Putting corny ethanol in your tank

by David Grand
May 24, 2006

No, that's not meant as a corny joke. For ethanol, an alcohol-based, alternative fuel is produced from corn. I'd never heard of it  until I watched "60 Minutes,"  which laid our its benefits over gasoline, even if you put a "tiger in your tank." Sorry Exxon.

In addition to being cheaper than gasoline (50 cents a gallon less out West), it'd reduce our reliance on foreign oil, lower the carbon monoxide levels, ozone pollution and greenhouse emissions from exhausts, and provide an income boost for western farmers and rural communities (where most ethanol is produced).

Of course,  the oil companies welcome the prospect of ethanol pumps sprouting up like dandelions in spring at gas stations (most of which they own) as much as the makers of horse-drawn buggies did the arrival of the "horseless carriage," for the"big hurt" it'd be to their sky-high profits. My heart bleeds for 'em.  But only a tiny drop.

Now, I read that people have been fine-tuning the process for producing ethanol for thousands of years, mainly for alcoholic beverages, like the beer in ancient Egypt. (No wonder the pyramids reach to the sky, what with workers so "high" from drinking it all day to cool off, they just kept piling on the stones.)

Back in 1908, Henry Ford suggested running cars on ethanol fuel made from corn, as did the first Model-T.  But it took the oil shortages of the seventies and the environmental problems of the eighties for us to wise-up.

Today, 5 million cars and trucks on the road use "flex-fuel," that can run either on gasoline or E85, a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas. In Brazil, where ethanol is produced from sugarcanes, it's an E95 mix at $0.60 a gallon. In Venezuela, it's $0.12 a gallon, as a benefit to its citizens. (Recently, Bolivia followed Brazil's lead in nationalizing the foreign-owned oil companies.)

The "Big 3" automakers are pressing Congress to make flex-fuel more widely available at the gas stations, with only 685 of the 165,000 of 'em currently offering it, with just one in Maryland. Don't ask me where? 

At the opening of the first one in Pa., the governor announced his plan to require all gas stations to have flex-fuel available to their customers. Hopefully, our next governor and legislature will be so inclined. What a pleasant surprise that'd be.

Meanwhile, to help ease the pain at the pumps, many states are considering trimming or temporarily suspending gas taxes, that adds an average 28 cents to each gallon. And Congress may do likewise with the 18.4 cents federal tax.  If they do, I could set aside more money to pay my ballooning electric bill, and eat out more often.