Ethanol

Ethanol is a renewable, domestic fuel made from various plant materials, called "biomass”, which can include starchy feed stocks (like corn or sugar cane) or cellulosic feed stocks (like perennial grasses, wood, old newspapers, or even municipal waste), though the latter is more challenging to make. This is because these materials must first be broken down into their component sugars for subsequent fermentation to ethanol (biochemical conversion).

Ethanol is extremely compatible with internal combustion engines. In fact, nearly half of U.S. gasoline contains low levels of ethanol to oxygenate the fuel and reduce air pollution. Ethanol is available in a variety of blends with gasoline; low-level blends like E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline), are classified as "substantially similar" to gasoline by the EPA. E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) is becoming increasingly popular and can be used in flex fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are designed to tolerate a high ethanol content as well as gasoline.

There are many benefits to using ethanol, especially E85. Although E85 has about 27% less energy per gallon than gasoline, it is typically priced 10% to 30% less than gasoline, which can offset the loss in fuel economy. Also, E85 is increasing in popularity, and is therefore readily available to the general public. As of 2008, more than 1,600 U.S. fueling stations offered E85 to the more than 7 million FFVs on U.S. roadways, and there are over 60 fuel stations that offer E85 in Ohio alone. Besides a significant reduction of harmful emissions and greenhouse gases, E85 is a renewable, biodegradable, domestic fuel and could displace up to 10% of American gasoline use without affecting food supplies.

Read Clean Fuels Ohio's whitepaper "Doing Biofuels Right" (PDF)» 

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