Hawks Are Out Again: Mistakenly Casting Doubt on Ethanol
The Hawks are out again. One of my favorite service organizations, the American Automobile Association (AAA), in conjunction with media outlets, has again attacked the use of ethanol in cars. It’s quite sad.
I will still keep my membership card. The AAA is the Walmart, Costco or Nordstrom of the automobile industry when it comes to service at relatively low costs to its members. If you get a flat tire on a sparsely traveled road when it’s raining or snowing, the AAA, following the Postal Service norm, “come rain or snow,” will get there reasonably quickly to help you. Get stuck in your four story garage with a dead battery! Don’t fret or fear, your neighborhood AAA repair truck will be at your side within a relatively short time. It,generally, will “get you to your work on time.” Do I sound like Julie Andrews or the cast in “My Fair Lady?”
While I don’t lose sleep over the question (I only get two hours of sleep even without thinking about the AAA), I often wonder why the AAA appears to join with those, particularly in the oil industry, who seem to want to confuse flex fuel vehicle owners and owners of older cars able to convert their engines easily and cheaply, about the wisdom of using ethanol.
Conversion of older cars and extended use of already approved flex fuel cars as well as increased use of ethanol by both sets of vehicles will result in many benefits, particularly when compared to gasoline. For example, ethanol according to many, many independent studies by qualified researchers is a safer, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly fuel than gasoline. While what is and what is not a fact often becomes a metaphysical question and 100% certainty becomes a question often for philosophers more than scientists, trust me — ethanol is a good but is not a perfect alternative fuel. It is better than gasoline. Right now a perfect fuel does not exist! Remember that the enemy of the present good is often the distant perfect.
Despite AAA’s press releases, EPA studies involving more rigorous methodology, including strategic sampling of a range of cars, indicate that engine damage is almost a nonoccurrence when using E15. E10 has been around for a long time with no discernable engine impact and E85, after extensive testing, has been approved for flex fuel cars.
Understandably, ethanol, given improvements in new car engines and tighter fuel standards, reflects fewer benefits than shown in relatively recent studies concerning ghg emissions, and pollutants like SOx and NOx. But ethanol still provides significantly more environmental benefits and less costs to the consumer now than gasoline.
The differences between ethanol and gasoline will become even more apparent if you assume that Americans use their God-given noggin and opt to convert their older cars to accept alternative fuels. It’s cheap and safe and can be done with a kit, or with quick software or tuning fix for some cars. Similarly, there are nearly 15,000,000 flex fuel cars in the U.S. Most owners do not know they have such a car. Look at the sticker in the back of the car or fuel cap. You probably are the proud owner of a flex fuel vehicle and, once you recognize this fact, you can use ethanol without risk. Using ethanol, both for flex fuel cars and converted older vehicles will likely lower your gasoline costs and will contribute to a healthier environment. Tell your neighbors! Tell your friends! Tell your significant other! Tell your spouse!
Clearly, you will see the environmental benefits to your community, state and nation, if you abandon the conventional way of measuring emissions and pollutant reductions and use tons. The new graphic will portray a visible and important increase in the actual emissions and pollutants eliminated from the atmosphere. It also will emphasize the importance of extending the number of vehicles that can use ethanol through conversion of older cars to flex fuel vehicles and the production of increased numbers of flex fuel vehicles. If the owners of both sets of cars increasingly fuel their vehicles with mostly ethanol (an objective of a number of demonstrations and pilot programs in several states), the President’s desire to wean the nation off of gasoline will come closer to fruition. The scale up will provide a transition approach to open fuel markets until competitive renewable fuels become ready for prime market time.
