Friday, April 29, 2011

Obama Covers for OPEC - Robert Zubrin

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265930/obama-covers-opec-robert-zubrin?page=2

The power of the [OPEC] cartel lies solely in its ability to limit the world’s supplies of liquid fuels by limiting access to petroleum resources. But there is a fuel that can be produced cheaply, without the use of petroleum. This is methanol, commonly known as wood alcohol. It can be made from coal, natural gas, garbage, or any kind of biomass without exception. It costs about $0.50 per gallon to make, and its current spot price, without any subsidy, is $1.20 per gallon. (This is equivalent in miles per dollar to gasoline at $2.18 per gallon.) The only problem is that the cars on the road today can’t use it. This, however, can readily be corrected. Flex-fuel technology will allow any car to run equally well on methanol, ethanol, or gasoline. It adds only $100 to the cost of a new car. Were such a feature made standard, gasoline and ethanol would be forced to compete with methanol, and OPEC’s power to limit access to fuel supplies and drive prices up would be broken.

Posted via email from The Blue Pelican

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