Not that long ago, a lot of gas station owners thought having ethanol in your gasoline was the "cool" thing to do (examples here and here, and there are now over 1,900 E85 stations in the US). One gas station in Albany, NY, though, is advertising its gasoline as "ethanol-free." Why? Bob Haines, who works at the Rhaodes' Service Center, told the local Fox staion that it's because, "Small engines can't cope with ethanol." It's winter time and some gasoline-powered snow blowers get can be damaged by the ethanol in some gasoline. The small percent of humidity that the ethanol absorbs is enough to damage some small engines, as we've heard before. While most car engines are computer-operated and can manage the E10 situation, small and simple engines can't.

The "100% Ethanol Free" gas is appealing even to people who don't operate small engines. Some local motorists are driving the extra mile to fill up with the straight gasoline. Haines himself belongs to the anti-ethanol side, and said, "Come up with something better, boys, because this is not the way to go."

[Source: Fox 23]

Afghanistan is a tricky place for outside powers. Beginning 800 years ago, outside forces have invaded, occupied and in other ways tried to influence the land and people there. Today, American and NATO military forces still fight the Taliban in an increasingly-worsening war. Australia also has troops in the country, and the Canberra Times thinks that focusing on biofuels is one way to reduce the Taliban's power. The basic idea: convince farmers who are currently growing poppy, which is made into opium/heroin and is controlled by the Taliban, to switch to growing biofuel crops. This would benefit the environment by reducing the amount of diesel fuel needed locally, and also reduce the Taliban's income stream. There is no way the Canberra Times' idea would work as well as they describe it - there are many reasons the region has been in a civil war for decaded - but shifting fields from drugs to biofuel can't hurt.

[Source: Canberra Times]

Next week at the Detroit Auto Show Cadillac will be taking the wraps off an all-new version of the SRX crossover. The SRX is getting smaller and moving to a new platform that is mix of the Epsilon II car platform and the Theta CUV. For 2010, the SRX will have two engines available, a 300 hp turbocharged 2.8L V6 based on the Saab Turbo-x engine and a new 3.0L direct injected V6. Both engines are part of GM's high-feature V6 family along with the 3.6L that's used in a wide variety of GM vehicles.

Contrary to some reports, the 3.0L SRX will not be a flex-fuel vehicle when it launches this summer. The spec sheet that was published by GM lists the engine as E85 capable. However, this is an error based on copy data over from the standard specs for the engine. GM Powertrain spokesman Tom Read confirmed to ABG that the engine has probably been engineered to be compatible with E85 with items such as high flow fuel injectors and corrosion resistant fuel lines. Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell confirmed that the SRX will run only at gasoline at launch and there are no current planst to make it flex-fuel capable. The only flex-fuel Cadillac currently available is the Escalade. For the full details on the SRX, head on over to Autoblog.


[Source: GM, Domestic Fuel]

For the engineering crew at Lotus, building transportation devices that are not sports cars is nothing new. Back in the early 90s they put their knowledge of lightweight materials and aerodynamics together to create a race bicycle that tore up the velodrome at the Olympics, not to mention wild soap box racers. The latest project is a three ski snow speeder that will be used in an Antarctic expedition next November to raise awareness of climate change. The Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV) is powered by a two cylinder BMW bike engine converted to E85 operation and turning a propeller that pushes the vehicle across the ice and snow at up to 84 mph. The CIV will be used to scout for crevasses in the ice. When the voids are found the GPS coordinates will be sent back to the rest of the team to warn them before anyone falls in.

[Source: Wired]

Looking back on 2008, it seems that the biggest stories that shaped the automotive landscape had more to do with gas prices and economic conditions than the vehicles themselves. Regardless, there are quite a few new technologies that are just starting to make waves, and many of them are intended to reduce the world's use of petroleum and the resultant emissions. Proof positive can be seen in Motor Trend's list of the "Top Ten Tech Treasures" of 2008. For instance, the first two bits of technology praised by MT are the cellulosic ethanol processes being used by Coskata and Mascoma, while the third has to do with finding a suitable non-food crop for said ethanol. Ethanol not your style? Try methanol, which manages to hold down spots 4 and 5 in one form or another. There's five more entries on the list, and we don't want to spoil them for you, so we'll just mention that all but one have something to do with saving fuel or cutting emissions.

