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*Members Only
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In This Issue: |
FYI Newsletter Volume 7, Issue 16, September 10, 2002
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The Congress is currently scheduled to adjourn and return
home with the close of business on October 4, 2002.
However, given the large number of pending legislative
issues remaining, few believe that the scheduled date of
adjournment will be met. The Congress continues to face a
number of critical and important issues including the
completion of the appropriations bills for 2003,
consideration of a Homeland Security Agency, and
completion of the Energy Bill.
Having been debated for the past two years, (the House
passed its version of the Energy Bill in August of 2001
with Senate approval of a similar bill in April of 2002)
the respective versions of the Energy legislation remain
in a Conference Committee. If there is to be an Energy
Bill during this session of Congress, each of us MUST
contact our members and insist that this matter be
addressed BEFORE adjournment.
The
NEVC has dedicated the front-page of our web site at
www.E85Fuel.com to the energy bill and we encourage
you to review this site for updated information. If
development of a domestic-sustainable energy program is
important to you, contact your member of Congress and
insist that the Energy Bill be completed before they
return home! |
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On August 27, 2002, the Montana Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) released a report on emission
testing of student built and commercially available
4-stroke snowmobiles. In May 2002, the DEQ partnered with
the National Park Service, the Society of Automotive
Engineers' Clean Snowmobile Challenge (CSC), the Institute
of Science, Ecology, and Environment, Wyoming Ethanol, EPA
and others to test the snowmobiles at the Southwest
Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The report is
the result of that work. The research was completed to
determine how clean the 2002 CSC student competition and
commercial snowmobiles have become, and to develop data to
determine their impact on the environment. All machines
were tested with ethanol blend fuel, using a 10 percent
blend of ethanol with 90 percent emissions-grade gasoline
(E10).
The DEQ tested both first-place student challenge
snowmobiles from Kettering University, Flint, Michigan and
the University of Idaho. The Clean Snowmobile Challenge
2002 event results showed that the University of Idaho had
fewer emissions than Kettering using a 1991 BMW 4-stroke
motorcycle engine with catalytic converter clean-up. The
laboratory testing also showed the University of Idaho's
sled produced lower emissions, the lowest emissions of any
of the snowmobiles tested in this project. The CSC
snowmobiles are not commercially available.
Emissions from the CSC student snowmobiles were compared
with emissions generated from a commercially available
2002 Arctic Cat 4-Stroke Touring snowmobile and a 2002
Polaris Frontier 4-stroke snowmobile using a
pre-production engine. These two snowmobile engines were
also tested using the industry-approved 5-mode engine
dynamometer test procedure published in the draft EPA
snowmobile emissions regulations. The report shows these
engines significantly reduce emissions of hydrocarbon
(HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM)
compared to emissions from 2-stroke snowmobile engines.
The report describes a number of firsts in the snowmobile
emissions field. It is the first publicly available
emissions data from 4-stroke snowmobiles using the draft
EPA test protocol. The report also contains results of the
first laboratory correlation of snowmobile emissions with
vehicle speed observed in the field. This procedure
yielded emissions results on a grams-per-mile basis used
in air quality modeling. Additionally, the report is also
the first to contain emissions results for snowmobile
fueled with E85 fuel, a blend of 85 percent fuel ethanol
with 15 percent gasoline.
When used in the Kettering's specially equipped
snowmobile, E85 fuel reduced HC emissions by 50 percent,
CO by 37 percent, and PM by 58 percent compared to E10
fuel. The report also includes the first data on 4-stroke
toxic air contaminants such as benzene, ketones, aldehydes,
and alcohols that developed using the Arctic Cat engine,
the only engine tested that is used in commercial
production.
The snowmobile data are also compared to data from 2001
snowcoach emissions. It shows that it is possible to
develop snowmobiles and snowcoaches with acceptable low
emissions. The report points out that this comparison may
change because more work is needed to develop a better
laboratory representation of snowcoach field operation.
The report, titled "Laboratory Testing of Snowmobile
Emissions", by Chad Lela and others, which includes the
appended test data is available on-line at
http://www.deq.state.mt.us/CleanSnowmobile/index.html.
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The new DaimlerChrysler FFV models are finally here! The
Dodge Stratus, Cargo Van and Chrysler Sebring have
recently rolled off the line and can run on an alternative
fuel – E85!
