15 Percent Ethanol Solution
The American Coalition for Ethanol is proposing a solution to gasoline disruptions and higher prices caused by recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico – a 15 percent solution of ethanol.
In a posting on the ACE blog this week, they note that Hurricanes Gustav and Ike have caused nearly a quarter of U.S. fuel production to be shut down, and about 20% of U.S. refining capacity could be lost for months.
In response, states are seeking and the government is granting temporary waivers for certain requirements for gasoline, essentially providing more flexibility to blenders in an attempt to help supply keep up with demand.While officials wring their hands trying to tinker around the edges to free up more gasoline, a largely overlooked source of meaningful relief comes in the form of ethanol – more of it, to be exact.
State and federal officials should look at increasing the percentage of ethanol allowed in gasoline from 10% up to 15% or even 20%. Even if it’s a temporary measure, this would be an immediate solution to increase the availability of fuel.
ACE is encouraging people to ask their state and federal lawmakers to consider E15 an option to deal with the fuel shortages caused by the hurricanes.
5 Comments »
JM
This makes too much common sense and solves the problem with the least amount of stress on our financial system for all Americans. We don’t do anything in the USA that requires common sense, we require advanced research and approval from the EPA, UL, House, Senate, Congress and the President. Stay tuned this problem should be solved by 2020.
Charlie Peters
Does corn fuel ethanol policy increase oil use and oil profit?
Some folks think so
SacramentoE85
It would be preferable to quickly get more E85 pumps installed, or convert existing mid-grade pumps to E85. There are millions of FFV’s on the road today that could be fueling up with millions of gallons of cheaper E85, but not enough pumps for them to make a dent. I bet the ethanol industry wishes it had combined its collective power to get more E85 pumps set up sooner, with this unexpected event driving up ethanol supplies just as many plants had hedged for $8 corn feedstock supply earlier this year. Let’s not dinker around with E15 and E20 for now (will be 2020 by the time EPA, CARB, UL, gov’t etc. gets the studies done and approval), and instead get E85 used by more FFV’s now!! Let’s do the math… One penny on 8 billion gallons of ethanol sold is $80 million that the ethanol industry could give away for free for fuel stations to put in E85 pumps (kind of like a soybean check off). That $80 million could convert at least 16,000 mid-grade fuel pumps to E85 (if $5,000 each to convert, which likely would be less). If each E85 pump sold 5,000 gallons of E85 per month (about 4,000 gallons of ethanol and on the low end for most stations), that would be 64 million gallons of ethanol consumed in one month alone–and over 750 million gallons in one year! That would certainly offload a big part of the oversupply that is occuring now. Also, if done for several years in a row, there would be 48,000 conversions for E85 pumps, and an additional total of 2.25 Billion Gallons of ethanol consumed by FFV’s!! But, would the ethanol plants pay a penny per gallon to make a dime per gallon (tighter supply leads to higher prices, and this seems feasible)? Only time will tell. So far most ethanol plants have focused solely on E10.
SacramentoE85
Oh yes, and while they are at it they can put in a whole bunch of blender pumps (not just E85 but also E20, E30, E50) as well. Then those with FFV’s can choose the blend that happens to make the most economic sense at the time, rather than either/or. If people with regular gasoline vehicles illegally (according to EPA) use these pumps so be it; they can already do it by filling up with 10 gallons of E10 and 5 gallons of E85, so what’s the difference? Dragging our feet on blender pumps is as detrimental as dragging our feet on E85 pumps has been. Logically, there’s more economic and environmental harm to this nation by dragging our feet on E85 and blender pumps than there is by allowing consumers their free choice of fuels!
TitanE85
It is hard to find E85 pumps across this great land. I lived in Houston,TX and there were only 3 stations in a city of 4+ million people. I now live in Montrose, CO, a city of maybe 18,000 and we just got an E85 pump last week. On 9/23/08, at the grand opening, they are selling it for .85 a gallon. Time to tank up!! I don’t think there has been enough publicity when it comes to Flexfuel vehicles.
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