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Illinois Senator Barack Obama warns citizens at his 50th Town Hall meeting about gas guzzling, WPSD-TV reports.

It was among many points made to the standing room only audience at the Metropolis Community Center. Obama spoke on everything from DC politics to global warming.

He says part of the blame for the world's higher temperatures rests on gas guzzling vehicles. Obama says consumers can make the difference by switching to higher mileage hybrids.

Today the Senator said, "It would save more energy, do more for the environment and create better world security than all the drilling we could do in Alaska."

"After the meeting... Obama left in a GMC Envoy after admitting to favoring SUV's himself," claimed local News Channel 6.

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Tommy Vietor, Senator Obama's press secretary, explains: "What Senator Obama has long advocated is the use of vehicles that are more fuel efficient, including but not exclusively hybrids.

"The vehicle senator obama travels in while in illinois is a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV), which can run on e85, a blended fuel made of 85 percent ethanol.

"So he in fact was practicing what he preached at the town hall meeting in Metropolis yesterday when he said we must drive fewer gas-guzzling vehicles."

But it does not appear that GMC's Envoy is E85 ready. One wonders why so many slashdot readers have such a boner for Obama.

I am no fan of SUV's myself, but credit where credit is due: many GM and Ford SUVs and trucks offer flex fuel (E85 compatibility). If you need a bigger vehicle, and are located near the "corn belt" I suggest you take a look.

E85 is only 15% Ethanol, not 85%.

ObLinks: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/flextech.shtml/ and http://www.e85fuel.com/

Yeah, but he'd be perfectly fine if he had a Sable, Mountaineer, or Grand Marquis instead!

The cars sold in America that support flex-fuel are the large cars, midsize trucks, and some SUVs made by Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler, the trucks sold by Mazda and Isuzu that are copies of American trucks (e.g. the Ford Ranger == Mazda B-series), the Nissan Titan, and the Mercedes C-class.

Incidentally, all except the Mercedes are American-made cars (including the Japanese-brand ones).

source

With modern technology, would it be possible to build an engine that auto-adjusts itself to the characteristics of the fuel being used ? After all, if the ignition, valves and air/fuel ratio process are controlled electrically, it shouldn't be that difficult to adjust them on the fly.

First, the summary of this article is incorrect about E85. Minnesota is not the only state that offers E85. North and South Dakota, as well as Iowa, offer the alternative fuel.

The summary didn't say Minnesota is the only state to offer E85. It said that it's the only state to offer it at more than 100 stations.

In fact, in addition to the states you list, E85 is offered in probably about 30 other states.

Detroit will have to make some changes before the use of alternate fuels become wide spread.

Check it out yourself.

http://www.biodiesel.org/

http://www.ethanolrfa.org/

http://www.ethanol.org/

http://www.e85fuel.com/

My very first car was a 1990 Chevy Turbo Sprint (forerunner of the Geo line). It had a 3 cylinder Suzuki engine in it and got about 50 mpg (the turbocharger obviously helped). Why can you not buy these cars today?

I also don't understand this: many states now have E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline) stations. The gas is usually about $.50 per gallon cheaper than regular unleaded and burns clean. The big three have been making FFV's (flexible fuel vehicles - can run on regular gas or any mix of ethanol) with V8 engines in them for years and production keeps increasing because the cost of making a vehicle run on ethanol is only about $200 at the time of manufacture. Couple one of these with Dodge's new multi-displacement technology (which shuts down 4 cylinders on a V8 when crusing at highway speeds for a 20% mpg boost) and you've got yourself an emission-free 25 mpg Dodge Durango that uses cheaper fuel and drastically reduces our dependency on foreign oil. This technology and the fuel is here and is available (in fact many people are driving FFV vehicles without knowing it - if you have a yellow gas tank cap you're probably a lucky winner).

Bottom line: why mess around with hybrids when cheaper technology exists. Hybrid SUV's (Ford Focus, Lexus rx-h) get slightly better mpg than a 5.7L Dodge Charger with MDS! This is our bridge to the distant fuel cell future, why aren't we taking it?

Various pickup trucks, SUVs and now sedans have been capable of running on ethanol since 2002.

Ford Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/ford.php

GM Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/general_motors. php

Complete listing http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php

Various pickup trucks, SUVs and now sedans have been capable of running on ethanol since 2002.

