Ethanol. Right. Now.

Americans back to spending $1 billion a day on gasoline

One billion dollars a day is an astronomical figure -- and it's the amount Americans are spending every single day to gas up their vehicles.  Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, told the New York Times recently ("High Gas Prices Could Slow Recovery") that in January, consumers were spending about $600 million per day on fuel for their vehicles, but now that figure is back up to around $1 billion per day.  The article says, "The national jump in prices, far larger than the normal seasonal increase, is pulling billions of dollars from the pockets of drivers. It threatens to curtail a modest recovery in consumer spending on items like apparel and electronics."

Oil and gasoline prices are on the way back up, and this underscores the importance of having a cost-effective alternative like ethanol.  For example, the Nebraska Ethanol Board recently did an analysis that showed Nebraska drivers have already saved more than $4.5 million this year by choosing E10 at the pump.  And, they say, if all the fuel sold in the state in the past five years was E85, Nebraskans would have saved $2.6 billion. 

Let's not spend $1 billion a day on a non-renewable, often imported fuel.  Ethanol is a cost-effective, homegrown alternative that can keep money circulating in our nation's economy and give it the boost that it needs.  The EPA allowing up to 15 percent ethanol per gallon would be a good start.

President Obama: First generation biofuels must remain viable

In a letter this week to the Governors' Biofuels Coalition, President Barack Obama stated his support for ethanol, calling advanced renewable transportation fuels one of the nation's most important industries for the 21st century.

"Combined with improved energy efficiency, biofuels are the primary near-term option for insulating consumers against future oil price shocks and for lowering the transportation sector's carbon footprint," the President wrote.  "The direct consumer benefit has been well documented and producing and using more biofuels today means an immediate reduction in oil imports in addition to an immediate increase in domestic employment."

He writes that his Administration is committed to commercializing emerging cellulosic technologies, but that cellulosic ethanol will only become reality if today's corn-based ethanol remains viable.

"But this transition will be successful only if the first-generation biofuels industry remains viable in the near-term, and if we remove long-standing artificial barriers to market expansion necessary for large volumes of advanced renewable fuels to find a place in America's transportation fuels system," the President said.

The entire letter can be read here: http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/POTUS_letter_to_GBC_52709.pdf

New quarterly profits record: $14.83 billion for Exxon

ExxonMobil has announced a third quarter profit of $14.83 billion, another new record.  This is up from their second quarter profit of $11.68 billion, and up from last year's third quarter profit of $9.41 billion.  The company said its total revenue for the quarter was $137.7 billion, surpassing analysts' predictions by more than $6 billion.

Posted by KB, 11/6/08

Savings at the pump from ethanol will top $1 billion this year -- billion with a "b"

With a gallon of ethanol selling for about a dollar less than a gallon of gasoline today, the savings for American consumers are really going to add up this year - to more than $1 billion, to be exact. 

About 70% of America's gasoline contains some ethanol right now.  If every gallon of America's gasoline contained 10% ethanol, the national savings would increase to around $1.6 billion annually.  If every gallon was E15, the national savings would grow to $2.2 billion.

These numbers reflect the positive blending economics of ethanol at the pump, not to mention all the dollars staying in America instead of being shipped overseas to purchase oil or gas.  For family budgets and for America's budget, ethanol is a win-win.

Posted by KB, 10/16/08

USDA-DOE affirm mid-range ethanol blends

 

Big news for ethanol today out of USDA-DOE as the agencies' "National Biofuels Action Plan" says that mid-range ethanol blends like E12, E15, and E20 "represent a critical pathway" to meet the President's Twenty in Ten goal (reducing petroleum-based gasoline usage by 20% over the next 10 years).

It's true -- ethanol is here today and making an important contribution as a homegrown, clean, and cost-effective alternative to oil.  Moving beyond E10 to mid-range blends such as E12, E15, or E20 only accelerates the benefits to American motorists and the nation's economy.

 

We encourage the federal government to move forward aggressively with any additional testing needed for the approval of mid-range blends of ethanol in gasoline.

 

Read the USDA-DOE National Biofuels Action Plan here: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/nbap.pdf

 

Posted by BJ, 10/7/08

Why fill the refinery shortage with more gasoline imports?

With today’s announcement by the energy department that 5% of the nation’s refining capacity is still shut down as a result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and with gas stations around the Southeast running out of fuel, maybe the governors of those states should consider another readily available, less expensive replacement for that missing 5% -- ethanol.

 

Ethanol production continues to increase while the rest of the energy industry struggles to find fuel, and the national average cost for ethanol is a dollar less than gasoline ($1.22 with the tax credit, to be exact).  At 10%, that would save motorists 12 cents, at E15 it would save 18 cents, and E20 would save almost a quarter a gallon.  Not to mention the effect it would have on gas prices, as demand for gas drops while the refiners get their plants up and running again.

 

Unfortunately, current law doesn’t allow us to put whatever fuel we want in cars that we own, so we have to ask permission to use more ethanol.  Gas pumps are tested at 15% ethanol, so we know they will work, and studies show no short-term effects from using a few percent more ethanol (Brazil uses 25% ethanol every day of the year).  Wouldn’t this be a great time to let ethanol help refiners and consumers out of a tough spot?