e15
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With flex-fuel cars that can run on E85 ethanol still a minority of the vehicles on sale, you might think ethanol isn't as important as some other future fuels. But up to 10 percent of every gallon of gasoline you buy today is ethanol, and that proportion may rise to as much as 15 percent if gas stations migrate to so-called blender pumps. Congress has mandated increasing volumes of ethanol in the U.S. fuel mix, though some analysts say the rules simply can't be met. So what exactly are the benefits--and the problems--of using ethanol as a vehicle fuel, in whatever proportion? Click the links...
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OK, E15 Gasoline Is Now Approved; Do You Need To Care?You felt the earth shake a week ago today when the EPA formally approved the sale of E15 gasoline, right? Oh, you didn't? Not surprising, really. No gas station in the U.S. sells E15 today, and it looks like it may be a while before any given driver sees the stuff showing up as one of several...
John Voelcker -
DoE Fights Back On E15-Hurts-Your-Car Study
The Department of Energy has hit out at the recent Coordinating Research Council study into damage caused by using E15 gasoline. In its rebuttal, the DoE points out several flaws in the CRC's study, and says the Council failed to establish a proper control group to determine the statistical...
Antony Ingram -
E15 Ethanol Fuel Can Damage Engines, New Automaker Study Says
A new study released today by the Coordinating Research Council says that E15 gasoline, which contains 15 percent ethanol, could damage the engines of certain high-volume car and truck models. The two-year study was conducted on eight different engines from the 2001 through 2009 model years, with a...
John Voelcker -
U.S. Now Uses More Corn For Ethanol Than Anything Else
You call it "corn", we call it "fuel" -- at least in the United States. Recent statistics show that, for the first time in history, America is using more corn to fill gas tanks than to fill the bellies of either humans or livestock. Corn in history For Americans, corn has long been tied to our...
Richard Read -
Relax: E15 Gasoline Won't Arrive For A Year Or More, GAO Says
E15 gasoline has been much in the news lately, but all the hullabaloo may have been a bit premature. The U.S. Government Accounting Office, better known as The Gummint's in-house auditor, says that E15 won't appear at the pumps until sometime next year. Just because the EPA has allowed the sale of...
John Voelcker -
Ah, ethanol, that most political of alternative fuels. Farmers love it, deficit hawks hate it, automakers want it for flex-fuel CAFE credits but nowhere else, and environmentalists only want it if it doesn't suck up food supplies, use too much water, or worsen the carbon balance. Yesterday, EPA officials came out swinging against a hale of criticism from carmakers and Senators over the impending arrival of E15 gasoline. What IS "science-based"? The director of the agency's office of transportation and air quality, Margo Oge, stressed the EPA's extensive research into any potential impacts of...
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E15 Gas Warning Label Coming Soon To Pumps Near You, Maybe
They're not pretty, but they should catch your attention. Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its design for a warning label to be placed on so-called pumps that dispense the new gasoline blend, which contains a higher ethanol content. Although the legal status of E15 gasoline may...
John Voelcker -
U.S. Senate Votes To End Ethanol Subsidies; They'll Continue Anyhow
The once-unthinkable actually happened last Thursday: The U.S. Senate voted 73-27 to abolish a 45-cents-per-gallon subsidy to the U.S. ethanol industry. Immediately. Because the amendment to end ethanol credits is attached to a stalled economic development bill, however, it will have little...
John Voelcker -
Ethanol Wars: Farm Senators Want More E85 Flex-Fuel Cars By 2016
Let's be real: How many of you out there have ever driven a single mile on E85 ethanol fuel? Very, very, very few of you, most likely. The fuel composed of 85 percent ethanol blended with 15 percent gasoline is available only in a handful of Midwestern states. Yet a bill now under consideration by...
John Voelcker -
Pay Attention This Summer When You Gas Up: It Might Be E15
While the legal status of E15 gasoline is in doubt, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with plans for it to roll out before this summer's driving season. That means that drivers will have to pay attention to the labels on their gas pumps, making sure that E15 is only used for...
John Voelcker -
House Vote Blocks Gas With E15 Ethanol; Will Senate Follow?
The latest episode in the long-running drama over whether U.S. drivers will be offered gasoline with more ethanol in it came very early Saturday morning. The House of Representatives adopted an amendment to a continuing resolution on Federal spending through September 30 that would bar the U.S...
John Voelcker -
Following its October approval of E15 gasoline for 2007 or newer cars, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to announce today that it will expand the approval to cars from the 2001 through 2006 model year as well. E15 contains 15 percent ethanol, half again as high as the legal maximum today of 10 percent in E10 gasoline. Automakers sue to block You're not likely to see E15 showing up immediately at your neighborhood gas station, though. In December, a group including every major automaker selling cars in the U.S. launched a lawsuit asking that the first approval be overturned...
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Automakers Sue To Stop E15 Gasoline Over Fears It Harms Cars
Every major automaker selling cars in the U.S. has signed onto a lawsuit filed Monday aimed at halting the rollout of E15 gasoline, which has a higher proportion of ethanol (15 percent) than today's E10 gasoline. The companies cite fears that the greater concentration of ethanol will damage engines...
John Voelcker -
U.S. Gasoline Usage Peaked In 2006, Will Plummet In Future
Even if you may not have heard of the Peak Oil theory, everyone knows that we'll continue to use more and more gasoline in years to come. Right? Well, errrrr, no. Maybe not. At least, that's the conclusion of both industry analysts and the oil companies themselves. The peak year for U.S. gasoline...
John Voelcker -
EPA OKs More Ethanol In Gasoline, Only For 2007 Or Newer Cars
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency approved raising the proportion of ethanol in pump gasoline from 10 percent (E10) to as much as 15 percent (E15). It would be the first increase in ethanol percentage since 1978, when the 10-percent blend was approved. Roughly 70 percent of U.S...
John Voelcker -
More Ethanol In Gasoline: 'Minimal Risk' To Old Cars, Study Says
We've written before about just how worried automakers are at proposals by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to increase the ethanol content of pump gasoline from 10 to 12 or even 15 percent. They fear it will damage older cars whose engines and fuel systems were never designed to handle...
John Voelcker
