The Sale On Snake Oil
Here we go again with fraudulent claims. The AP is bemoaning the lack of service stations that sell E85 fuel. Because, they say, E85 is cheaper than gasoline. Here's their logic:
Steve Williams does what millions of American motorists can't: Fill up on cheaper, ethanol-based fuel from a local gas station.
Advocates, including farmers and President Bush, have offered E85 — a blend of 85 percent ethanol and gasoline — as an affordable way to help the nation grow itself toward energy independence with a cleaner-burning fuel. They would like to see more people like Williams, who filled up his 2003 Ford Explorer with E85 on a recent morning.
But there's a big hitch for this fuel of the future. There are too few pumps. While there are about 5 million "flexible fuel" vehicles on U.S. roads that can handle E85, there are only 1,145 public stations that offer the fuel nationwide, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. Meanwhile, domestic automakers have promised to double their production of flexible-fuel vehicles by 2010.
The nation's roughly 167,000 retail gas outlets have been slow to invest the tens of thousands of dollars it takes to add E85 — especially when certification for the dispensers is in limbo and the market is so new. Many drivers don't even know their recent-model flexible fuel cars can handle E85.
"A lot of times a car is a person's largest investment, so they're cautious. 'I'm putting alcohol in there? What!? Are you kidding?'" said Christian King, whose Mobil stations in Albany and 70 miles north in Warrensburg are the only ones in New York offering E85 to the public.
E85 is cheaper than regular unleaded gasoline. King's station near the University at Albany recently retailed E85 for $2.599 a gallon versus $3.149 for regular unleaded. But since ethanol has less energy than gasoline, fuel economy drops 10 to 15 percent when cars run on E85.
First of all, the EPA itself says that fuel economy drops by almost 30% when burning E85 - not 10-15%. So let's just do a simple calculation, shall we? Let's use a base value of 25mpg for a theoretical car running gasoline. Let's be kind and assume a 25% drop in fuel economy when switching to E85. That means that car will get about 18.75mpg. Let's assume a 100 mile drive. Gas powered will use 4 gallons of fuel for a cost of $12.60. E85 will use 5.33 gallons of fuel for a total cost of $13.85. And that calculation ignores the massive energy overhead it takes to produce a gallon of ethanol. So the "cheaper" fuel isn't cheaper in either dollars or in total energy used. Then of course, there is the sharp increase in the cost of food since corn prices have already doubled and promise to climb even higher if mandates for even more ethanol production come along. And what is even worse about all this? The promise of greenhouse gas reductions are false. Even more energy is expended and more carbon released in the ethanol cycle. It merely shifts where the emission happens - there is less out your car's tailpipe, but more released upstream in producing the fuel.
Energy, Environment, Junk Science | Gaius Sunday, 17 June , 2007
By Purple Avenger, Sunday, 17 June , 2007 @ 4:33 pm
OTOH, it should be possible to distill the E85 again and fraction out the ethanol making for a very inexpensive very high potency moonshine that would sell for a lot more than the original $2.60 invested.
Eventually, people will start doing this to avoid the oppressive taxes on booze.
By NortonPete, Sunday, 17 June , 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Very good post. When I arrived at Long Beach CA. in 1971 I saw these beautiful towers off shore which were lit up tastefully with low powered green and red lights. I thought California was an oasis of beauty.
Later someone told me they were oil wells. I found that there were oil wells all over but tastefully disguised.
There is a great deal of off-shore oil sitting waiting for us to turn into productive wells and yes beautiful sculptures. The technology is there so why not go fishing?