For Release: September 13, 2007
MIAMI - General Motors (GM), CleanFUEL Distribution and the City of Miami discussed the availability and potential of E85 ethanol fuel in South Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 12, and shared some sobering statistics during a panel discussion moderated by Florida International University (FIU).
Current ethanol usage in the United States is approximately three percent of the total 140 billion gallons of gasoline usage per year. Saudi Arabia has the highest proven oil reserves; yet, the remaining life of Saudi oil reserves is approximately 60 years.
“We better start looking to extend our oil reserves and fuel diversification is our answer,” George Philippidis, associate director of FIU’s Applied Research Center said. “At FIU, we are studying policy development and ethanol markets and we’re testing the infrastructure in our fully-equipped labs to demonstrate technology capabilities.”
During the panel discussion, General Motors announced the opening of the first South Florida E85 ethanol station at U-Gas on Sept. 13. The availability of E85 ethanol was previously nonexistent to the more than 11,000 drivers of GM FlexFuel vehicles in the Miami-area.
“More than 160,000 barrels of oil can be saved in the Miami-area if all 11,000 drivers of GM FlexFuel vehicles used E85 ethanol,” said Mary Beth Stanek, director of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy for GM.
City officials, General Motors and FIU discussed the benefits of having ethanol available to South Florida residents. “For South Florida, ethanol means improved air quality, better use of natural resources and the ability for economic development in the form of investment and employment opportunities, agricultural expansion, rural revitalization and in exporting to Latin America,” Philippidis said.
“Miami is a very important market for GM. It is one of our largest registered areas. We have great sales and wonderful dealers so it’s important that there is a lot of choice in the Miami market,” Stanek said.
In the US, GM has 2 million E85-capable vehicles on the road and is committed to having FlexFuel vehicles account for 50 percent of its annual volume by 2012. For the 2007 model year, GM offers 14 E85-capable vehicle models. The vehicles are equipped with a yellow fuel cap that indicates the vehicle can be fueled with any combination of traditional gasoline or E85 fuel.
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