[Source: Motor Trend]

Want to prove that ponies like ethanol? Give Oklahoma corn farmer Brent Hajek a call. He helped get a FR500C Ford Mustang running on E85 up to 252.78 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats is Utah back in September. The record-setting drive (well, almost. It still needs to be duplicated to make the books) handily beat the previous record of 246 mph. The Mustang used a 5.4L Ford GT block, heads and various performance parts from Ford Racing, but that sort of support was not a given. NewsOK reports that there was little enthusiasm for the Mustang record attempt until Hajek suggested using the corn-based fuel. Once the biofuel was part of the plan, they [Ford] were hooked."

There's a video of the event -rocking guitar soundtrack and all - after the jump. For more alt-fuel Mustangs, check out these biodiesel and electric versions.

[Source: NewsOK via Domestic Fuel]

The Queen is going green. Not surprisingly, the head of the Royal Family doesn't drive herself, relying instead on Bentley to provide a couple of £10 million limos complete with drivers. Must be nice, huh? The two luxury machines maintained for the Queen will be converted to run on biofuels, which we assume means ethanol. As of this moment, each machine is powered by a 6.75L twin-turbo V8 engine that makes 400 horsepower, though we're not sure if these engines will be converted or replaced. This move coincides nicely with Bentley's stated goal of emitting no more than 120g/km of CO₂ per vehicle on a well-to-wheels basis by 2012.

The Royal Family is said to be very eco-conscious and is actually surprisingly well-versed in biofuels, with Prince Charles having already converted his Aston Martin to run on alcohol fuel and his Range Rover and Jaguars to biodiesel. Biofuel Bentleys are better than petrol-burning Bentleys, we suppose, but just switching to something smaller would have a much greater effect.

[Source: Daily Mail]

Japan currently imports half a billion liters of ethanol per year, and about 380 million of those come from Brazil. The Brazilian energy giant Petrobras thinks that this business can be expanded, so besides a refinery that it has just bought in Okinawa, the company is planning to open ethanol fuel stations in Japan and hopes that it will sell a substantial part of the 12 billion liters of ethanol that are expected to be sold in Japan in 2019. Petrobas already operates in Japan thanks to a joint venture created two years ago with Nippon Alcohol Hanbai KK. The Brazilian giant expects to use Japan as a starting point for further operations in the Asian continent.

[Source: Efe via Econoticias]

We've heard that ethanol is the worst kind of renewable energy. Is it a good idea to use it in hydrogen fuel cells? Over at the University of New Mexico, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Plamen Atanassov (pictured) is trying to figure out the answer to that question by starting an ethanol/hydrogen fuel cell research team. The Department of Energy is funding the program with an annual grant of $750,000 for up to six years through EPSCoR.

The basic concept is to see if ethanol can be reformed to make hydrogen, which will then turn around and be used in a fuel cell. If successful, the next stage will be to see if direct electrochemical oxidation of the ethanol can be achieved. While we're at least slightly interested to see if this could one day be used to power a car, Atanassov has got even bigger smaller dreams. He's talking about cell phones powered by an ethanol fuel cell. Wow.

[Source: UNM via Domestic Fuel]

Ethanol may be the worst type of renewable energy, but that won't stop the industry from attempting to participate in the new bailout culture of the United States. A story in the Wall Street Journal says that the industry's lobbying group, the Renewable Fuels Association, is asking for a $1 billion short-term credit line as well as $50 billion in loan guarantees. What would all this money be for? The one million is to keep the doors open and the $50 billion is "to finance expansion." Another little request from the industry: let us put more than 10 percent ethanol into your standard gasoline at the pump. The WSJ gives the short and recent history of ethanol, which should be familiar to most readers, and includes lines about how "the ethanol industry wouldn't even exist without the more than $25 billion in taxpayer handouts over the past 20 years." So, are you ready to keep on funding ethanol in the US?

