanol fuel. He said that not long from now he foresees Brazil completely depending on the use of ethanol as opposed to gasoline. As for me, that left me questioning whether a time will come when “Ethanol would be a viable alternative to gasoline”
Today there is a general consensus that in order to mitigate climate and move towards a safer environment, we must reduce global greenhouse emission by 50% of 2005 levels by 2050 starting with industrialized countries cutting their emissions by 80%. We need a larger increase in new innovative technology both energy efficiency and renewable energy. For one, the cost of oil is shooting out of the roof. Do you remember the time when gas cost only .99cents, then slowly went up to $2. At that point in time, people were in disbelief that gas would cost that much since they never expected gas to go passed $1.50 a gallon. Little did they know that gas would get to almost $4.But when gas got to $4, people got outraged but they still paid the inflated prices at the pump as a trade off to enjoy driving the gas guzzler around town. Regardless, the increase in oil prices coupled with the growing concern about global warming has left us seeking for better and more innovative ways to solve today’s energy crisis. This growing concern has led to a continued search for alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly and limit dependence on foreign oil. As a result, for some-ethanol is believed to become a key potential energy alternative that will provide both energy and environmental benefits. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the United State’s (US) largest nonprofit organization which over sees the use and production of ethanol, “ethanol drives economic development, adds value to agriculture, and moves the US towards energy independence while cleaning the air and offering consumers a cost effective choice at the pump”. Despite the mentioned benefits, I strongly disagree with the notion that ethanol will become a viable alternative to gasoline. May be if one said that ethanol can become a compliment to gasoline then I can understand.
The American Coalition for Ethanol defines Ethanol as a cleaning –burning, high-octane motor fuel that is produced from renewable sources. I also noticed that Whipnet an ethanol affiliated company defines ethanol as a flammable and colorless chemical compound that can be used as a biodegradable fuel additive. Ethanol is sometimes known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol since it is made from plants such as corn, wheat, barley, or sugarcane. At the moment there are two main types of ethanol, E85 and E 10. According to The American Coalition for Ethanol, E85 is an alternative fuel blend that is made up of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline hence “E85” while E10 is made from 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. Although I believe that there is a need to find alternatives to gasoline, I also don’t think that ethanol is the right solution to the use of gasoline for a number of reasons.
One of the major drawbacks of ethanol is that it is very complicated and inefficient to transport. For instance, ethanol cannot travel in pipelines because it absorbs water and other impurities. As a result, ethanol has to be transported by trucks, trains, or barges which make it tremendously expensive and inefficient. Ironically, there is a short supply of ethanol storage tanks. And most importantly of all is that the trucks and other methods used to transport ethanol use gasoline. Do you see a problem here?? This reminds me of a quote a friend of mine posted that went like this “We kill people, who kill people to teach them that killing people is bad” what an oxymoron. In this case, this is the same as saying “we transport ethanol using gasoline so that we can use ethanol to eliminate the use of gasoline” Huh!!! For this main reason, I believe that ethanol does not have a chance to become a viable alternative to gasoline.
To most people, the main reason why they would opt to use ethanol instead of other energy alternatives is the belief that ethanol is environmentally friendly. I personally believe that this is a misconception because ethanol is made from a concoction of biodegradable plants mixed with gasoline. Secondly, I think that it is difficult to argue that ethanol is environmentally friendly and a viable alternative to gasoline because gasoline and other fossil fuels play a big role in producing plants such as corn that are used to make ethanol. For instance, gasoline and other fossil fuels are used from seeding to plowing, fertilizing, harvesting, and transporting of the plants used in ethanol production. Furthermore corn ethanol creates almost as much carbon dioxide emission as gasoline. In addition, ethanol contains less energy density than gasoline which makes it less economical because you have to use more ethanol in order to produce the same amount of power as gasoline. According to the US department of energy, you need about 1.40 gallons of E85 to equal the energy content of 1.00 gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. This means that ethanol has less energy per gallon therefore one has to pay about 6 gallons of ethanol in order to save 1 gallon of gas. Think about it, how cost effective is this? Customers end up using and paying for more ethanol than gasoline yet ethanol is even more expensive. What do you think; does this really make economic sense?
Ethanol might be a viable alternative to gasoline in some people’s minds like our Brazilian car salesman’s fantasy world. But, we haven’t even talked about the benefits of petroleum based by products such as plastics. There are talks to improve and pass a mandate that requires the use of ethanol. Rather than spending time and resources on such a mandate, I would rather see another energy source like solar energy or hydroelectric cars developed instead of focusing on ethanol. I personally don’t think that ethanol alone should become a viable alternative to gasoline because ultimately it does not solve major concerns as stated above. May be the Obama administration ought to inject more money in alternative energy and renewable energy research. Better yet, just like they came up with the cash for clunkers program may be the administration should come up with a similar program focusing on innovative energy solutions.