Ford Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/ford.php

GM Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/general_motors. php

Complete listing http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php

Various pickup trucks, SUVs and now sedans have been capable of running on ethanol since 2002.

Ford Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/ford.php

GM Vehicles http://www.e85fuel.com/information/general_motors. php

Complete listing http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php

Here's an idea, why not scrap your fucking SUVs and Hummers and buy efficient vehicles instead? Or at least just quit whining? You have it fucking good.

No you stop whining! Isn't your country a democracy? Why don't you vote to abolish the gasoline tax next election if you don't like it? Here in the US we never voted for high gas taxes, which is why our gas is so much cheaper than yours.

There isn't too much to be said for European ingenuity either. If American gas prices were as high as yours, we'd have developed alternative fuels long ago. Even at the current prices, ethanol is starting to be competitive, and many cars can already run on it (E85). Last time i was over there, the only thing for sale was unleaded. At astronomical prices.

Too many Europeans have a defeatist mentality. Why doesn't France have a hydrogen economy already in place? They have had dirty cheap nuclear energy for decades, but nobody bothered to use it to produce hydrogen. They just roll over and pay OPEC plus a 200% tax bonus to the government like there was no alternative.

Instead of taking advantage of the high prices to start alternative fuel businesses and getting rich, people over there force themselves to conserve, pay taxes though the nose, drive around in ridiculous looking mini cars which probably cost more than Lincoln Navigators (after tax of course), and generally accept their declining standard of living while blaming everybody else for their problems.

And to add insult to injury, unlike France, the rest of Europe is busily decommissioning their nuclear plants and replacing them with natural gas, coal and oil, while complaining all day long about those vulgar and selfish Americans.

Long time reader, but reading this... Where the hell are the E85 (Ethanol 85) stations? Many new fords have this feature, and mostly the E85 stations are in the mid-west. I live in Northern New Jersey. With the rising cost of gas, why aren't there more E85 stations around Jersey. Is the east coast just that far behind?

E85 Fuel

Im getting tired of feuling up my Explorer for 43.00 at the pumps, when this stuff is still around 90 cents a gallon.

-kris@kris.nu

The US Ethanol effort is a lot bigger than you imagine, especially here in the midwest, where the corn that is fermented to produce ethanol is grown. All of our gasoline fuels are now blended at 10% ethanol, and the major auto makers are making cars that will run on 85% ethanol, which is provided at various fueling stations.

The US Ethanol effort is a lot bigger than you imagine, especially here in the midwest, where the corn that is fermented to produce ethanol is grown. All of our gasoline fuels are now blended at 10% ethanol, and the major auto makers are making cars that will run on 85% ethanol, which is provided at various fueling stations.

I read somewhere that some cars can sense if you put in E85, and will adjust accordingly.

I doubt it.

I know this isn't sexy but I'm convinced that this is the real way out of greenhouse and oil problems:

E85

It's an 85%/15% ethanol-gas mix. Outfitting a car to use it is cheap. There are a couple problems with it.

1. You're still using oil from the ground.
2. It still makes CO2.
3. You've got to produce the ethanol.

Still you can:

1. just keep using oil. I know that's not popular but e85 effectively multiplies the efficiency by a factor of more than 5. Also, oil isn't going to run out in 10 years if you understand the concept of "proven reserves". Even if you believe in peak oil theory, it staves it off by a good long while.

2. a lot of the CO2 produced is fixed the previous growing season by the plants.

3. producing ethanol is a net energy gain since the lion's share of the energy comes from the sun in the first place. Still we currently don't produce nearly enough of it to roll it out nation wide. That's just a matter of making a market for it. The good folks at Oak Ridge national labs are working on engineering plants that grow faster and produce more material to break down into ethanol. They're also working on bacteria that can do the fermenting on more materials. (sorry, no link. Too lazy.)

It's not perfect but it's a damn sight better than H2 and it's available on a limited basis now. I can go fill up on it today if I want. Best of all in my mind, this could boost the agribusiness industry to a point where farm subsidies are done away with for good.

I agree that the voice of a crowd tends to the most common opinion, no matter how wacky the one side is or how reasonable the other side is. The "easy to understand" way, whether right or wrong, tends to become the norm.

Power plants in general have dangers. Nuclear power is arguably more or less safe, depending on where you stand in the crowd. The bad that can happen is terribly bad, but the safety put in place is much more robust to help avoid the bad.

