But something is different about this car. It is completely run on Ethanol. Yes, that is right, E-100. Not anymore of this E-10 blend that you pay ten cents less and get less fuel efficiency. We know, you are looking at previous posts of ours and thinking, you said earlier you get less efficiency with Ethanol, but here is a quote that The Boston Globe got from SAAB; “One problem with cars fueled by ethanol is that they have a 25 to 35 percent shorter travel range than gas-powered ones, Bergstrom said. Saab and other automakers hope to close that gap by using ethanol in applications with cleaner diesel, hybrid gasoline/electric engines, and turbocharged smaller engines, which develop more power than even some of the V-8s and even V-6s so popular in the United States.” Sweden has the right idea. Why are we not propelling the same initiatives?

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If  the most you know about Ethanol is that you have that option at the pump, we are going to break it down a little for you.  Ethanol is just two words put together; Ethyl and Alcohol, which is the composition of Ethanol.  If you have ever had an alcoholic beverage, you have consumed Ethyl Alcohol.  Ethanol can be made by using either corn or sugarcane.  If you have the desire to learn more about the actual Ethanol, go here and read up on it.  The actual production is rather interesting.

Let’s get to the green side though.

There are two basic production types for Ethanol; Wet Milling and Dry Milling, with the main difference being the initial treatment of the grain.  We could spend all day telling you the difference between the two production cycles, but this post is about the Green side of the Ethanol Production.  So, if you want to see the difference between dry milling and wet milling go HERE where it explains the basics behind the production cycle and they even have a video for those of you like us, who like pictures

One of the major changes is that instead of using natural gas to run the plant, the green Ethanol plants are using methane gas from cattle manure to generate the steam that is needed to produce the Ethanol.  That switch in itself could save up to the equivalent of 1000 barrels of oil a day.

So, while we agreed that, presently, buying E-10 may not save you at the pump when it comes to dollars, it is a way to cut down oil consumption.

Here is a detailed diagram of what an Energy Efficient plant does.

We tend to agree with you.  We also have someone in the Ethanol business, and he suggests that different blends tend to be more efficient.  Somtimes it takes a little tinkering with the blend to find the optimal feul effiency.  This same person that we know has a early 2000 model Acura and he says he got 30 MPG with blending E-30.  Again, your point is well taken, E-30 is not readily available for everyone.  Right at the pump, we can get E-10 and it is ten cents cheaper than regular gasoline.  If you are saying you got 3 mpg more out of your vehical, let’s do the math.   You have a 20 gallon tank.  Let’s take a set rate of $4.oo/gallon for regular and $3.90/gallon for ethanol.  To fill your tank would be $80.00 and $78.00 respectively.  Let us just say you get 18 miles per gallon with regular gasoline and 15 miles per gallon with Ethanol.  So, simple math would tell us you can go 360 miles on regular gas, and 300 miles on Ethanol.  So, basically, for an extra two dollars, you can get an extra 60 miles on your tank.  I would tend to agree with you, that Ethanol or at least E-10 is a bit misleading.    When it comes down to it, that extra ten cents per gallon numerically seems to be worth it.

Thanks again SB, and keep your comments coming.

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