ATHENS, Ala. (WAAY) - Alternative fuels are about energy independence, burning cleaner fuels and more ecofriendly energy sources. But none of these can be achieved without those willing to use them.

Ethanol and biodiesel are two alternative fuels that are proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are biodegradable, and are safer to breathe. But who is using them?

Congress has already mandated that by 2025, 36 billion gallons of alternative fuels should be produced. Brazil is already achieving this and is considered an energy independent country. Thirty years ago, it started producing ethanol from sugar cane. Now 90, percent of the cars in Brazil run on flex fuel.

Diesel trucks that switch to biodiesel will no longer see that black fume smoke, and any diesel engine can run on biodiesel without making any modifications. But only flex fuel cars can use ethanol or E-85.

There are E-10 stickers at many gas stations now. That fuel is okay for use in any car, but flex fuel cars can run either E-85 or regular gasoline.

There are over 110- thousand flex fuel vehicles in Alabama, but there are only a handful of stations in Alabama where these cars can fill up. The city of Hoover decided not to wait on the government to support alternative fuels or a local gas station to install an ethanol biodiesel pump. They did it themselves.

“We went out on a limb and we did it and now we’ve proved it’s a viable, the biodiesel is a viable problem,” said one Hoover leader. “The ethanol is a viable fuel. We’ve got millions of miles to track it by so we’re now becoming the point of reference for everyone.”

Four years ago, the city of Hoover started collecting used cooking oil from restaurants and residents. The city of Florence just started the same thing this year. Hoover built its own biodiesel processor and invested in all flex fuel vehicles.

“We can store up to 500 gallons of cooking oil at a time,” the Hoover representative said. “It’s cooking oil that you were cooking with one day, and then two days later using it for fuel in cars. Every gallon that we reprocess of cooking oil is a gallon that we don’t have to buy from Venezuela or Saudi Arabia or some other country that doesn’t like us.”

Hoover also installed Alabama’s first E-85,and biodiesel pumps behind their shop. Eighty-five percent of their 400-car fleet run off E-85 or their own homemade biodiesel.

“We’re only using 15 percent foreign oil at this time and it’s out goal to use zero percent foreign oil,” the Hoover representative said.

Several gas station owners are now installing E-85 and biodiesel pumps like Hoover’s.
Birmingham gas station owner Rick Patel decided to invest in a pump eight months ago. Ethanol is around 40 cents cheaper than regular gasoline.

“People, first of all, when they see the cheap price of the regular gas, they want to know, ‘Can I put this in my car?’”

Now more are following Patel’s lead. This month, the first Biofuels corridor opened in the United States on Interstate 65 from Mobile, Ala. to Gary, Ind. There will be an alternative fuel pump available without getting below a quarter of a tank. One of those pumps will be in Athens on Highway 72.

The Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition says this corridor is just the beginning. More research is being done, more production facilities are being built, and more gas stations will make the switch… the choice to support it belongs in consumers hands.

“I think just the regular oil is going to be a thing of the past in the very near future,” said one ethanol proponent. “If they exercise the choice to use the E85, they are keeping dollars that stay in our economy instead of going overseas to the Middle East.”

There are car converter kits that motorists can use to make their cars run on ethanol. But none of those kits are EPA approved right now.

There is, however, a Hartselle man who can convert any year make or model car to run on hydrogen. That story is available here.

If you still have questions feel free to write to us at newsroom@waaytv.com.

Reporter: Laura Beth Ezzell
Web Editor: Dana Franks

(Copyright 2008 by WAAY-TV. All Rights Reserved.)

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Biofuels, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.