In my opinion, the cash for clunkers program was introduced to bump up the US economy and may be revamp the US auto industry. I think it would be fair to say that the program is just a quick fix that does not solve the problem in the big picture. Not long ago, a friend of mine and I went car shopping so that he could trade in his “gas guzzler” for a safe, more fuel efficient, environmentally friendly car. He had done some research and was leaning towards getting a Toyota Prius so that he could take advantage of the Cash for clunkers program. Although my friend was very excited about the gas mileage the Prius gets, he just could not stop wondering if there was a better and more energy efficient alternative. He kept wondering, pondering, and asking me questions on whether a time will come when cars would be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The car salesman so happened to have eavesdropped into our conversation. He had this look of a person having a burning urge to offer his opinion. He then came up to us and confesses that the discussion we were having was rather interesting. It turns out that he was born and raised in Brazil but currently lives in the US. He seemed to agree with our position on the issue of ethanol fuel. He said that not long from now he foresees Brazil completely depending on the use of ethanol as opposed to gasoline. As for me, that left me questioning whether a time will come when “Ethanol would be a viable alternative to gasoline”
Today there is a general consensus that in order to mitigate climate and move towards a safer environment, we must reduce global greenhouse emission by 50% of 2005 levels by 2050 starting with industrialized countries cutting their emissions by 80%. We need a larger increase in new innovative technology both energy efficiency and renewable energy. For one, the cost of oil is shooting out of the roof. Do you remember the time when gas cost only .99cents, then slowly went up to $2. At that point in time, people were in disbelief that gas would cost that much since they never expected gas to go passed $1.50 a gallon. Little did they know that gas would get to almost $4.But when gas got to $4, people got outraged but they still paid the inflated prices at the pump as a trade off to enjoy driving the gas guzzler around town. Regardless, the increase in oil prices coupled with the growing concern about global warming has left us seeking for better and more innovative ways to solve today’s energy crisis. This growing concern has led to a continued search for alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly and limit dependence on foreign oil. As a result, for some-ethanol is believed to become a key potential energy alternative that will provide both energy and environmental benefits. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the United State’s (US) largest nonprofit organization which over sees the use and production of ethanol, “ethanol drives economic development, adds value to agriculture, and moves the US towards energy independence while cleaning the air and offering consumers a cost effective choice at the pump”. Despite the mentioned benefits, I strongly disagree with the notion that ethanol will become a viable alternative to gasoline. May be if one said that ethanol can become a compliment to gasoline then I can understand.
The American Coalition for Ethanol defines Ethanol as a cleaning –burning, high-octane motor fuel that is produced from renewable sources. I also noticed that Whipnet an ethanol affiliated company defines ethanol as a flammable and colorless chemical compound that can be used as a biodegradable fuel additive. Ethanol is sometimes known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol since it is made from plants such as corn, wheat, barley, or sugarcane. At the moment there are two main types of ethanol, E85 and E 10. According to The American Coalition for Ethanol, E85 is an alternative fuel blend that is made up of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline hence “E85” while E10 is made from 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. Although I believe that there is a need to find alternatives to gasoline, I also don’t think that ethanol is the right solution to the use of gasoline for a number of reasons.
One of the major drawbacks of ethanol is that it is very complicated and inefficient to transport. For instance, ethanol cannot travel in pipelines because it absorbs water and other impurities. As a result, ethanol has to be transported by trucks, trains, or barges which make it tremendously expensive and inefficient. Ironically, there is a short supply of ethanol storage tanks. And most importantly of all is that the trucks and other methods used to transport ethanol use gasoline. Do you see a problem here?? This reminds me of a quote a friend of mine posted that went like this “We kill people, who kill people to teach them that killing people is bad” what an oxymoron. In this case, this is the same as saying “we transport ethanol using gasoline so that we can use ethanol to eliminate the use of gasoline” Huh!!! For this main reason, I believe that ethanol does not have a chance to become a viable alternative to gasoline.
To most people, the main reason why they would opt to use ethanol instead of other energy alternatives is the belief that ethanol is environmentally friendly. I personally believe that this is a misconception because ethanol is made from a concoction of biodegradable plants mixed with gasoline. Secondly, I think that it is difficult to argue that ethanol is environmentally friendly and a viable alternative to gasoline because gasoline and other fossil fuels play a big role in producing plants such as corn that are used to make ethanol. For instance, gasoline and other fossil fuels are used from seeding to plowing, fertilizing, harvesting, and transporting of the plants used in ethanol production. Furthermore corn ethanol creates almost as much carbon dioxide emission as gasoline. In addition, ethanol contains less energy density than gasoline which makes it less economical because you have to use more ethanol in order to produce the same amount of power as gasoline. According to the US department of energy, you need about 1.40 gallons of E85 to equal the energy content of 1.00 gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. This means that ethanol has less energy per gallon therefore one has to pay about 6 gallons of ethanol in order to save 1 gallon of gas. Think about it, how cost effective is this? Customers end up using and paying for more ethanol than gasoline yet ethanol is even more expensive. What do you think; does this really make economic sense?
Ethanol might be a viable alternative to gasoline in some people’s minds like our Brazilian car salesman’s fantasy world. But, we haven’t even talked about the benefits of petroleum based by products such as plastics. There are talks to improve and pass a mandate that requires the use of ethanol. Rather than spending time and resources on such a mandate, I would rather see another energy source like solar energy or hydroelectric cars developed instead of focusing on ethanol. I personally don’t think that ethanol alone should become a viable alternative to gasoline because ultimately it does not solve major concerns as stated above. May be the Obama administration ought to inject more money in alternative energy and renewable energy research. Better yet, just like they came up with the cash for clunkers program may be the administration should come up with a similar program focusing on innovative energy solutions.
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