Ethanol push from big US three
Newswheel staff :: 19 May 2006 :: Filed under Chrysler, Ford, GM,
[Click on an image to view]
GM, Ford and Chrysler face up to the Feds on fuel
Tom LaSorda, Rick Wagoner, and Bill Ford – head honchos of Chrysler, GM and Ford, respectively – have been up on Capitol Hill for a pow-wow with America’s law makers. The main aim of this unholy alliance? To place pots of ethanol fuel under the noses of legislators. Is corn-based fuel the answer to America’s (and by implication, Europe’s) fuel dependence and security problems?
We’ll leave it to Bill Ford to sum up the argument in favour of ethanol in the voguish sports vernacular of modern day big business:
"If we want a game changer, and a game changer in very short term and in big numbers, then ethanol is a very good play for this country."
The detail plan put forward yesterday calls for renewable fuels to secure 25 per cent of the market for transportation energy sources by 2025. More immediate measures could include price incentives for ethanol and increasing the availability of ethanol at US fuel stations to around 20 to 30 per cent. Currently, it’s estimated that only 685 of America’s 165,000 fueling stations offer ethanol.
Without doubt, Ethanol-based fuels are an intriguing option if you’re a petrol head with a fetish for internal combustion engines. And where America treads, we Brits and Euros usually follow. But as Newswheel discovered back in October, while ethanol may offer a modicum of insulation from the fluctuations of the international oil markets, from an environmental viewpoint it’s far from clear that ethanol is greener on balance than the usual fossil fuels.
Linkage:
AP News
E85: Fuel fantasy or real deal? (internal)
Posted 17 January 2007, by 29z8ry5lFN
Hi! Very nice site! Thanks you very much! TsP1fc36IHOVTf