The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council helped the American LeMans Series kick off the 56th running of the Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring this weekend with a pump promotion offering E10 for $2.56. A total of 2566 gallons of the fuel were sold at the local Gate Petroleum station in Sebring, Florida. Several race car drivers were on hand …
Snowmobiles Running on Green Fuels
This year has been an exceptionally snowy one for much of the U.S., and some students in Michigan are making use of all the snow… while learning about the benefits of biofuels. The SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is going on now through Saturday at Michigan Technological University’s Keweenaw Research Center at Houghton County Memorial Airport. The Daily Mining Gazette reports …
Karsner Promotes Domestic Fuel
I finally had the chance today to sit down and listen to the entire speech Assistant Energy Secretary Andy Karsner made at the National Ethanol Conference last month. He is quite the orator and he definitely got the crowd all fired up. If you can find 40 minutes to listen to it all, it is well worth the time. But, …
VeraSun and Enterprise Promote E85
Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy today announced the first “VE85™/FlexFuel” rental branch location in South Dakota. The Sioux Falls location is the newest Enterprise branch to receive the E85/FlexFuel designation as part of a nationwide effort to promote the expanded availability and use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Enterprise will commit to fueling …
Ethanol Baby
There were lots of babies at the 2008 Commodity Classic but this one really caught our attention. Her name is Danica – after Indy race car driver Danica Patrick – and her little onesie featured the IRL logo on the front and on back it said the “Smell of Ethanol.” How cute is that! Her parents were letting her pose …
California Working on Biofuel Access
While California leads the nation in alternative fuel stations, pumps offering E85 ethanol and biodiesel are still extremely rare. In fact, this Los Angeles Times story posted on Checkbiotech.org says that out of the 835 alternative fuel stations, 379 offer electricity, 215 pump liquefied petroleum gas, and 174 dispense compressed natural gas… with just a handful offering biodiesel or E85. …
Canadians Bemoan the Lack of Availability of Biofuels
Canadians seem to be willing to use ethanol and biodiesel… if they can get the green fuels. This story in the Vancouver Sun says there are only TWO E85 ethanol pumps in the country, and biodiesel seems to be available mostly just for farmers and large fleets. But some groups are trying to change that: The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association …
Blender Pumps Now Available
Fuel pump supplier Gilbarco has introduced the industry’s first alternative fuel blending dispensers. Designed to blend ethanol or biodiesel with standard fuels, the new 3+1 and 3+0 blenders have Weights & Measures approvals. The alternative fuel blenders are part of the Gilbarco® Encore® S product line, which includes the industry’s most comprehensive selection of dispensers for alternative fuels. The Ethanol …
E85 Pump Openings Grow Slower
The number of E85 stations nationwide only grew by 35 percent last year, compared to 118 percent the previous year. Still, an increase of more than a third is pretty decent growth and the total number of stations as of the end of 2007 was 1420, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. That number has already increased this year …
Racing Fever
Chomping at the bit for the 2008 Indy racing season to get underway? You’re not the only one. A fellow photog that covers the Indy Racing League sent me this all too appropriate IndyCard. I think it’s safe to say that the smell of burning ethanol has quickly evolved into one of the distinct smells of Indy races. That and …