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ENERGY FREEDOM AHEAD
By Christopher Bollyn
OMAHA, Nebraska—Like the first automobiles made by Henry Ford in America, the “Indy” cars at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 will be racing around the track at 230 miles per hour on 100 percent ethanol.
From California to New York drivers are filling their tanks with E-10 fuel, which is unleaded gas with 10 percent ethanol. In some states ethanol is used to oxygenate the gas and replace the banned methyl tertiary butyl ether. The ethanol makes the gas burn more efficiently and cleaner.
“It’s good for the environment; good for the balance of trade; good for the American farmer and our rural communities; and it’s significantly lowering our nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” Jeff Broin, CEO of Broin Companies, told American Free Press.
Broin Companies design and build ethanol plants and manage and market the products from 16 plants. The corn mash that is left over from the production of ethanol is sold as high-protein livestock and poultry feed.
There are more than 8,000 private investors in the 16 plants Broin manages. “A very high percentage of them are farmers,” he said, “adding value to their grain.”
From the 700 million gallons ethanol produced every year in these plants, he said, there is a yield of 2 million tons of high protein cattle feed.
“Ethanol is a high performance renewable fuel that is good for the environment and made in America,” Broin said. “Forty billion gallons of ethanol-blended fuel are used in the U.S. per year. Bio-fuels have been and will continue to be an increasing portion of the U.S. fuel supply.”
CLEAN UP YOUR TAIL PIPE
Pure ethanol produces only carbon dioxide and water as emissions, Broin said, and E-10 in your car will clean up your tail pipe emissions 15 to 33 percent.
The non-profit American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) says ethanol production is “extremely energy efficient,” with a positive net energy balance of 125 percent compared to 85 percent for gasoline. This makes ethanol production “by far the most efficient method of producing liquid transportation fuels,” according to ACE.
Seven out of eight major studies have shown that ethanol production yields a net positive energy gain of between 20 and 36 percent.
The Energy Security Act of 2005, passed in late July, contains critical provisions that will double the nation’s use of clean-burning, renewable fuels such as ethanol. By 2012, demand for ethanol and biodiesel fuels in the United States will reach a minimum of 7.5 billion gallons annually through the newly enacted Renewable Fuels Standard.
“This nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard is a significant victory, both for the people who have built the ethanol industry and for the American public who will benefit from a larger supply of homegrown, cost-effective fuel,” said Bob Scott, ACE President. “It is time for this country to take charge of its energy situation, and the production and use of ethanol empowers us to fuel an important portion of our own energy needs.”
BIG SAVINGS
Currently some 550 gas stations in the United States offer an 85 percent ethanol fuel, known as E-85, and the number of outlets is expected to double in the coming year, according to Robert White of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. Where a gallon of unleaded gas costs $2.45 in the Midwest, a gallon of E-85 sells for $1.89.
Four million cars currently on the road in America are “flexible-fuel” vehicles designed to run on E-85, like White’s 320 horsepower Chevrolet Avalanche. Daimler Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Saab all offer “flex fuel” vehicles.
Clearly ethanol production from corn and the more drought resistant sorghum is a growing industry across the Midwest, bringing much needed revitalization to many rural communities. One bushel of corn will produce 2.8 gallons of ethanol. Using corn to make ethanol increases the value of a bushel of corn, making it a winning solution for American farmers.
I traveled from Chicago to Omaha on Amtrak to attend the ACE ethanol conference and trade show and learn about the many benefits of America’s homegrown alternative to imported oil from the Middle East.
As the train rumbled through the Midwest’s endless fields of corn, I read the latest newspaper reports about how the soaring price of gasoline was profiting few while hurting many. Rising oil prices have resulted in bigger profits, year after year, for the oil producers.
ExxonMobil, USA Today reported, earned $7.8 billion in the second quarter, a 35 percent increase over last year’s record profits, while polls show that two-thirds of the American people say the high price of gas will cause them “financial hardship” during the next six months.
“More than a third said the hardship will be serious,” the 48-state AP-AOL News poll conducted in early August reported.
As I watched the nightly news on CNN, I was surprised to hear the talking heads advise viewers not to buy ethanol-blended gasoline because it would reduce their mileage.
As 1,000 people from across the nation attended the ethanol conference at the Qwest Center, The Omaha World Herald’s lead editorial warned readers to avoid ethanol blended gas because it could damage their cars and reduce their mileage.
The anti-ethanol editorial was largely based on a recent article published in Popular Mechanics, which, as American Free Press has revealed, has become a propaganda outlet for the most radical elements in the Bush administration.
A “Fuel Economy Study” comparing performance and cost of ethanol blends and standard unleaded gasoline was commissioned by ACE and the results released on Aug. 17.
The study compared four different ethanol blends, E-10, E- 20, E-30, and E-10 AK, which contained ethanol denatured with isopentane and biodiesel.
The cars used in the test were a 2005 Chevrolet Impala, a 2004 Toyota, and a 2005 Ford Taurus. All three cars got the best mileage using the E-10 AK blend. While the test cars showed slightly reduced mileage using the E-10, 20, and 30 blends, their cost per mile was significantly lower than when they used unleaded gasoline.
“In general,” the study concluded, “the more ethanol used, the lower the cost per mile.”
MILES AND MILES
Paying $20 at the gas pump, drivers can travel up to 15 miles farther on ethanol-blended fuel than on straight unleaded, ACE said in its press release on the study.
“If drivers want to save money at the pump as gas prices reach new record highs, this pilot study confirms that ethanol is the fuel of choice,” Brian Jennings, ACE executive vice president, said. “Using ethanol is like money in your pocket, and you feel good about filling up on this homegrown fuel because it comes from America’s farm fields, not the oil fields of the Middle East.”
“Our dependence on foreign oil will cripple and ultimately destroy this nation,” former Sen. Tom Daschle (DS.D.) said in his speech at the ACE awards banquet.
In South Dakota, Daschle said, every third row of corn now goes to produce ethanol.
“In 10 years we will be producing 15 billion gallons of ethanol,” Daschle said. “America’s corn fields will be our victory gardens.”
(Issue #35, August 29, 2005)
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