Originally Posted by ISP James
anybody think we are heading in a direction where synthetic oils are CHEAPER than petroleum based oils?
seller: "yeah, ive taken good care of the car. i only run mobil1 full synthetic"
buyer: "so what, who doesnt, thats the cheaper sheit"
Synthetic just means that the oil is created through chemical synthesis as opposed to petroleum distillation. The chemicals used in the synthesis of organic molecules are also synthesized from petroleum. So really, there's no resource benefit to switch to synthetic gasoline.
Originally Posted by sherwood
it's called ethanol and it's been around for many many many years... maight be labeled gasahol, i think it was put into production way back in the 70's or 80's... many gas stations will have a sign on their pumps showing you that their gas is 10% ethanol, or 15% ethanol
Ethanol is not always compatible with seal material. Also, the energy required to make ethanol exceeds the amount of energy we can get back from the ethanol. Where would we get the energy to process ethanol from?