Alt fuels was Re: [AT] Gasoline $

Al Walker alwalker at gvtel.com
Wed Aug 10 20:28:14 PDT 2005


Len Rugen wrote:

> My son has a 2-wheel drive Ford Ranger with the 3.0 liter FFV that can 
> burn anything from 15% gas / 85% Ethanol to regular.  I noticed this 
> morning that E85 was 20 - 25 cents less than regular here.  We have a 
> fuel chain with some farm interest (MFA) that sells E10 at the same 
> price as regular. Almost anything would burn up to 20% Ethanol, E20 
> (never seen it however) without modification.
>
> He says that the reduced MPG is just shy of offsetting the lower cost 
> of E85 in his Ranger.  

I believe the state of Minnesota has required E10 fuel for several years 
now. My vehicles and tractors and small engines run fine. I also believe 
that the MN legislature passes a law requiring fuel to change to E20 in 
the near future.  There are a fair number of gas stations adding E85 
pumps as many vehicle manufacturers produce units designed to use it.  
If the lower price offsets the reduced mileage AND the money stays in 
this country, that sounds like a win-win situation to me. Isn't the gov 
paying out billions of dollars to idle millions of acres of farm land?  
An alternative fuel, that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is corn. 
Economics may not have favored alternative fuels in the past, but with 
$4 or $5 per gallon of our present fuels, we may need to make some 
adaptations.  That statement of modification also applies to the methods 
of production for our agricultural endeavors as well. I think we may 
just have to WANT to do it bad enough. (Can we do it? Yes, we can)
Al in NW Minnesota



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