The following are questions we have received from our site visitors. Click on a question below to read its answer. You may also want to check out the FAQ pages for Consumers , the Auto Service/Repair Community and the Petroleum Industry.
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Yes. The fuel meets the same standards which have been met by the regular, mid-grade, and premium unleaded fuels previously available in Hawaii. It's widely used across the U.S.; in 2005, over 40% of the gasoline in the U.S. contained up to 10% ethanol! What does your owner's manual say? You can look up warranty statements on the E10unleaded.com website.
Your car is a "classic" or "vintage" car? See the article on "Changes in Gasoline and the Classic Auto" for information on how gasoline has changed over the years; or, see the "Automotive Service Industry" section of new-fuel.com.
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How much the consumer is expected to save, if anything, depends on the assumptions used in the calculations. Unfortunately we don't have a way to predict the price of oil or gasoline. We can use current numbers to illustrate how the inputs and taxes might contribute to the final price of a gallon of fuel, with and without ethanol.
There is no guarantee that all, or any, potential savings will be passed through to the consumer. There is also no way to accurately predict the price of oil, gasoline, or ethanol.
The table below shows results of the comparison, using data for April, 2007.
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There have been many studies on the net energy balance of corn-to-ethanol since then, by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and others which have concluded that the efficiency of both corn cultivation and ethanol production have increased. There appears to be general consensus that in the U.S., with current technology, the net energy balance of ethanol from corn is positive.
Another twist to the corn-to-ethanol discussion is about what type of energy goes into the process. Ethanol displaces petroleum, but much of the energy that goes into the corn-to-ethanol process is NOT petroleum, it's coal or natural gas, so "better" from an energy security point of view, at least on the national level.
There are several major studies on question of energy balance of corn to ethanol. There are not quite as many studies on the energy balance of sugarcane to ethanol.
Starting from 28 years ago...
In 1979, the American Petroleum Institute (API) did a study on the energy balance of ethanol, and concluded that it took more energy to make a gallon of ethanol from corn (kernels) than was contained in the final gallon of fuel ethanol. Or, you could say that the “net energy balance” of ethanol from corn was negative. According to the report, "traditional (corn to ethanol) technology" used 2.2 Btu (British thermal units) of energy for every Btu produced. "Energy efficient (corn to ethanol) technology" used 1.2 Btu for every Btu produced.
The same 1979 API study said that ethanol from sugarcane was six times more efficient, and showed a net energy POSITIVE of 3 to 1 - sugarcane to ethanol used only 0.33 Btu of energy for every Btu produced.
The ethanol production facilities planned in the near term for Hawaii are sugarcane-to-ethanol (and electricity, displacing diesel fuel for electricity generation on the neighbor islands).
There have been many more studies on the net energy balance of corn-to-ethanol since then, by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, etc. and basically, the efficiency of corn cultivation has increased and the efficiency of ethanol production has increased. Another consideration in the corn-to-ethanol discussion is about what type of energy goes into the process. Ethanol displaces petroleum, but much of the energy that goes into the corn-to-ethanol process is NOT petroleum, it's coal or natural gas, so "better," if the objective is to displace petroleum.
Related links:
Argonne National Laboratory (GREET model):
http://www.transportation.anl.gov/software/GREET/greet_gold_standard.html
Presentation on the GREET model:
http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/RENEW/Biomass/docs/FORUM/NCGA_Ethanol_Meeting_050823.ppt
U.S. Department of Agriculture:
U.S. Department of Energy:
Where the "8:1" energy balance number sometimes quoted as the energy balance for "sugarcane-to-ethanol in Brazil" may have come from: http://climate.wri.org/pubs_pdf.cfm?PubID=4087
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Since this fuel formulation is so common throughout the United States, there is a wealth of information available regarding E-10 Unleaded. Here are some examples:
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