It is hard to believe that the Ethanol industry would be having its 21st annual conference this week, as described in Ethanol Industry Meets in Omaha. (I tend to think of ethanol as more recent.) They even have a new ethanol blog that you can check out for the association's perspective on ethanol and public policy. The head of the national corn grower's association says that food interests have copied the business practice of big oil by increasing prices but blaming others, in this case the corn growers.
E85: The ethanol blend appears to be stalling tells that the Minnesota governor's plan to have 1800 stations selling E85 by 2010 is losing momentum. E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Although popular in Brazil, it requires stainless steel gasoline lines and tanks to distribute and store the aluminum and rubber-eating fuel. It has less energy density than gasoline, so fuel mileage is less with this substitute.
SMU energy expert thinks Texas ethanol plants are destined for failure explains that ethanol can only be used as a gasoline substitute whereas petroleum itself can be used for plastics, asphalt, and other products besides transportation fuel. Using any farmland to grow any biofuel crop, regardless of whether it is corn or jatropha is taking farmland away from producing food. As the world's population continues to grow, this is not a winning solution.
We desperately need an alternative to petroleum. I have never been convinced that ethanol has a positive energy contribution when the agricultural and distribution energy costs are considered. When coupled with a real reduction of the global food supply, I am currently not an advocate.
E85 sales are not "stalling" in Minnesota. That's a very missleading headline. In fact, they are on pace to set another national record. Gasoline sales are down from the same period last year, while E85 sales are up 13% from 2007.
Last year, Minnesota motorists bought more than 21 million gallons of E85.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | August 15, 2008 at 06:39 AM