Alternative Fuel: Ethanol
A Brief History of Ethanol, E85 & Why Our Cars Don't Yet Run on Corn
The impact of the Energy Tax Act, the fuel crisis and how this corn-based fuel rose to popularity. But the increase in demand means that alternative fuels are also costly
Ethanol might not cure all of our pollution ills caused by fossil fuels, nor with the current rise in corn prices will ethanol be cheaper than petroleum based fuels. Ethanol first entered the marketplace as a biological fuel due to an act of Congress in 1978. In Brazil 50% of all the vehicles on the road are capable of being run on the substitute fuel.
Government Efforts to Encourage Ethanol Use
The Carter Administration saw the first fuel crisis of the United States. During the late 1970s it became obvious that America needed to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Tax Act of 1978 provided an exemption of .04 cents a gallon on the federal excise tax for gasoline mixtures that included at least 10% ethanol content. Congress would increase the exemption as additional laws to promote the use of ethanol were passed. Congress raised the exemption to .05 per gallon in 1982 and .06 per gallon in the year 1986, which saw both the Chernobyl and Challenger disasters. During the early 90s and the Clinton administration, incentives to use ethanol continued, but the Congress reduced the tax exemption from .06 cents per gallon to .054 cents per gallon.
The 1990s saw the first governmental acknowledgment that cleaner burning fuels reduces air pollution. The Clean Air Amendments required cleaner burning fuels and the act targeted the nation's largest cities. MBTE or Ethanol became the feul additive of choice, until MBE was banned because it polluted waterways.
E-85 Vehicles and the High Price of Corn
The first flex-vehicles became available in 1997. Flex Vehicles can run on either gasoline or an 85% ethanol fuel mix known as E-85. The early flex-vehicles failed when first introduce because not enough gasoline stations carried the ethyl alcohol E-85 fuel mixture.
The increased demand for ethanol may have sent corn prices soaring, affecting developing countries in Central and South America where corn is a major part of the diet. Ethanol is not that much less expensive than a gallon of gas at the present. Congress hopes to bring 36 million more gallons per year of the substance into the United States in the next fifteen years. The figure is over ten times current ethanol consumption in the US.
Sources:
"Key Ethanol Moments." Bill Lambrecht. August 1, 2007. St. Loius Post-Dsipatch. St. Loius, MO
