Ethanol: " the potential benefits are staggering" [View All]

[JohnWxy]

http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/environment/news_issues/speeches/lowery_011706.html


In Europe, the Saab 9-5 Biopower is Sweden’s best-selling environmentally friendly vehicle, and accounts for 80 percent of all 9-5 sales there. What’s more, it was also recently named to Popular Science magazine’s “Best of What’s New” list.

In addition to the obvious benefit of a renewable fuel, performance of the vehicle is actually enhanced. For example, the Saab Biopower gets 180 horsepower while running on E85, compared to 150 on gasoline.

Turning back to the U.S., we need to expand the infrastructure, because the potential benefits are staggering.

That’s why, at General Motors, we are partnering with government and fuel providers – anyone who shares our common interest on ethanol. For example, at the LA Auto Show we announced a partnership with the State of California, Chevron and Pacific Ethanol to study the feasibility of making E85 more widely available in the State of California. The State is considering the purchase of 50-100 E85 General Motors cars and trucks to place them in their fleet. Chevron will work with Pacific Ethanol to provide the fuel.

Worldwide production of ethanol has risen steadily — and dramatically — in the last 25 years, as this chart shows.

It’s expected to triple between now and 2020, and the sooner this country gets the infrastructure in place, the sooner we can put more of these vehicles on the road in huge volume. Don’t get me wrong, our high volume products such as Chevrolet Silverado and Impala and GMC Sierra, to name a few, are E85 capable. However, as an industry, there are more opportunities when it comes to E85.

If market conditions supported unconstrained ethanol supply and infrastructure … we could save 45 million barrels of oil annually, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6.9 million metric tons per year.

Right now, ethanol represents just 2.5 percent of our fuel supply, but is predicted by some to increase tenfold in the next 10 or 15 years.

Such an amount could help offset future growth in oil demand, act as a hedge to future oil supply and price shocks, and help diversify our transportation energy supply.