What are the factors that distinguish these three vehicles
as an E85 compatible vehicle? First, the vehicle door
sticker in each DaimlerChrysler vehicle states that it is
a FFV. Also, the eighth digit in its vehicle
identification number (VIN) states what type of an engine
the vehicle holds and which fuel it can run.
The Dodge Stratus is available as a FFV in a 2.7-liter
engine as a Sedan. The Chrysler Sebring also has a 2.7
liter engine and is available as a FFV as a sedan AND a
convertible. The Sebring is the FIRST convertible vehicle
ever offered as E85 compatible! Both the Stratus and
Sebring’s eighth digit is a “T”. The E85 Dodge Cargo
Minivan has a 3.3-liter engine and is also the FIRST cargo
van offered as a FFV! The eighth digit in its VIN is a
“3”.
You can own your very own E85 Stratus, Sebring or Cargo
Minivan by visiting your local Dodge or Chrysler dealer
today! Also, make sure that after you purchase your new
vehicle, you fill up with the clean, alternative fuel! |
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An editorial ran in the Oklahoma City Oklahoman on
September 2, 2002 that disputed the use of ethanol as an
alternative fuel. Below is the article and a rebuttal
submitted on September 6, 2002 by the NEVC.
Oklahoman Editorial: In Farm Country,
Ethanol Fuels Politics
Today's quiz, in reverse order:
Answer: The Iowa caucuses.
Question: Why does ethanol exist?
Our
skepticism is shared by others, who see this corn-based,
outrageously subsidized fuel additive as a boondoggle that
won't die, despite years of evidence piled high against
it. The taxpayers' tab: Some $6 billion, maybe $10
billion, for more than two decades. And yet the nonsense
rages on, as Congress may vote this fall to double its use
as a gasoline additive over the next decade.
Yes,
lawmakers and ethanol are as close as kernels on the cob.
"Everybody knows why ethanol has been championed," Robert
Litan, an economist at the Brookings Institution, recently
told the Wall Street Journal. "You can't go to the Iowa
(caucuses) without supporting ethanol." The caucuses,
staged in a frigid state with seven electoral votes, are
the first -- and outsized -- step on the road to the
presidency every fourth winter. So candidates spend
millions of dollars on consultants, staff and advertising
in a place where corn is king.
All
of which makes politicians of both parties who ought to
know better to pledge allegiance to ethanol. "Ethanol is
good for our economy, it's good for our air," President
Bush said recently during a swing through farm country.
But as syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin writes, Bush's
own Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Trade
Commission believe the ethanol mandate "is costly to both
consumers and government and will provide little
environmental benefit."
Malkin's culprit in the ethanol scam is not necessarily
Iowa, but Archer Daniels Midland, the agriculture
conglomerate that owns 35 to 40 percent of ethanol
production capacity. ADM also is a big-time political
player in farm country and a contributor to many a
campaign.
A
section of the energy bill before Congress this fall would
hike the mandate of ethanol added to gasoline to 5 billion
gallons over the next 10 years, up from 2 billion gallons.
If passed, "this anti- free market maneuver would
guarantee ethanol a growing fixed share of the country's
fuel consumption every year, no matter what consumers
actually demand or what better methods of reformulating
gasoline come along," Malkin says.
Does
this make economic sense? Do taxpayers, specifically
motorists, benefit? Is the air cleaner because of ethanol?
No.
No. Doubtful.
David
Pimentel, a Cornell University economist who has studied
the ethanol controversy for years, estimates 70 percent
more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy
produced from ethanol. Malkin, whose column appears
occasionally on this page, cites a study by the National
Academy of Sciences that ethanol in gasoline can reduce
carbon monoxide emissions, but also increases the most
common precursors of smog.
Maybe, however, Congress will surprise us, and wean
ethanol and its boosters from the government's props. Make
it make it in the marketplace, so to speak. But don't bet
on it, as long as corn grows in the places where
politicians harvest votes and cash.
The
NEVC’s rebuttal. . . .
