Most of us have heard about the “Hydrogen Highway,” that mythical roadway which, along with bullet trains and bridges to nowhere, may actually get built someday at a staggering expense to the taxpayer (to be fair - we’re as hopeful as anyone the formidable technological barriers to using hydrogen as a transportation fuel are eventually overcome). But meanwhile, as of last week, the first ethanol highway in the United States is open for business - I65, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Corn ethanol is a viable transportation fuel today, not someday, and implementation of this ethanol highway, the first of many, is an exercise in practicality, not pipe dreams.
For 886 miles, from Gary, Indiana, all the way to Mobile, Alabama, drivers of flexfuel vehicles who wish to purchase E85 fuel (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) are now no more than one quarter-tank away from a filling station offering the blend. To make this a reality, a consortium of partners including General Motors, the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, as well as the DOE, Clean Cities, and many others, worked to convert and certify hundreds of retail fuel stations along the entire length of I65. Overall, there are now over 1,800 retail filling stations offering E85 in the USA, just over 1% of the total stations.
The future of ethanol depends on a few key factors: The availability of flexfuel vehicles, the availability of retail outlets that offer E85, and the quantity of E85 available to the consumer. There are about 7.0 million flexfuel vehicles already on the road in the USA, and in many parts of the country - the Midwest in particular - E85 is readily available. Gaining UL certification for ethanol refueling equipment, which should occur early next year, will greatly accelerate the adoption of ethanol pumps at major chains of gasoline retailers. The real wild card is the availability of ethanol.
As specified in the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, the United States has committed to blending up to 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2030. Currently the United States consumes about 130 billion gallons per year of gasoline, meaning - taking into account a somewhat lower energy content per gallon in ethanol vs. gasoline - by 2030 ethanol can replace over 20% of today’s gasoline consumption. Given the potential of electricity and natural gas powered vehicles to also offset gasoline demand, combined with the increasing average fuel economy of the US light vehicle fleet, it is possible these 36 billion gallons of ethanol will actually provide more than 20% of liquid transportation fuels being consumed by 2030.
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EISA 2007 - RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD |
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| Cellulosic ethanol is mandated via EISA to provide nearly 50% of total ethanol production by 2022. In reality, cellulosic ethanol can provide up to about 100 million gallons per year, far more than EISA’s goals. (Source: General Motors) |
With 2008 production of corn ethanol projected to reach nearly 10 billion gallons, and with additional refineries already under construction to produce another 2 billion gallons, it is evident the potential for corn crops to supply ethanol is reaching its limit. Whether or not corn ethanol production reaches 15 billion gallons, or is throttled down to somewhat less than that, the future of ethanol lies in the ability to produce it from cellulosic material. Dozens of companies are hot on the trail of commercializing cellulosic ethanol production - via two primary technologies, biochemical conversion or thermochemical conversion. Two companies at the forefront of this process are Coskata, who have a hybrid process that relies initially on thermochemical conversion of cellulosic feedstock, and Mascoma, who are pioneering a 100% biochemical conversion process.Â
For more information on cellulosic ethanol, read our in-depth report “Cellulosic Ethanol.” We will be covering this extensively in future posts, given the potential of cellulosic ethanol is to deliver quantities of fuel well beyond the 16 billion gallons per year targeted by the U.S. Congress for delivery by 2022. Cellulosic ethanol production, if successfully commercialized, based on known feedstocks, could conceivably reach 100 billion gallons per year - which when considered along with the other ways gasoline is destined to be either replaced or used far more efficiently, is another reason we are on the verge of an age of plenty, not an age of scarcity.
October 15th, 2008 at 2:03 am
[...] EcoWorld - Editor’s Commentary – [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 10:15 am
A note to the author- while hydrogen may be a mythical cure like ethanol I would suggest that the existence of high-speed rail in many other countries reveals that the barriers are not technological but political.
Also you never see mention of the costs of producing ethanol. A number of analyses have suggested that corn ethanol is no better carbon wise than natural gas. Is this being considered or are we just accepting ethanol as a cure with no critical analysis?
October 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Willie - for those of us concerned about CO2 emissions, there are some lifecycle analyses that render the carbon profile of corn ethanol quite close to that of natural gas. The major variables are the nature and origin of the fertilizer inputs, other inputs, as well as the distance from field to refiner to retailer. In areas not requiring irrigation or imported petrochemical fertilizers, where the refiner and retailer are within a reasonable radius, I doubt natural gas can beat corn ethanol.
November 7th, 2008 at 10:51 am
This is a great post! I agree that ethanol should be part of an energy independence plan. If you’d like to follow coverage of the ethanol industry in the United States, check out Toni Nuernberg’s blog Ethanol Conversations (http://www.ethanolconversations.org/). Let us know what you think.
Thanks!
Joanna Schroeder
EPIC Communications Director
June 27th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Our economy is sinking fast because it is based on an antiquated system of financial exploitation and war. We do not have free markets and we do not have fair competition in the markets. Corporations are money making machines whose sole purpose is to feed off of our socialized infrastructure while destroying the environment. Developing alternative approach’s to making our own energy at home is our greatest hope to reversing this trend.
