"Performance" can mean different things to different people.
HP, Torque, reliability, MPG, exhaust emissions, oil consumption, etc. are all "performance" factors, and are routinely traded about in matters of importance.
Politicians and other overlords of the state for example, believe ethanol is a great "performance" enhancement in terms of Return on Investment.
Which is total bullsh1t when it takes into consideration that in the US you guys make ethanol from corn/food/ pushes feed prices up for cattle which in turn pushes up the price of any related food, so while there is a "return on investment" for the people involved, its at the cost of everyone else, not to mention poor countries removing forests to grow corn for fuel instead of feeding their own. Until Governments become independent from capitalists {yeah right} nothing will change
While the emergence of the ethanol industry has increased demand for corn, U.S. farmers have responded by growing significantly larger corn crops. U.S. corn production has increased tremendously in the “ethanol era.” The average annual U.S. corn crop averaged 7.2 billion bushels in the 1980s, 8.6 bbu. in the 1990s, 10.3 bbu. in 2000-2006, and 12.3 bbu. since 2007. As a result of larger annual corn harvests and the growing production of animal feed co-products, increased ethanol production has not affected availability of corn for traditional users. Corn supplies available for non-ethanol uses have been larger, on average, since passage of the RFS2 in 2007 than at any other time in history. Corn and corn co-products available for non-ethanol uses averaged 314 million tons from 2007/08 through 2011/12. This compares to an average of 308 million tons available for non-ethanol use from 2002/03 through 2006/07 and an average of 300 million tons from 1997/98 through 2001/02. The emergence of ethanol as a major source of corn demand has not reduced the supply of corn available for other uses, including livestock feed.
These are from the USDA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Consumer Price Index. this one shows the year on year food price inflation and the inflation trend averaged out. Seems the price inflation is trending downward while ethanol production increases. Might be, just maybe...that oil prices account for up to 75% of the price inflation of food due to production costs.
Maybe some you prefer to keep sending money to the Ragheads in the Middle East like the Saudis who are one of the main financiers of ISIS. How much blood and treasure is spent to keep the oil spigot flowing in that part of the world.
How many of our service personnel died for ethanol? Do you ever factor in that cost?
Sure it may not be the best for our old bikes but the very small number of people who want to run very old machines does not mean sh!t in the energy policy of the country. Actually I am not that picky about what gas I use and it has not caused any problems for me since they introduced it. I run a light two stroke mixture and maybe that helps. I am not sure what all the pissing and moaning is about other than just wanting to make a "political" statement. Here in the corn belt just about everything has 10% in it.
On a more personal note as farm owner right in the heart of the corn belt it has been quite rewarding. The rent payed by my tenant is at an all time high and going higher even though I give him a bit lower rent level than the market. His family is a long time tenant (40+ years) and takes good care of the land. The land values have also skyrocketed. If ethanol blew up my bike tomorrow and burned it to cinder I would be a bit bummed but with the rent check I could just go out and buy half a dozen more.
Ethanol...I say burn it baby, burn it. Cha-ching!