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

If you're the Ned Flanders type who just loves to get your taxes done early, we've got the post for you. The IRS has prepared a document on the changes to the tax code that biodiesel and cellulosic biofuel producers need to be aware of. If you know that ASTM D 6751 biodiesel standard was revised, but don't know what the revision means for you, then you should download the paper (PDF).

As for cellulosic biofuels, some producers can get an income tax credit if the fuel meets the requirements of section 211 of the Clean Air Act. This credit applies to fuels made after Dec. 31 (next week) and sold before the end of 2012.

[Source: IRS via Domestic Fuel]

In spite of all the promotion from General Motors of E85 as an alternative fuel, the reality for most people has been that is simply doesn't make sense from an economic perspective. As the West Lafayette, Indiana police department found out last summer, the numbers didn't add up. There is of course the issue of fuel consumption. Due to its lower energy content, a normally aspirated flex-fuel engine gets about 10-20 percent worse fuel efficiency on E85 than on gasoline. Much of this differential can actually be made up with an engine optimized for E85, particularly if it's turbocharged, but most current engines don't fall into this category.

The West Lafayette Police also had to go to the one station in the area that offered up E85, meaning they wasted time and fuel driving out of their way to get ethanol. Even with the $1 per gallon difference between E85 and gas, there just weren't any savings to be had. Now that gasoline is substantially cheaper than it was last summer, the problem is even worse. Until we have flex-fuel vehicles optimized for ethanol and greater biofuel availability, it simply won't make a lot of sense. Then there is the whole issue of well-to-wheel emissions, but that's another story.

[Source: JC Online]

Usually when we here about E. Coli, it's in the context of people getting sick after eating tainted food. Now a modified version of the bacteria could be part of the solution to getting beyond fossil fuels. UCLA scientist James Liao and the rest of his team have created a genetically modified version of the bacteria that consumes organic materials and produces alcohols with longer carbon chains. One of the reasons that ethanol gets relatively poor fuel economy compared to gasoline is that each ethanol molecule has only two carbon atoms, as opposed to the hydrocarbon molecules in gasoline which typically have seven or eight carbon atoms.

Butanol, which has four carbon atoms, has been seen as a better solution than ethanol. However, the E. Coli developed by Liao and his colleagues is capable of producing pentanol which has five carbon atoms. Having longer chain alcohols would reduce fuel consumption and allow them to be used in automotive and jet engines with little or no modification.

The modified E. Coli could also be used for producing polymers and drugs. Polymers would be important because the widespread use of plastics requires a lot of petroleum.

[Source: CBS2.com]

Two items of note from the incoming President. First, the Jerusalem Post has a minor hint that Barack Obama's transition team has got their collective eye on the work of Better Place. The paper writes that the new administration "may be adopting it," according to Better Place chairman Idan Ofer. What that means, exactly, is not sure, but we've put in an email to Better Place to try and find out.

On the liquid fuel side of the green car equation, we have news that President-elect Obama has selected Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa and a strong supporter of ethanol and higher CAFE standards, to lead the USDA. Over at Democracy Now! there is a look at Vilsack's past while the AP looks at what the future might hold with him at the helm of the USDA.

Previously on ABG:

• Anti-coal biofuel researcher will become Obama's Secretary of Energy

[Source: Jerusalem Post, Democracy Now!, AP]

Maybe it's good that the US will not meet its self-imposed ethanol mandate for 2022. According to a new study by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, ethanol - whether derived from corn or cellulose - is the worst form of renewable energy. Ethanol's numbers were put to the test against "solar-photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology." The energy types were rated on their ability to power "new-technology vehicles" (plug-ins, flex-fuel ICEs and fuel cell vehicles). Ethanol lost. Big.

The study, called "Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security," (read it here) found that wind-powered battery electric vehicles and wind-powered hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the cleanest ways to drive. The big problem, naturally, is that it's awfully expensive to drive a wind-powered BEV today. Still, the study is already having an effect. The Kansas City Star has already said that, "It's time to ban all federal subsidies for this wasteful taxpayer investment in Midwest farmers and this inefficient use of corn to power vehicles across America."

[Source: Renewable Energy World, Kansas City Star]