Ethanol Industry wants all new U.S. cars to be Flex-fuel

The ethanol industry called for requirements that all vehicles sold in the United States accept high blends of the alternative motor fuel as part of a push to slow global warming and provide jobs at home. A low-carbon fuel standard, which would spur use of alternative fuels, more ethanol pumping stations and construction of biofuel pipelines would also help wean the country from gasoline, Growth Energy, the ethanol industry trade group, said in a “biofuels road map” during a renewable energy meeting in Las Vegas on Monday.

“We have excess capital right now that could be invested in our domestic fuels industry like ethanol,” Growth Energy Co-Chair Wesley Clark told reporters in a teleconference from the sidelines of the meeting hosted by Senator Harry Reid. “We have unemployed labor. We would love to put those people to work in the ethanol industry.” Growth Energy said the policy outlined in road map could more than double the number of biofuels jobs to 1.3 million, and that cellulosic is almost 90 percent better for the environment than gasoline.

Most U.S. ethanol is made from corn, but the government has mandated the blending of 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the gasoline pool in 2010. Ahead of that companies are racing to be the first to make commercial amounts of cellulosic at prices competitive with traditional motor fuel. Cars would need special hoses and other minor equipment changes to handle special fuel blends of up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Such so-called Flex-fuel vehicles are common in Brazil, which is heavily dependent on ethanol it makes from sugar cane.

Growth Energy is also fighting to raise the cap on the allowed level of ethanol in regular gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent. The auto industry has warned that burning such a higher blend in older nonflex-fuel cars may not be good for engines and fuel lines and has urged regulators not to approve the higher blends. The Environmental Protection Agency has until Dec. 1 to decide whether to allow higher ethanol blends beyond E10 in regular gasoline.