The Future of Ethanol

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama called for more research and use of sustainable fuel sources. So what does this mean? In the political world, it could mean anything from drilling more oil wells to discovering transporter technology. However, what do we do in the meantime with the options that we have? Non-ethanol blended fuel is getting harder to find; E-10 and now E-15 are being sold next to each in a growing market. In single hose fuel dispensers, a minimum purchase of 4 gallons of any one blend is recommended to prevent misfueling by diluting what is left in the hose from the previous person.

Fortunately, most of the country is safe from the E-15 blended fuel as it is only in a few states right now. I believe it is the cost of changing pumps and other equipment that is keeping this movement slow. Once it is in your area, should it be used in your car? All I can say is to review the owner’s manual and see what it says. If no, then I would search out gas stations that either do not sell E-15 or at least have multi-hose pumps to prevent fueling with the wrong fuel.

Unfortunately, there are people out there that will not pay attention to this issue until it affects their pocket books. For some though, it may be too late and an extreme amount of damage may have occurred. For most of us that use the wrong fuel in our cars, the biggest issue we will see is the reduction in the distance a tank of gas will take us. Using my car for example, I get about 350 miles per tank. If I were to use E15 blend, I may only get about 320-330 miles per tank. That is almost 1 gallon more gas I will need to go the same distance. Well, that is only around $3.50 per tank but when I put on almost 100 miles per day, this will add up fast.

So what is the solution? There are several. The long solution is to let your congress person know your feelings. What do we want as a nation and how do we get there? The second solution is to watch which fuel you use and make sure that it is good for your car or whatever it is going in. the third solution is to use Ethanol Shield or Engine Energy to prevent issues with ethanol. Ethanol Shield Combustion Cool Technology (CCT) will prevent ethanol issues, corrosion, phase separation, drying, and cracking to name a few. Even if E-15 is used, Ethanol Shield CCT will protect the system. Oxidation caused from sunlight exposure or heat is also prevented by using Ethanol Shield CCT. If the unit is going to be stored for a while, use the new award winning Gasoline Tank Snake to prevent water build-up. When used with Ethanol Shield CCT, the fuel will have the gold standard of fuel protection.