Recently the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) celebrated its 25th Annual Ethanol Conference. One of the things ACE knew 25 years ago was that they needed to work with the people who distributed fuel. Ron Lamberty, Senior Vice President and guru of market development, was one of those retailers with whom ACE worked. Twelve years later, Lamberty’s “gig” became full time.

During some remarks he gave before a question and answer session, Lamberty noted that what the industry has to do is what is right for retailers because they are the ones who eventually will make ethanol successful.

“A program that we used to do and are heading back to now is called “Do the Math”. We’d go to petroleum shows and we’d try to explain to them the octane value, the blending value and the price value of E10,” Lamberty reminisced. “Interestingly enough we’re kind of back in that same realm with E15.”

ACE has been and continues to educate mechanics and station owners about ethanol. Today ACE has plans to expand the effort. They also continue to work with the BYO program that helps station owners install pumps to sell ethanol.

Lamberty believes that E15 is going to be a good driver for the ethanol industry. “It’s going to be something that convinces petroleum marketers to spend the money on the pump because the math works for them. We have to be able to show that this is a value proposition for retailers.” And it is he says.

As oil companies sell their stations, the number of single station owners is increasing. Lamberty said these are the type of owners who like ethanol because it helps their business. They make more money and its something they can sell that they’re competitors are not selling. As a result, ACE continues to reach out to these station owners to educate them about ethanol.

In closing, Lamberty reminded everyone that ethanol is the right thing to do. “We’re going to continue to work to find more people to sell more ethanol.”

To listen to Ron Lamberty’s full remarks, click here: Do The Math