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E85 may sound like an exotic chemical or the name of a new generation of moon rockets but, in fact, it describes something made up of some very mundane materials. The "E" of E85 stands for "ethanol," a biofuel most commonly manufactured from corn or sugar cane, and the "85" represents the percentage, 85%, of ethanol contained in E85 fuel.
This ethanol-gasoline mixture can be used by specially modified vehicles, known as "flexible-fuel vehicles," and is available at an increasing number of standard gas stations in the United States, though most are currently located in the Midwest. However, increased production of flex-fuel vehicles and innovations in ethanol technology allowing the fuel to be produced from non-food sources means that the availability of E85 fuel will continue to increase, becoming commonplace across the country in the near future.
This sounds good, but what are the advantages of E85 and why should people want to use it? The most significant advantage is that it dramatically reduces a vehicles use of non-renewable fossil fuels. Though there are some challenges posed by the widespread adoption of biofuels, E85 provides a readily available solution to the dilemma of dwindling fossil fuel resources while at the same time providing room for innovation and improvement in the future.
Besides reducing a vehicle's dependence on non-renewable resources, E85 also reduces its emissions. E85's life-cycle emissions, which consider those created in the growing and processing of corn into fuel, offer up to a 20% reduction in green house gasses, while the actual vehicle emissions can be reduced by as much as 70% when compared to gasoline.
Far from being an exotic dream of the future, as its name makes it sound, E85 is a viable technology available for use today. With ever-expanding availability, more compatible vehicles on the market, and rapidly improving production technologies, E85 provides a resource to help us limit our dependence on fossil fuels and a tool we can use to craft a greener future.
Check out GM Next: E-85 Ethanol to learn more.
This post is brought to you through a partnership with GM and is advertorial in nature.
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