Thursday, May 17, 2012

Back from vacation - gasohol

So. After 2 and one half years.... let's try this again.

Here's the simple part, that you may already well know:
-Gasoline that is 10% ethanol will decrease your gas mileage by 3-4% (EPA study)
-Purchasing higher octane gas will have zero effect your gas mileage (this information seems to be so common knowledge that the source isn't cited)

I think I'm behind the curve in learning these two items. And here's the 3rd part you may or may not know:
-Not all states require gas to be labeled as E10  (and E15 has been approved by the EPA..for use in passenger vehicles from 2001 or newer).

Here's the list: http://www.fuel-testers.com/state_guide_ethanol_laws.html
My fine state does not require the content of my gasoline to be labeled.

Ethanol has historically been cheaper to produce than gasoline, mostly because corn is cheaper than crude oil.

The result then, is that E10 should provide the consumer with more consistent gas prices (or some company with more money), though we won't get quite as mileage out of that tank. As a bonus, ethanol does burn cleaner so E10 will help fight global warmings (and yes, it burns more than 10% cleaner... thank you for asking).

However, the lesson that I've learned is that I've been ripped off every time I've put in 91 E10 because it was the same price as 89... I won't be doing that again.

-Not much of a blogging I know... but hey, I'm rusty.

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