For Release: July 24, 2007
The Good Word in Houston: Ethanol
HOUSTON – The E85 Days of Summer campaign kicked off in Houston on Tuesday, July 24, as General Motors partnered with other ethanol advocates to promote the fuel’s use and help dispel misconceptions about E85 as an alternative to gasoline.
A forum for media members was held at the Doubletree Hotel Downtown, which was followed by an information session with Houston-area Chevy Dealers.
“We’re trying to make people aware, so we can start building more and more demand for this fuel,” said Bob Babik, director of Vehicle Emissions Issues for GM. “We’re not only looking at renewable fuels as an issue in North America; this is a global issue.”
Babik, along with a representative of the Texas Corn Producers, debunked recent media reports that food costs are rising because of increased demand for ethanol.
In reality, food prices are affected by a number of factors, most unrelated to fuel, and corn prices have actually decreased in recent months in anticipation of the largest U.S. crop since the 1940s.
“We plant fewer acres and produce more corn, and it improves every year,” said David Gibson, executive director of the TCP board of directors, adding that the U.S. will likely register a surplus of a billion bushels of corn this year, which could be used for ethanol production.
The other myth addressed was the assertion that E85 does not help reduce greenhouse emissions because ethanol production requires more energy than gasoline production.
Babik said ethanol has been the subject of 22 lifecycle studies since the 1990s, and of those studies the vast majority show a positive energy balance, only six have claimed a net energy loss from ethanol production. He also added, “it is interesting to note four of those six studies were authored by the same researcher.”
Argonne National Labs, on the other hand, assessed all net energy studies and determined that ethanol has a positive net energy balance and does indeed help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or CO2.
GM’s clear message to Houston and its citizens: Ethanol is a good alternative fuel choice, because it is clean, domestic, renewable and cost-effective. “It is becoming more cost effective as more is being made,” said Babik.
Researchers not only are working on ways to improve the quality of ethanol made from corn, but also are developing better ways to produce the fuel from non-food, cellulosic sources, such as cornstalks and switch grass. There are a half-dozen cellulosic ethanol production facilities currently under construction in the U.S., and the first is expected to be online by 2008..
According to Gibson, Texas ranks 12th in corn production in the Unites States, and four ethanol plants are under construction in the Lone Star State, three of which are scheduled to open next year.
Texas has more Flex Fuel vehicles on the road than any other state, and GM is working with organizations such as TPC, Clean Fuels USA and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, as well as retailers such as Kroger to make E85 pumps more convenient for consumers.
In recent months, Kroger has opened 11 E85 pumps at its fuel stations in the Houston area, which is great news for owners of Flex Fuel vehicles, but more pumps are needed throughout Texas and the U.S. to significantly offset demand for foreign oil and appreciably impact greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.
“We’re willing to make the push to advance E85, and we’re looking for help to build the infrastructure,” Babik said. “As we’re seeing more and more ethanol plants go online, we’re going to see the costs go down. For a long time, people were saying that they couldn’t expend the resources on infrastructure because there were no vehicles to use it. In 2007, we have 14 FlexFuel models, 400,000 a year in production and 2 million already on the road. The excuse that the vehicles are not out there is gone, but people need access to E85, so when you pull up to a pump, you at least have a choice.”
Houston is the first of seven stops on the E85 Days of Summer tour that runs through the end of September. Other Texas markets targeted are San Antonio/Austin and Dallas.
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