Biofuels at the Pump is Goal for Doyle and Midwest Governors Association

Biodiesel Easily Introduced to Market as Tool to Combat Greenhouse Gases
from Red Herring: The Business of Technology:
20 November 2007, 11:03by Justin Moresco

Governors of Midwestern U.S. states on Thursday committed to ambitious targets for the distribution and consumption of renewable fuels, marking the third U.S. regional bloc of states to form a pact aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Midwestern alliance is the first major group to set specific targets for E85, the fuel made from a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. By 2025, they want 33 percent of gas stations, or around 9,700 locations, in the region to offer E85. They also want at least 50 percent of all transportation energy consumed in the region to be supplied by locally produced biofuels, such as ethanol fuel or biodiesel, by 2025.

The Midwestern targets could be a boon for companies trying to find easy ways for gas stations to store and distribute biofuels, @Ventures principal Rob Day said.

“Some people are working on building stand-alone stations that only offer biofuels,” he said. “But they will be competing with traditional gas stations, and it is capital intensive.”

E85 cannot be distributed or stored in existing gasoline tanks because of its ethanol content. Distributors and gas stations will have to build new facilities or retrofit existing ones before they can deal in E85.

Existing vehicles will also have to be retrofitted to run on E85. But some other biofuels, such as biodiesel, can be used in any diesel engine.

Governors of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the premier of Manitoba endorsed the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord. With 22 percent of the U.S. population, the Midwest emits 27 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases and uses just under a quarter of all energy consumed in the country, according to the Midwestern Governors Association.

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