of ethanol articles, I engaged in a substantive discussion with Douglas A. Durante, who is the Executive Director of the, we discussed the origins of the Renewable Fuel Standard , and whether a different approach is needed .
Doug: It’s a technical reality that despite ethanol’s many advantages like octane, it has less BTUs and FFVs will get less mileage. So, it must be priced accordingly. When it is, it works. But ethanol price tracks gasoline and there are certain price points where E85 can’t sell. With $3 gasoline for example, that could be a $0.60/gallon discount.
Robert: If all these things are true, then why would a mandate even be needed? Refiners are interested in making money. They must buy oil just like they could buy ethanol. If you can supply ethanol at a better price , then I think they would be pushing as much ethanol into gasoline as they can. Robert: But there are already far more FFVs on the roads today than there is demand for E85. So the cars are there – at least enough to kick things off. Further, aren’t there blender pumps in many places in the Midwest? I have had plenty of people tell me that they use E30 in their vehicles. You seem to imply that this is illegal. Could you clarify? I am arguing for state-level incentives to make this a bigger market.
Doug: We are legally capped in the legislation at 15 billion gallons of starch-based corn ethanol so we aren’t pushing for higher volumes. I think that is a biodiesel issue which I am not involved in, so you are correct in that sense.