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Sunday, March 09. 2008
The ethanol supporters are looking to raise the content of ethanol in every day gasoline from 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent gasoline. This will double the nation's use of ethanol to further reduce America's oil consumption. E85 (85 percent ethanol 15 percent gasoline) is still seemingly hard to find in many states, e10 has been utilized greatly across the country.
The only threat that can get this shot down is can today's cars use twice the ethanol that is currently available in e10? Some say, older vehicle engine's may not be able to run on e20 because it will damage their engines.
The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State University have conducted studies to help ethanol out. They found that e20 will not damage engine parts. The e20 blend is not enough ethanol for engine parts to break down.
Even though there may be skepticism regarding ethanol as the fuel of the future, numerous states in America have laws requiring a certain percent of ethanol must be used in fuel. In Minnesota, they are looking to change the requirement to 20 percent ethanol in the next few years.
Unfortunately for ethanol, there is still doubt for twenty percent ethanol fuel blends. The main issue facing e20 is will it be able to be consumed by America's vehicles? The doubters say twenty percent ethanol will corrode normal engine parts unless flex-fuel kits are utilized.
In a USA Today article, USA Today blew the whistle on the move to e20 in Australia. Reportedly, e20 testing in Australia lead to the damage of 40 percent of all the car's catalytic converters.
In order for e20 to be distributed country wide, the EPA must test the emissions and the effects on engine parts before it will become legal. If e20 is used before the EPA runs their tests, e20 may void the car's warranty.
Monday, January 28. 2008
Unlike many states in the northeast, Indiana, a state in America's corn belt, is taking the right steps to help their retailers upgrade their fuel tanks to allow dispensing of e85 fuel. Indiana is beginning to offer their retailers grants to help convert their fuel tanks to hold e85 ethanol fuel. Retailers can expect grants up to $5,000.
As many retailers know, upgrading their fuel tanks to distribute e85 ethanol fuel can be a very expensive endeavor. The Indiana Corn Marketing Council hopes to offer as much help as possible to any retailer that will help promote and distribute e85.
According to representatives of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, their grant plus the corn checkoff grant program can pay big dividends to local retailers should the state of Indiana raise the corn checkoff to $20,000 which is currently proposed.
Currently in the state of Indiana, there is just below 100 e85 stations.
With the help of this grant, this should help may new retailers in Indiana convert to e85 tanks. The Indiana Corn Marketing Council is trying to make e85 fuel mainstream to everyone who have already done the correct thing and gone out and bought a flex-fuel automobile, a car that uses E85 or regular gasoline.
Hopefully other states in the United States will consider such grants them selfs. With little e85 penetration in the nation's east coast grants such as these will allow e85 to gain a good foot hold for the United States to rely less on foreign oil.
Tuesday, January 15. 2008
Monday, Ferrari revealed a e85 concept car that can run on ethanol. A Ferrari spokesperson said that it showcased the e85 ethanol car because of their engineering experience in Formula One and the bubbling demand for alternative fuel or flex-fuel vehicles in America.
The handsome Ferrari F430 Spider Bio-fuel utilizes E85, a blend of fuel that is comprised of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
While at the North American International Auto Show, Amadeo Felisa, Ferrari's chief executive, described Ferrari's commitment to drastically reduce their car's emissions by forty percent by 2012.
According to the executive, Ferrari had prior experience with e85 in Formula one racing. When racing, Formula One has regulations that say all the cars used in races must use fuel that is comprised of 5.75 percent biomass.
On the other hand, The FIA GT and the American Le Mans racing series have somewhat stricter policies. Those races require drivers to use race car's that operate with e10 or ten percent ethanol.
In order for Ferrari to create the F430 Spider Bio-fuel, Ferrari engineers had to do some minor tweaks to the car's engine. The engineers had to make changes to the fuel injection system and they had to change settings in the Ferrari's engine computer. This resulted in lower carbon dioxide emissions - a five percent cut - and as an added bonus, it also increased the car's power output with no changes to the car's weight.
This looks to be quite the Ferrari for anyone who is looking for a very sporty e85 car.
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