In
response to your recent editorial, “In Farm Country,
Ethanol Fuels Politics,” has the tragedy of only one year
ago been forgotten? The impact of the disaster of
September 11, 2001 is still wreaking havoc on the United
States’ economy, yet our oil imports are actually
increasing. The U.S. currently imports more than half of
its oil from countries in the Middle East. According to
the U.S. Department of Energy
(http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html),
our country has and is continuing to demand more
and more oil from outside our nation’s borders. In 2001,
the U.S. consumed over 19 million barrels of oil a day and
the U.S. produced only 5.6 million barrels a day – an
amount that is expected to DECREASE over the next several
years. Why are we giving our money to overseas oil
companies when we desperately need it here at home? There
is a solution!
Ten percent ethanol blended with 90 percent gasoline, or
E10, can be used in practically every vehicle in the
nation. With U.S. ethanol producers having the capacity
to produce nearly 2 billion gallons each year, fueling
with the10 percent blend can be done easily thus
decreasing our dependency on foreign oil dramatically.
This will, in turn, strengthen our plummeting economy.
Oklahoma is an energy-rich state ranked sixth in the
nation in oil production and third in natural gas
production. The state also has abundant potential to
produce biomass energy, i.e. ethanol, as well as wind and
solar energy. Ethanol production along with the state’s
other domestic energy resources can do nothing but benefit
Oklahoma’s economy, benefit the United States and reduce
our dependence on foreign oil.
You referenced Dr. David Pimentel’s ethanol study which
concludes that “more energy is required to produce ethanol
than the energy produced” is a large misconception. Mr.
Pimentel’s study is based on twenty-year-old data and is
the ONLY analysis of ethanol’s energy input-output
equation that results in a negative energy balance.
Many recent studies such as United States
Department of Agriculture Agricultural Economic Report
Number 813, released August 1, 2002 states that “the
net energy value of corn ethanol has become positive in
recent years due to technological advances in ethanol
conversion and increased efficiency in farm production”.
Another study conducted by the Argonne National
Laboratory, an independent laboratory of the U.S.
Department of Energy, concludes, “…our analysis
indicates a 38 percent gain in the overall energy
input/output equation for the corn-to-ethanol process”.
This study clarifies the outcome by stating that if 100
BTUs of energy is used to plant corn, harvest the crop,
transport it, etc., 138 BTUs of energy is available in the
fuel ethanol.
Corn yields and processing technologies have improved
significantly over the past twenty years and they continue
to do so, making ethanol production less and less energy
intensive.
It
would be easy to go on and on refuting your negative
conclusions and comments regarding ethanol, as the
research community is quickly forming a consensus that
ethanol is a positive energy contributor. With world oil
demand increasing and world oil production projected to
peak as early as 2015, it should be apparent that the end
of the hydrocarbon economy is approaching like a runaway
train. When it will arrive is open for debate; that it
will arrive is not.
The nation can either begin to recognize the need to
develop alternative fuels today, or we can wait, as we did
on September 11, 2001 for the “sky to fall” before we open
our eyes to the terrible cost of this nation’s reliance on
imported petroleum.
The author of this article is the Executive Director of
the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, Phil Lampert. |
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Acorn
Petroleum has done it again! The Colorado fueling company
has opened its third E85 fuel pump at 108 Baxter Road in
Pueblo, Colorado. The Pueblo store joins other Acorn Food
Stores in Aurora and Colorado Springs as a retail outlet
for the alternative fuel.
Acorn
Petroleum opened its first E85 pump at 13690 East Colfax
in Aurora, Colorado on June 16, 2001 and its second on
February 19, 2002 at 305 South 8th Street in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. On September 9, 2002, the
Pueblo Acorn Food Store began selling the clean fuel.
“Acorn Petroleum and Harlan Ochs have taken a large step
in making E85 a much more available fuel in the state of
Colorado,” said NEVC Executive Director Phil Lampert.
In the future, Acorn will be citing four additional E85
pumps in Colorado. These new stations will be located in
Silverthorne, Walsenburg, Brush and Grand Junction. These
pumps along with the existing pumps were made possible
with the help of a grant provided by the
State of
Colorado, financial support from
Ford Motor Company, and
the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
“With the one year anniversary of September 11 coming upon
us this week,” commented Lampert, “it is exciting to
announce the opening of this E85 pump. Companies such as
Acorn Petroleum are leading the way in strengthening our
economy by supporting our nation’s farmers and reducing
our dependency of foreign oil.” |
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 United Energy Distributors, Inc. (UED) has been an active
member of the NEVC for about two years. The company’s
mission is to "Advance the Choice".
