Published: October 10, 2008 10:36 am            

Biofuel: strides made, work still needed

Officials discuss progress, challenges at Jeffersonville forum

The costs associated with dispensing ethanol are still high. Demand, while growing, is still relatively low. And the infrastructure that would facilitate motorists’ switch to biofuel is still out of reach for many.

Those were among the conclusions delivered Thursday by U.S., state and business officials during a biofuels conference in Jeffersonville.

Despite some of the problems, the usage and market for the plant-based fuel is growing through the efforts of those entities.

The poster child is Interstate 65.

Three years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation set out to make Interstate 65 — from Indiana to Alabama — the United States first biofuels corridor.

At the end of 2005, there were no E-85 pumps in Indiana, explained Cary Aubry, who works in the state’s Office of Energy and Defense.

E-85 is a fuel blend that contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. It can only be used in specially designed flex-fuel vehicles.

A year later, there were 57 pumps. Now, there are 125 pumps, making Indiana third in the nation in the number of those pumps.

“Education is starting to come around. Everybody is starting to understand what this product is,” Aubry said.

The growth has been facilitated by a U.S. grant program that helps fuel retailers outfit their stations with E-85 pumps, said Mike Scarpino, Regional Clean Cities Project Manager, with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Nationwide, there are 1,500 E-85 pumps — many of which are in the Midwest. The project to facilitate that switch was largely related to concerns about the amount of foreign oil being consumed by U.S. drivers.

Americans were upset about the $700 billion that was authorized last week to bailout Wall Street, Scarpino said.

“We don’t even think about the $400 billion we send overseas year after year [on oil].”

One of the early adopters of the program was Thortons Gas and Petroleum. Though, the adoption has not been with out its problems.

Installing E-85 dispensers became a very expensive proposition for the company. And the decision to even bother with it became tougher as questions about the efficiency, viability and marketability of ethanol became a topic of debate.

“If you don’t have any of that information, it’s very difficult to decide to spend tens of thousands on equipment that may not be used,” said Jeff Gallic, vice president of petroleum supply and distribution for the Louisville-based company.

Gallic said the grant program — along with increasing fuel prices — makes it a much easier decision. The company is continuing with the expansion by recently installing new E-85 pumps in the Louisville area.

However, there is no silver-bullet solution for the reduction of gasoline usage, said Brian Hazen, biofuels program manager at General Motors Corp. Its usage is a part of a multipronged approach for the automaker that also includes hybrids, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell.

In the short term, “we see biofuels offering the greatest opportunity to displace a serious amount of petroleum,” he said.

In order for it to take off, however, availability of the fuel will have to increase.



GLOSSARY

• Ethanol — An alcohol-based alternative fuel made from corn or other crops.

• E-85 — A fuel blend that contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. It can only be used in specially designed flex-fuel vehicles.

• Flex-fuel vehicle — A vehicle specially designed to run on any ethanol blend up to 85 percent ethanol. Special on-board diagnostics read the fuel blend, enabling drivers to fuel with E85 or gasoline in any combination. The computer adjusts the vehicle’s fuel injection and ignition timing to compensate for the different fuel mixtures.

— Indiana Department of Agriculture



LOCAL E-85 PUMPS

• Makowski Oil, 1626 Fabricon Blvd., Jeffersonville

        

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