By Dean Seyffer



My neighbour, Paul, is getting cranky again.

It’s winter 2009 and the price of petrol has been climbing up again. It’s deja-vous –   remember last winter…?

In August 08, Paul complained to me about the price of petrol – who can forget when it reached $1.69 per litre? Paul complained to me about the petrol giants. He complained about the steady, creeping, insidious climb of petrol prices all winter – that they had just gone up, and up, and up…before we knew it, petrol cost a staggering $1.69 /litre.

I felt sorry for Paul. He’s a family man who works hard at his job. He’s only human: he's tired of the price of petrol ever tightening his family’s budget.

“In June, it cost me $70 to fill up my 60 litre tank. Now it costs me $100. That’s an extra $120 /month just for my car, " he continued. "My wife’s car is filled once a fortnight. So together, she and I paid about $180 more for petrol in August, compared with June!! Isn’t it crazy?!!”

Paul waited for my reply -- waited for me to agree that it was bad for me too.

But it wasn't.

You see, my wife and I had flex fuel conversion kits installed in our cars, back in April 2008. We’d been fueling up on e85 ethanol fuel for 4 months by then, and its price hadn’t changed: it was just $1 / litre. E85 didn’t climb up and up like the petrol prices did. I did the quick math: for an equivalent 60 litres, we were paying roughly 40% less for our fuel, than Paul and Diane were.

So, as gently as I could, I told Paul about e85’s steady price, and explained that a flex fuel kit is a very affordable, one-off expense. I told him that our kits had already ‘paid for themselves’ – within those first 4 months of savings.

Paul didn’t want to find out more: he changed the subject….



That was in winter 08.

It’s now winter 09, and I’m watching the petrol prices climb up all over again. Will they reach $1.69 a litre again? Who knows? But what I do know is that e85 has held steady, throughout these 14 months since, at just $1 / litre…

I’m planning my family’s next holiday. I wonder what Paul’s doing. Diane told me that they haven’t switched to e85 yet. And Paul’s been looking pretty cranky again…

Australian cars could soon be using fuel made from garbage, including plastic and bottles old tyres, to power their vehicals, an alternative fuel expert says.

Anything that included carbon could provide the basis of ethanol, an alternative fuel with the potential to cut the world's reliance on petrol and slash greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Bolsen of Coskata said

"Motorists want to have the choice of using a fuel that is cheaper than conventional petrol, is good for the environment and that provides local jobs," Mr Bolsen said.

His comments came as he met on Monday with Holden officials in Australia.

The local car company has formed an alliance with Coskata after announcing plans to produce Commodores capable of running on E85 ethanol fuel from 2010.

Mr Bolsen said Coskata was seeking to rapidly commercialise ethanol as an alternative to petrol with the potential to replace up to 30 per cent of current petrol consumption.

Holden's energy and environment director Richard Marshall said Holden wanted to develop the use of other alternative fuels, including LPG and compressed natural gas.

But he said the company believed ethanol had the biggest potential to displace a significant amount of petrol in the near term.

"It's renewable and can be produced in volume from plants grown virtually everywhere in the world," he said.

"But you can also produce ethanol from plant fibre and even waste and the processes to achieve this have improved dramatically over the past decade."

Mr Marshall said the technology to have cars run efficiently on ethanol was already well developed, while more work was needed to increase the production and availability of the fuel itself.

But he said the biggest problem was gaining public acceptance.

"To have people driving in and choosing the E85 pump, that's really the test," he said.

Mr Marshall said Holden believed there was no single solution to the emerging problem of producing sustainable transport.

But he said E85 fuel was an important component of the company's strategy and a key to its future success.

Now with the start of this years Clipsal 500 underway in Adelaide we are hearing back from the race teams about the V8 Supercars' switch to environmentally friendly fuel. The word is this change has made virtually no difference to performance, power or handling, according to the sport's leading drivers.

The switch to ethanol - made from Australian sugar cane - means cars will use an estimated 25 per cent more fuel in races and will be able to complete less laps without pit stops.

But officials claim that comes with a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions because the fuel burns more cleanly than unleaded petrol.

Drivers said using ethanol had had no significant impact on car speed or driveability.

