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A new report shows the number of E85 ethanol pumps in the U.S. has grown nearly 28% in the past year, surpassing the 1,800 mark with 1,693 available for public use. The states with the most E85 pumps are, as you'd expect, in the corn belt, including Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri. Just don't expect to find them in every corner of the country: Despite the growth in E85 availability, seven states still don't have any E85 pumps, including Alaska. Considering E85 expansion is part of our current national energy policy, it makes us wonder if Governor Palin should revise her favorite chant to "distill, baby, distill." But, of course, the problem with ethanol remains one of economics rather than availability. E85 costs about 18% less nationwide than a gallon of gasoline despite containing 23-28% less energy. When the cost to grow, process, distill and transport that ethanol is taken into account, the math just doesn't work out in favor of corn likker . But we are glad...
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Filing up your E85 vehicle might initially feel better due to prices that are, on average, about 20% cheaper than regular octane, but the joke is on you. Because gas engines burn the typically corn-based fuel less efficiently, the adjusted cost of E85 is $4.321 per gallon compared to gas that averaged about $3.962 on Friday. Even in states that subsidize the cost of the fuel, like New York and Iowa, the difference still results in prices that are equal to or worse than the price of regular gasoline. Though this still means you are using less dino juice, we feel that this is offset by the disruption of food crops and the fertilizer runoff that is impacting the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe you should look into Algae power . [ Kicking Tires ]
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More exciting action from the D.C Auto Show as Ford snuck some E85 news into the 2009 Ford Escape press release. The company's E-Series vans, Navigator and Expedition will be able to run on E85 fuel this year, which is good news for the small percentage of the people reading this that have access to the approximately 0.01% of gas stations in the United States that actually offer Ethanol and are suddenly in the market for a bold-faced commercial van. Excuse us if we're not that excited. We really wanted them to announce they were building an E-Series van that runs on straight vegetable oil. Press release below the jump. Press Release on E85 WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 22, 2008 - Today at the Washington Auto Show and Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Ford Motor Company announced its hot-selling compact SUVs, the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, will become more fuel efficient, more powerful and more connected for the 2009 model year. Ford also announced that it is expanding its...
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As part of a drive to push green innovation in the racing world, the American Le Mans series has announced the Green Challenge. Basically, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy are partnering with SAE to encourage race teams to use renewable fuels, alternative engine configurations, regenerative braking and emissions controls. Chevy unveiled this Corvette race car, plastered in E85 stickers, to highlight the announcement. We're bigger fans of the Vantage GT2 , which is also powered by ethanol, or the Lexus IS350 GT2 . No emissions targets or environmental impact limits have been set. While we would love to see racing reduce its impact on the world around us, thus furthering research into enabling passenger cars to do the same, we can't help but feel efforts like this merely pay lip service to being environmentally friendly in order to placate critics.
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GM's new green push, dubbed GM>>next, shows what happens when a global multinational throws a few tens of millions in public relations and directs marching orders toward facing down rival Toyota's reputation, deserved or not, for greenness. It's the marketing wrapper under which all of GMs's alternative energy projects exist. One of those is GM's backing of E85 Ethanol, the increased production of which they're saying will reduce the use of fossil fuels to the tune of 30 percent by 2030. In between, the speculation on corn will continue to drive the price of dairy products, Cheetos and high-fructose corn syrup through the roof. The visual metaphor for the press event was extreme juggler Chris Bliss , who did a truly outstanding juggling number to the tune of the Beatles' "Carry That Weight." The balls were yellow, the color of GM's Ethanol initiative, corn itself, and many other things like Rick Wagoner's tie, bananas and one-fifth of...
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Those funky number crunchers at the RAND Corp have found that owning a diesel is slightly more cost efficient for the buyer than a hybrid, but that owning either contributes to the betterment of society. The study also found that E85 kind of blows, relative to the other options. Diesel was the overall winner as it provided the highest savings over the life of the vehicle ($460 for cars, $1,249 for SUV's and $2,289 for trucks), compared to hybrids ($198 for cars, $505 for trucks and $1,066 for SUV's). E85 cars actually cost their owners more over the lifetime of the vehicles, though still assure that someone missing part of their spine will be elected president. Full release after the jump: Diesel- and Hybrid-Powered Vehicles Can Provide More Societal Benefits than Gas-Powered Autos Cars and light trucks powered by advanced diesel technology or hybrid technology can provide larger societal benefits than traditional gasoline-powered automobiles, according to a RAND Corporation working...
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