With UL-approved ethanol pumps, 2008 could be big E85 year
Sure, corn farmers and ethanol producers are very keen to see that you always have E85 available to you when you go to fill up your car. 2008 just might be the year when we do stop noticing E85 pumps because they will be everywhere. Next year's possible E85 explosion will not only come from a large supply of ethanol, but because of new pumps (this is something we've mentioned before).
Steve Tarter, writing in the Peoria Journal Star, explains that certification of ethanol pumps by Underwriters Laboratories is expected by the end of 2007. Once that happens, watch out. Mark Lambert, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board's marketing director, said that the official UL seal opens the door to many more stores to sell the biofuel. "We're not just looking at the Mom and Pop stores but chains like Wal-Mart that could add 300 E85 outlets at one time," he told Tarter.
[Source: Peoria Journal Star]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
frank78 10:23PM (10/09/2007)
ugggh. Man, I hope not. Corn ethanol- the fuel that has to be subsidized, costs the consumer more via lower mileage and doesn't lessen our dependence on foreign oil. And now it seems it's just as bad as gasoline with the environment. Yippee.
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Bob Moffitt 8:38AM (10/10/2007)
While, I am not as certain as Mr. Lambert that a "flood" of E85 stations will occur, the weird, lengthy UL investigation (kinda like Sherlock Holmes' famious 'dog at midnight') of E85 pumps that have never ONCE failed or caused safety concerns in a decade of operation in our state (Minnesota) HAS held back E85 growth.
Frank, E85 is NOT worse than gasoline. Read our website, okay?
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bison 10:56AM (10/10/2007)
> E85 is NOT worse than gasoline.
It looks worse to me, at least in the U.S.
- It contains less energy per gallon than gasoline, so you use more of it.
- It can't be transported via the pipeline system due to corrosion problems. So you end up using a lot of diesel fuel to transport it via truck and rail.
- There isn't enough farm land in the U.S. to meet even halt the demand for fuel, and diverting land from food production to fuel production is going to put upward pressure on food prices. Assuming that free market prices are allowed to work unhindered by the government (OK, this is a bad assumption), the final balance is probably going to favor food, which means that ethanol will have even less of an impact on meeting energy needs.
I'm all in favor of spreading E10 from MN to the rest of the country. It can be piped, and if used nation-wide it would reduce dependency on fossil fuel by a small margin. Ethanol is a good 10 percent solution, but a bad 50 percent solution.
> Read our website, okay?
URL?
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gsolman6 11:32AM (10/10/2007)
"Frank, E85 is NOT worse than gasoline. Read our website, okay?"
If you are an ethanol promoter then you must love all the corporate welfare to the tune of 51 cents a gallon. Get a real job where the gov't doesn't have to subsidize your silly business ventures.
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Bob Moffitt 11:37AM (10/10/2007)
First, there is no reason ethanol can't be sent via pipeline, if the pipeline is built specifically to handle ethanol. We have just never had the need to, until now. Also, freight rail transport is remarkablly fuel-efficient way to move ethanol fuel.
Less energy than gas? True. Gasoline has less energy than diesel. Shall we stop using gas?
We are making all the ethanol we need in Minnesota for our E10 and E85 needs, with ethanol to spare for export. But why can't you build your own plants, close to where crops are grown and the fuel is used? We did, and we went from being a sate without any fuel resources of our own to a fuel exporter in a single decade.
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bison 10:54AM (10/11/2007)
> First, there is no reason ethanol can't be sent via pipeline, if the pipeline is built specifically to handle ethanol.
It would take hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to replace the pipeline system in the U.S.
Pardon the bad pun, but ethanol is but a pipe dream. :-)
> Less energy than gas? True. Gasoline has less energy than diesel. Shall we stop using gas?
If we're going to go through the disruptive process of changing the fuel we use, we should at least switch to something that's better and not worse. Biodiesel is a better alternative than ethanol.
> We are making all the ethanol we need in Minnesota for our E10 and E85 needs, with ethanol to spare for export.
We don't have any E85 needs in MN, except maybe for a few government vehicles.
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Jeff 2:54PM (10/15/2007)
people keep on complaining that E85 is subsidize by the government... well.. guess what? oil is subsidize by the government too... imagine all the government money spent on finding new oil and research into making oil better... all that is subsidize by the government... so if you want to be fair, lets put everything on the plate.. and you will see that oil is caveman technology.. oil helps our enemy become stronger... (such as Russia; Iran; Venezuala; ect.. ect..) Let's stop supporting these nations!!! i'm not saying we should stop using oil.. but we should be on our road to freedom from oil imports.. and eventually elimination of oil usage... (i.e. flex fuel; electric; solar; hydrogen; ect.. ect..)
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roland shaw 6:25AM (10/20/2007)
what is the octaine rating of e85
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GreyFlcn 1:48PM (10/20/2007)
==Frank, E85 is NOT worse than gasoline. Read our website, okay?==
E85 is worse than gasoline.
Let me count the ways.
It's worse on air quality
Ethanol makes smog, fromaldahyde, and ozone
Ethanol refineries put up 250% the pollution of chemical plants
California Senator comments how Ethanol creates an excess of smog.
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GreyFlcn 2:02PM (10/20/2007)
Darn, they don't allow HTML code.
http://greyfalcon.net/ethanol2
http://greyfalcon.net/ethanol5
http://greyfalcon.net/ethanol9
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GreyFlcn 2:50PM (10/20/2007)
You know what, it's easier just to link over here
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/10/senators-introd.html?cid=87075696#comment-87075696
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Bob Moffitt (Bob from ALAMN) 12:54PM (12/03/2007)
"We don't have any E85 needs in MN, except maybe for a few government vehicles."
Actually, the vast majority of E85 users in Minnesota are drivers of privately-owned flex-fuel vehicles. We led the nation in both E85 outlets (330+) and sales --18.5 million gallons last year.
Some reading:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/state_energy_program/project_brief_detail.cfm/pb_id=1012
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/07/e85_consumption.html
Yeah, grey bird, we gets it. You hate ethanol. Thanks for sharing.
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