[Diy_efi] Is E85 worth it?

[WSCowell at aol.com]

In a message dated 07/09/2006 05:45:51 GMT Standard Time,  
espresso_doppio at yahoo.com writes:

Someone  claimed that using biodiesel did not add
carbon to the environment, and  that using fossil fuels
DID.  I was pointing out that that is not the  case;
the amount of carbon on the planet remains almost
completely  constant, albeit in various different forms
depending on  compound.





That was probably me.  You are correct, in that the same amount of  carbon is 
there on the planet as a whole but this is disingenuous.   The key thing is 
your addition of the extra words "on the planet" to the  discussion.  We all 
know that the current concern is that carbon which was  safely locked up in the 
ground - fossil fuel - is being released back into the  atmosphere as CO2.  In 
that form, in that place, it is damaging.
 
There is a difference between (i) liberating back to atmosphere carbon  which 
was "reclaimed" by a plant earlier this year (biodiesel),  and  (ii) 
liberating back to atmosphere carbon locked up 300 million years and  more ago when 
fossil fuel beds were laid down (petro-diesel).
 
The latter is the damaging event, because the atmospheric CO2 level  will 
rise, and with it the mean temperature of the planet - or that is the  position 
apparently demonstrated by trend data.
 
So what you say is imho theoretically correct but practically  unhelpful, if 
not misleading!  Given the quality of your usual posts, and  your enormous 
experience, I am surprised that you would run this argument.  :-)
 
Will