Right now gasoline cost around $3:00 per gallon at the pump and another $2.50 per gallon in subsidizes to the oil companies. So every time we drive our automobiles we are really spending over $5 a gallon. If we all had to pay over $5 a gallon for gasoline at the pump, things would change very quickly.
On top of that you need to add in the cost of the 850 military bases we have scattered
around the globe who’s primarily purpose is to protect the profits of transnational
corporations. To be fair also need to add in the cost of cleaning up global warming and
other types of ground and air pollution from using gasoline. And finally we need to figure in the cost of the war in Iraq. That makes the real cost of taking your kids to soccer another $10.00 per gallon paid for from subsidized deficit spending that our kids and grandkids will have to pay back with interest, pay back in inflation and in some cases pay back with their lives. I am the curator of the Crosses of Lafayette Afghanistan and Iraq War Memorial so I meet many veterans and Gold Star Parents who have lost their friends and family in our endless war for oil.
This is how corporations manipulate our laws and legal system to privatize their profits and socialize their losses. Corporations have no soul but they are afforded the same legal rights as individuals who just happen to live forever.
Remember all of those futuristic science fiction movies about machines that
take over the world and destroy mankind. Well guess what, we are there. Clearly the alternative is for all of us to invest in sustainable infrastructure. An
investment in sustainable infrastructure means an investment that pays us
back over and over and over.
Applying the principals of permaculture to agriculture, energy and the economy is our only hope for creating a sustainable infrastructure.
Take the example of sewage. We all have it, nobody likes it, so what do we do with it? It turns out that cattails love sewage. In fact cattails love sewage so much that
when you run sewage through a field of cattails, the end result is clean
water.
Not only that but cattails can produce 7,500 gals of ethanol fuel per acre.
It would only take 1.5% of our marginal farm land to produce enough ethanol
to power all of our transportation needs in the United States.
If we all installed flex fuel devises in our automobiles and started using
ethanol instead of gasoline, air pollution would be reduced by 98%. Our car
engines would last three times longer so we would not have to go into debt
buying a hybrid from a foreign country. CO2 emissions would be cut in half. And for every pound of co2 that goes into the atmosphere from using ethanol ( liquid solar energy ) 2 ½ times that much co2 is sequestered by the roots and stalks of plants that are recycled into organic compost and top soil. Another vital resource corporations are quickly depleting.
The hang up is that the department of energy estimates that switching to ethanol would create 26 million new jobs that can not be exported overseas. That means no obscene profits for the CEOs of transnational corporations. War profiteers don’t like that because there are no terrorist who are going to attack fields of cattails fertilized with
sewage.
Another potential source of ethanol fuel is kelp. Off the California coast
line we could grow enough kelp to power 1/3rd of the cars, trucks and
bus’s in the entire United States. I also doubt terrorist would want to invade our coastlines full of kelp.
Many areas of the ocean no longer support fish and plant life due to the high level of nitrogen in the run off from factory farms. Kelp or kombu can grow up to 18” per day when fertilized with waste nitrogen. This approach would restore the oceans and bring them back to life by increasing the level of oxygen in the water..
We need to use the science of permaculture to terra form the earth in a way that restores the natural environment, produce local renewable energy and feed the world. This will also have the effect of redistributing the wealth by creating jobs for the maximum number of average folks. Otherwise we will become a prison planet where democracy is a thing of the past. The first step is to stop buying $500 billion dollars of oil from dictators in the Middle East and South America who hate us.
Several weeks ago the governor of California was in a press conference advocating for a new gismo called the E100 Micro-fuelers as one of many solutions to our states energy problems. The E100 makes it possible for socially concerned citizens to make their own ethanol at home for around $1 a gallon assuming they can purchase industrial grade sugar for 3 cents a pound or use waste wine and beer.
What Arnold forgot to mention that it is against the law to buy and install a flex fuel converter in California because back in the 80s when lots of people started using natural gas in automobiles some of the flex fuel devices did not work very well. So the gas lobbies made it illegal to install flex fuel devices in California even though they are presently being installed all over the United States.
The California EPA says it will take a long time for them to change the rules about flex fuel devices. Meaning they don’t give a damn because cleaning up the environment is not their main gig.
I am involved in a 7 billion dollar law suit against the EPA because they will not let our company recycle the minerals out of the acid mine drainage that is flowing coming out of the aquifers of Iron Mountain Mines near Redding California.
Many of the minerals that can be recycled on Iron Mountain are being imported from China. Many of the minerals could be used to make solar panels and advanced electric car batteries. Many of the minerals could be used as a catalyst to convert cellulosic materials such as lawn clippings, waste paper and wood chips into ethanol.
Instead of recycling the minerals the EPA has hired AIG to turn the acid mine drainage into high density sludge that they plan to store behind a huge dam at the top of Iron Mountain for the next 3000 years! Another Tennessee style EPA disaster in the making.
The only way we are going to stop big money corporations from owning our legislators and destroying our jobs and environment is to make an end run around their evil plans to dominate us all. Switching to ethanol is the best way I can think of to create a positive change on all levels. It is something we can all participate in and for a very little investment compared to the alternatives.
Jeff Heaton of Lafayette California.