"I was a little bit sceptical ... but the only two differences are the smell of the fuel and the engine has a bit more banging between gear cuts, meaning our side of it hasn't really changed a lot," Ford driver Craig Lowndes said.
The V8s are debuting a cleaner, greener petrol using 85 per cent ethanol - called E85 - at the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide this weekend.

"I had to ask again whether this was E85 or standard fuel - you could not pick it at all," Holden driver Garth Tander said.

"The car actually ran signficantly cooler the first day we ran it - in excess of 30 per cent cooler."

Lap speeds during qualifying for the Clipsal 500 on Friday were similar to those clocked in previous years.
Ford star Jamie Whincup's pole-winning lap around the Adelaide street circuit was less than five-tenths of a second slower than his qualifying lap record from 2008.

The company which supplies the ethanol to the V8 series, CSR, is hoping to use the sport to promote the fuel's use in everyday vehicles.

CSR claims new research shows E85 fuel halves greenhouse gas emissions from the V8s.

The E85 fuel which will be used in the V8 series is not yet widely available in Australia.

But E10 - a 10 per cent ethanol blend which usually retails for cheaper than unleaded petrol - is available in more than 1,300 service stations nationwide and can be used in many cars without any engine alteration.

TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes looked more than ready to take on the competition and defend the team’s outstanding 2008 results ahead of the much anticipated season opener, Adelaide’s Clipsal 500, during a pit-stop challenge with fans in Rundle Mall today.

The duo took on Port Adelaide Football Club players and TeamVodafone fans in a fast-paced pit stop challenge that saw several teams perform a complete tyre change against the stopwatch.

``We always look forward to the Pit Stop Challenge,’’ Whincup said. ``It’s great to spend some time with fans before our first race meeting.

``Vodafone puts on a terrific event here each year, today was no exception. It was fun to take on the Power players and get our competitive mindset going ahead of the weekend.

Last week the pair had an intensive two-day testing schedule at their home circuit which showed they were well-prepared to kickstart their 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series campaign on the streets of Adelaide this week.
Crew and drivers toiled from dawn until dusk last Wednesday and Thursday, rolling their brand new racecars onto Queensland Raceway for the first time.

The sessions were spent learning the characteristics of the evolved body design which promotes greater front grip, working with new engines and bedding new and improved parts.

Added challenges included testing the efficiency of the new category standard E85 fuel, plus a softer compound tyre.

In total, five V8 Supercars from the Triple Eight Race Engineering stable hit the track, built in house during a hectic off-season.

A crowded track and intermittent rainy weather on Wednesday hampered progress, but the team was satisfied with the gains it made across the course of Thursday.

This performance was reflected in the results of its customer cars, regularly topping the time charts and rarely outside the top 6 positions.

Defending champion Jamie Whincup said he was satisfied with the progress made at the conclusion of the two-day test.

``As it was its first time on track, the car had a few small problems on Wednesday but we managed to iron them out across the course of the day,’’ said Whincup.

``Thursday was much more productive – we had a drier track and had a much better direction to take the setup in, which resulted in significant gains.

``We were able to work on a solid qualifying setup and are quietly confident heading into Clipsal this week.’’
Whincup won the popular season opener on debut with the team in 2006, and scored a second victory in 2008.
Teammate Craig Lowndes took a number of positives from the test at Queensland Raceway, including the opportunity to run a full race simulation.

``The test was all about bedding in the cars for Clipsal,’’ said Lowndes. We learnt a lot about the characteristics of the car on track and how it will run on the new E85 blend of fuel. Despite being slightly interrupted by rain I did a full-blown 250 kilometre race simulation with pitstops and the car ran faultlessly.

``This gave us a really good idea on how it will respond on tyres at the differing stages of wear.

``Along with testing the cars we were also able test the pitcrew in a number of race situations which will be valuable come race day.’’

The Clipsal 500 is the opening event of the 14-round V8 Supercar Championship Series, and features 2 x 250km legs across Saturday and Sunday.

Whincup clean swept both legs in 2008, kickstarting a dominant season in which he won six rounds, including a third consecutive Bathurst 1000 title with Lowndes.

