Date:         Sun, 6 Mar 2005 18:05:47 -0500
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject:      Re: gas prices- a canadian perspective
In-Reply-To:  <804d36d72b1b3c2af3465142fc565f80@pottsfamily.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

Nope.  I believe ethanol burns cooler.  It does, however, have a lower
BTU content than gasoline and is less volatile and therefore produces
less power per given volume.  Hmmm, this brings up a good point and a
challenge to my argument.  If a fuel is less volatile, does the engine
have to run hotter to burn it?  I've been out of the business too long
to remember the correct answer to this.

Marc Perdue

Greg Potts wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> Here in Canada the gov't is pushing to increase the alcohol content of
> our fuels. Adding 10% more ethanol to the blend frees up 10% of the
> refinery capacity to produce more gasoline. The target is to get to
> 30% overall within the next few years, which will reduce the current
> load on refineries by about 20%.
>
> The bad news is that alcohol as an additive burns hotter and produces
> less power than gasoline. My air-cooled buses are going to hate that.
>
> Happy trails,
>
> Greg Potts
> Toronto, Ontario, Canada
>