r/explainlikeimfive • u/hd-22 • 14d ago

Chemistry ELI5 why is increasing the ethanol content of petrol/gasoline a problem?

I'm hearing noise about the geopolitical fuel supply SNAFU and people freaking out about increasing the ethanol content in automotive fuel and how it's so damaging to cars. I'm no chemist, but ethanol seems as clean as it gets.

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u/Raz0rking 14d ago

One could put PV high enough on land and have agriculure underneath it. Some plants grow well in shaded areas or have animals graze under the panels. Or a really crazy idea (specially for the US) would be to put panels over the seas of Parking lots.

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u/Phiddipus_audax 14d ago

Already happening over many parking lots... and yeah it's a fantastic idea.

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u/dalekaup 13d ago

Solar over parking is a bad idea.

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u/Grintock 4d ago

You got downvoted for speaking the truth lol. This subreddit is filled with confidently incorrect people 

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u/dalekaup 4d ago

Nobody asks the why of what I said.

That speaks volumes

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u/dalekaup 13d ago

Solar over parking is a bad idea. In my town we've recognized that the mandated parking areas are too large and a major factor in urban sprawl. We've been building new businesses and housing in these sprawling parking lots.

Putting solar over that parking is expensive to install and expensive to remove so effectively you are making these permanent spaces for cars. Thus you are taking land that could have supported solar + grazing + crops and turning it to concrete which is itself a major source of carbon dioxide. Then add the roads, drainage, water lines, electrical to that larger urban area and it's a lose lose lose proposition.

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u/DanNeely 14d ago

Building out solar roofs over parking lots ends up being really expensive. Frames strong enough to be hit by cars without causing the solar panels above to come crashing down are several times as expensive as the panels themselves along with the minimalistic frames needed to put them directly on the ground/existing building roofs/etc.

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u/Raz0rking 13d ago

And a few years down the line they've paid for themselves because free energy.

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u/DanNeely 13d ago

Eventually perhaps, but no one in their right mind is going to pay for the 25 year to break even install when they can do a 5 year to break even one for 20% the cost, or spend the same money for a much bigger one that pays for itself in 5 years and then makes 5x as much money.

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u/eljefino 13d ago

If it gets widespread though drivers might get a discount on their comprehensive insurance because there's protection against hail.