Volkswagen  may have been the first automaker to introduce a flex-fuel car, the Gol Total Flex, in Brazil in March 2003 but the pioneer company was slow to expand the technology to other vehicles in its range while General Motors  launched a full selection.

Now, VW is fighting back with flex-fuel versions of the Polo range (hatchback and the uniquely Brazilian-made sedan).

Adding the Polo means Volkswagen now offers flex-fuel versions of five Brazilian-made car lines, the same number that GM offers with engines that run on petrol, alcohol or a blend of the two.

The new version, named Polo Total Flex, has a 1.6-litre, eight-valve engine whose power output varies between 101hp and 103hp depending on the fuel used.

Volkswagen also offers flex-fuel versions of the Gol, the Gol-based Saveiro compact pick-up and Parati station wagon and the Fox.

Fiat, Ford  and Renault  also sell flex-fuel engine cars in Brazil and PSA  brands Peugeot and Citroen plan to do likewise soon.

A prominent Saudi scholar warned youths studying abroad that they could be committing a sin by using ethanol or other automobile fuel that contains alcohol, the Saudi newspaper Shams reported.

Sheikh Mohamed al-Najimi, a member of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, based his position on a proclamation by the prophet that prohibits all kinds of dealings with alcohol including buying, selling, carrying, serving, drinking, and manufacturing. Saudi and Muslim youth studying abroad would be violating Muslim law if they used biofuel, since it “is basically made up of alcohol,” he said.

Biofuel is produced by growing plants that are high in sugar (sugar cane, sugar beet) or high in starch (maize), which are then converted into cellular energy by using yeast fermentation to produce ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, which is also found in alcoholic beverages.

“Alcohol” is actually a word of Arabic origin, and Muslim chemists are generally credited with developing the art of distillation. Not all Moslems completely  oppose the use of alcohol, but the Saudi version of Islam, know in the West as Wahabism, is particularly severe.

What may make the situation difficult for the unfortunate Saudi students studying abroad is that most gasoline sold in the United States contains about 10% ethanol.

Majimi stressed that his statement was only his personal opinion, not an official fatwa, and that this important issue needs to be discussed by the relevant religious bodies.

From mid this year, Saab’s entire Australian line-up will be compatible with the ethanol-heavy E85 fuel, making Saab the first automaker in this country to fully embrace the largely plant-derived fuel additive.

The Swedish manufacturer will also be extending its pollution-reducing two-stage turbocharging system across its diesel offerings, adding yet another string to Saab’s eco-friendly bow. The E85-compatible engines will fall under Saab’s BioPower range, with a 2.0 litre turbocharged four-cylinder spearheading the line-up. Thanks to the higher octane rating of ethanol, Saab’s BioPower engine generates 147kW and 300Nm, 18kW and 35Nm more than a comparable engine running on regular ol’ petrol.

Granted, E85 isn’t exactly widely available across the country, but the performance benefits are hard to ignore. There are also environmental bonuses, as the vegetable matter used to create the ethanol in E85 absorbs carbon dioxide during its lifetime; the result being a fuel that has less than half the overall co2 emissions of petrol.

The 9-3 Aero TTiD is one of the first models to receive Saab’s 1.9TTiD two-stage turbodiesel powerplant, and it punches out a respectable 132kW and 400Nm from its 1.9 litre engine. It’s available in both manual and automatic flavour, and it drinks just 5.7 litres of diesel per 100km when fitted with the manual ‘box.

The new E85 engines will be available across the 9-3 and 9-5 model lines, while the two-stage turbodiesel donk is currently only available in the 9-3 for the time being.

 The Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), US, has unveiled the results of two studies this week that confirm ethanol can grow substantially without affecting the food or feed sectors' supply of corn and that the carbon footprint of ethanol is less than that of gasoline.

The studies' authors, Ross Korves, economic policy analyst at ProExporter Network, and Dr Steffen Mueller, principal research economist at the University of Illinois' Chicago's Energy Resources Center, joined the ICGA at a press conference in Chicago.

"The conclusions of these two scientific studies are historic," said Rob Elliott, vice president of the ICGA.

