There are many eco-benefits to replacing oil with bio-fuels like ethanol and bodies. For one, since such fuels are derived from agricultural crops, they are inherently renewable-and our own farmers typically produce them domestically, reducing our dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil.

Additionally, ethanol and bodies emit less particulate pollution than traditional petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuels. They also do not contribute to global warming, since they only emit back to the environment the carbon dioxide (CO2) that their source plants absorbed out of the atmosphere in the first place.

And unlike other forms of renewable energy (like hydrogen, solar or wind), befouls are easy for people and businesses to transition to without special apparatus or a change in vehicle or home heating infrastructure-you can just fill your existing car, truck or home oil tank with it.

Those looking to replace gasoline with ethanol in their car, however, must have a “flex-fuel” model that can run on either fuel. Otherwise, most regular diesel engines can handle bodies as readily as regular diesel.

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Last January the Security and Exchange Commission sent letters to chief financial officers of major auto manufacturers informing them that their current accounting practices did not comply with generally accepted accounting principles. The SEC’s plan was to change these methods from dealer finances and leases. Instead the SEC wanted the automakers to account for these leases correctly in the future by operations and also present three years worth of back information of past impact.
Automakers such as Ford and General Motors must now have their accounting methods approved by the Security and Exchange Commission before employee benefits can any longer take place. However, last year the automakers during negotiations with United Auto Workers agreed to take a specific amount of money to a health care fund which would be responsible for retiree healthcare funds. The result of this would be removing these liabilities from their books. By having this argument between the SEC and companies the automakers are the ones who are feeling the effect of this problem the worst. For employees who work for a percentage of their funds to be given to them through healthcare it is important to know that these funds are available and sufficient. The past method involved gave the automobile companies an advantage by having the healthcare funds constantly available. With the SEC cracking down the ways in which these companies are reporting, the automobile companies are feeling an effect. (more…)