“If our customers wish to make a difference for the
environment and foreign oil dependency,” said president
and founder of UED, Red Roberts, “then we help give them
that choice.”
UED joined the NEVC to be capable of networking with
others that are trying to make a difference in their farm
economy and become less dependent on foreign crude.
“We educate people and promote E85. One must make it
feasible for retail stores to be able to carry it at their
pumps to make people aware of its availability,” said
Roberts. “To succeed, it has to be affordable to the
retailer as well as the consumer.”
UED adamantly promotes alternative fuels as is shown with
their $300,000 investment including a fleet that fuels
with E85 and biodiesel. However, Roberts feels that even
more can be done to advance the use of E85.
“I
think if dealerships that sell FFVs would take time to
explain to their customers what they are buying when a
purchase is made and where E85 is available, then
customers would make an effort to use the fuel.”
As a last comment, Roberts added, “The United States has
got to become less dependent on foreign crude and stop
being held hostage. My question for years has been, why
don't we want to support our farm economy more and foreign
crude less?!”
The NEVC is appreciative of the support United Energy
Distributors and Red Roberts offers our organization. Our
future with E85 holds positive with partners like UED!
To
become a member of the NEVC,
click here or contact Randa Barker by email at
info@e85.com
or by phone at (573) 635-8445. |
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NEVC Calendar
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September 11 and 16, 2002
Triangle J. Council of Governments Advisory Committee
meeting to design biofuel’s rebate program. North
Carolina
Department of Transportation granted $280,000 to be given
to entities purchasing E85 and/or biodiesel. For more
information, call (919) 558-9400.
September 18, 2002
Designation of Greater Yellowstone-Teton Clean Cities
Coalition at Old Faithful at 9:30 a.m. in West
Yellowstone, MT. For more information, contact (208)
529-1431.
September 25-27, 2002
20th Annual World Fuels Conference: United States Energy
and Environmental Policy 2002. Focus on Key
Refining, Fuels and Automotive Technology Issues at the
Lews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. For
more information, visit
http://www.cvent.com/cvent_rsvp.asp.
September 26-27, 2002
Fuel Ethanol Thailand at the Regent Hotel in Bangkok,
Thailand. For more information, email
abfbkk@loxinfo.co.th
or email Nuchada Paradeevisut at
nuchada@abf-asia.com.
October 6-8, 2002
National Association of Convenience Stores Show at the
Orlando County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more
information, visit
http://www.cstorecentral.com/nacsshow/2002info.asp.
October 15, 2002
Ethanol
Workshop for Rural America at the Holiday Inn in Billings,
MT. Kickoff banquet on October 14 in the Stillwater
Room of the Holiday Inn at 5500 Midland Rd. For more
information, visit
http://www.ethanolmt.org.
October 22-26, 2002
2002 National Conference of State Fleet Administrators in
Mystic, CT. For more information, contact (623) 772-9096.
October 28-30, 2002
2002 New Mexico Environmental Health Conference at the
Historic Sheraton Old Town in Albuquerque, NM. For more
information, visit
www.nmehc.org.
February 17-19, 2003
8th Annual National Ethanol Conference: Policy and
Marketing at the Camelback Inn Marriott Resort in
Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, call BBI
International at (800) 567-6411.
February 27 – March 1, 2003
2003 Commodity Classic at the Charlotte Convention Center
in Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit
www.commodityclassic.com.
June 16-19, 2003
19th Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Trade
Show in
Sioux Falls
Convention Center in Sioux Falls, SD. For more
information, contact the conference presenters at
conferences@bbiethanol.com or visit
www.bbiethanol.com.
CONTACT US. . .
Please feel free to e-mail your story suggestions,
comments, corrections or clarifications to us at
info@e85fuel.com or call us toll free at 877-485-8595.
Phillip J. Lampert, Executive Director
info@e85.com
Michelle Saab, Director of Communications
info@e85.com
Randa Barker, Director of Administration
info@e85.com
You may view this FYI online at
http://www.e85fuel.com/news/index.htm
NEVC promotes the use of 85 percent
ethanol as a renewable form of alternative transportation
fuel while enhancing agricultural profitability, advancing
environmental stewardship and promoting national energy
independence. |
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