"Amid the long and sometimes heated debate between ethanol proponents and detractors, these studies indicate that modern ethanol plants have a superior carbon footprint and net energy benefit when compared to gasoline refineries.

"And, the Korves study provides compelling data that ethanol production can grow substantially at no risk to food supplies."

Mueller's study looked at the global warming and land use impact of corn ethanol produced at the Illinois River Energy ethanol plant – which is a modern, natural gas fueled facility - on a full life-cycle basis.

"We found conclusively that the global warming impact of the modern ethanol plant is 40pc lower than that of gasoline.

This is a sizable reduction from numbers currently being used by public agencies and in the public debate," Mueller said.

"The study also documents the significant net energy benefits of ethanol when compared to gasoline.

And, additional opportunities exist to expand that margin even more through technological improvements and on farm changes in corn production that reduce green house gas emissions."

A second study, Meeting US Energy Needs 2016–2030, authored by Korves, examined the technology revolution that could see the average corn yield per acre increase from the 155 bushels today to 289 bushels in the next 20 years.

Korves found that with current technology there would be enough corn to increase production of ethanol to 33 billion gallons by 2030 while still meeting increased future demand of corn for exports and livestock feed.

The two studies were done for the Illinois Corn Growers Association and can be viewed at http://www.ilcorn.org

Jefferson City, MO - The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC), the nation’s primary advocate of the use of E85 and high level blends of ethanol in flexible fuel vehicles, is pleased to announce that the number of E85 stations has now exceeded 1,800. There are currently 1,802 private and public refueling stations across the U.S. The number of facilities have grown 28 percent since October 2007.

“It’s exciting to see E85 stations grow so rapidly within the past year,” noted Executive Director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, Phil Lampert. “From providing technical support on-site, through our internet materials, or over the phone, the NEVC has in one way or another been involved with the establishment of every one of these facilities! From the humble total of 50 E85 stations in 2001, we believe that E85 represents the ‘only’ significant growth opportunity in the field of liquid fuels.”

Currently, the states with the highest number of E85 sites are: Minnesota with 357, Illinois with 188 and Missouri with 112. Unfortunately, seven states do not offer E85 including: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Alaska and Hawaii.

Lampert added, “Fuel retailers have many incentives to add this clean, renewable product to their facilities. The spike in E85 fueling facilities is a direct reflection of the Federal income tax credit that the NEVC and our partners worked hard to implement in 2005. Additionally, the provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 that allowed franchise operators to install E85 fueling sites are two of the most significant Federal actions that have been implemented to address the growth of E85 fueling nationally. We are hopeful that future federal actions will appropriate at least a part of the $200 million that was authorized in EISA to assist with continuing to expand the E85 fueling infrastructure.”

The public can fuel at 1,693 of the 1,802 stations nationwide. The nation’s most comprehensive and complete listing of E85 sites can be found at http://www.E85Refueling.com. A growth chart of E85 refueling locations from 2001 to the present can be found by clicking here.

Presently in Australia we only have a small hand full of Petrol Stations selling E85, hopefully there will be a change soon. Make sure that you join our mailing list and we will keep you informed about the progress of E85 petrol stations in Australia.

The 2009 HUMMER H2 will be the first HUMMER to utilize GM's E85 FlexPower, with the H3 following later in 2009. The new H2 will be able to run on E85 ethanol, standard gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels. E85 is a cleaner-burning, higher-octane fuel that can help reduce dependency on oil, but may not necessarily achieve the same fuel economy as regular gas.

The ethanol in E85 is an alcohol that can be distilled from a number of sources, including sugar cane, corn, biomass, and waste materials. With increases in the cost of food supplies, there has been increased emphasis on using ethanol sources that do not affect the prices of third-world food commodities.

GM is a leader in developing E85 ethanol made from waste wood collected as part of forest wildfire prevention programs. Waste wood would otherwise be burned and does not affect food prices compared with corn. In the United States, more than 3 million of the 7 million flexible-fuel vehicles on the road are GM cars and trucks.

In addition to the HUMMER H3 becoming E85-capable later in 2009, a four-cylinder turbodiesel engine also is being developed for it.

Source: General Motors