By Ashley Robinson
Expanded availability and use of E15 will benefit farmers, consumers and the environment, says Kim Reddin, director of development for the Colorado Corn Administration.
On March 12, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced its approval of a change in fuel requirements that will allow E15 to be sold year-round in the Kansas City metro area, one of the few areas in the Midwest that hadn’t embraced year-round E15 yet. Currently, 30 states offer E15 at some of their pumps and that number is continuing to grow.
This is great news for consumers and farmers who could soon see cleaner, higher octane unleaded E15 gasoline as the lowest price gas at the pump.
At present, most of the gas in the U.S. (E10) has 10% ethanol. Even though the change from E10 to E15 may seem small, the impact is significant according to Reddin. Corn is naturally high in octane and reduces tailpipe emissions up to 50%. Higher octane also means more power to the engine and it burns cleaner, so you don’t run the risk of having any engine trouble.
“Americans have driven 20 billion miles on E15 with not a single case reported case of engine or other performance issues,” says Reddin.
Continuing to expand corn in the market is also a huge win for farmers. Farm groups praise ethanol as a home-grown fuel and the generator of tens of thousands of rural jobs at ethanol plants.
Ethanol also creates additional bi-products, including high protein animal feed, commercial corn oil and carbon dioxide.
Reddin says ethanol is a tool available now to address environmental issues.
“One of the things I love the most about E15 is that it’s a here and now opportunity for us to clean the air and put something really great in our gas tank that burns cleaner and benefits our engine,” she says.
Nine out of 10 cars on the road right now can switch to a higher ethanol blend today, so long as your vehicle is 2001 or newer.
Click here for more information.