Undeniably, nuclear power is not oil. If the people could understand the risks and benefits without falling into mob mentality, unless the mob gets with the program, then we can begin moving forward.

Put the power plants far enough away from the people to make them comfortable. Heck, surround them with military bases to make them safer. Put 'em in the deserts or far out in the fields, away from the cities, if that's what it takes.

Chuck the waste into space. Launch it toward the sun 'cause I'm sure it wouldn't mind, or into deep space if there's fear of something bad inside the solar system. Use the space elevator if there's fear of a rocket explosion...

An aside, since I realize the article is about nuclear power, is what about other renewable sources? How about putting wind generation in every cloverleaf on the freeway to power the nearby street lights? How about putting more than one dam on a river for hydro-electric, or just more dams in general? Why not replace those massive refineries with huge farms of wind and solar power generators?

Why not make hybrid cars the norm? Subsidise consumers for buying them, or companies to help make them inexpensive. And why not make them so they can use ethanol? Less than 1/3 the oil consumed per gallon, and lots more miles-per-gallon on top. Even if they have to be the size of SUVs to make Americans happy, the bulk of commuters don't use the power in the gasoline engines anyway; as long as they can be modified to still provide exciting car chases...

I think once we start moving in that direction, dependency will drop, and the rising market will, like elsewhere, reduce prices and increase productivity.

I get reasonable mileage out of my hybrid, but for my next car I think I'm going to get a flexible-fuel vehicle. That way I can cut my fossil fuel consumption 85% by using an Ethanol mix.

Could someone please come out with a Hybrid FFV? Anyone know of any manufacturers working on this?

Note: it isn't 85 octane he's talking about, he's talking about E-85, a totally different beast.

E-85 is an 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline fuel that can be used in certain vehicles (mostly late model Big 3 pickups, but also most Tauruses since 95, some Dodge minivans, and even the 03 Benz C320).

Lots of info at e85fuel.com

http://www.cleanairchoice.org/outdoor/e85.asp
http://www.e85fuel.com/

It takes MORE, I repeat MORE energy to manufacture the hydrogen than the hydrogen returns.

Again, we should use ethanol in a fuel mixture called E85. Requires little or no infrastructure changes and very little changes from the auto manufacturers. Ethanol IS a renewable source of energy. Biomass (including the waste from other lines of industry) can be used to create fuel grade ethanol. Not just corn, people. While E85 still outputs C02, it outputs 85% less of the fossil fuel waste that 100% gasoline outputs. Combine this with hybrid electric and you have the next LOGICAL step in vehicle evolution for the consumer. The automotive industry is so large that we are going to have to take small steps. This large steps are doomed to failure when trillions of dollars are invested in petroleum fuels. Does anyone honestly believe that we are simply going to turn of the spicket on petroleum based consumer vehicles? If so, you're a dreamer (which is good); however, your dream is an end to a means, and not the means.

For more information on e85 visit e85fuel.com

• 1998 & later Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth minivans with the 3.3Liter (NOT the 3.8) V6
  
• 1999 & 2000 Ford Ranger 3.0L
  
• some(?) 2001 & 2002 Ranger supercab 3.0L
  
• misc Taurus sedans & wagons
  
• etc.

• it's renewable
  
• it's a highly oxygenated fuel, so produces less smog, without destroying the supply of drinking water (a la MTBE).
  
• at 85% it's over 100 octane. YOW. You get about a 5% horsepower boost.
  

• it's apparently more expensive than oil. hard to say, really, since most calculations of the cost of gasoline don't include, for example, the price of two New York sky-scrapers.
  
• you get about 5% fewer miles per gallon of fuel, so you need to fill up more often.
  
• uh . . . that's about it really.
  

• 1998 & later Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth minivans with the 3.3Liter (NOT the 3.8) V6
  
• 1999 & 2000 Ford Ranger 3.0L
  
• some(?) 2001 & 2002 Ranger supercab 3.0L
  
• misc Taurus sedans & wagons
  
• etc.

• it's renewable
  
• it's a highly oxygenated fuel, so produces less smog, without destroying the supply of drinking water (a la MTBE).
  
• at 85% it's over 100 octane. YOW. You get about a 5% horsepower boost.
  

• it's apparently more expensive than oil. hard to say, really, since most calculations of the cost of gasoline don't include, for example, the price of two New York sky-scrapers.
  
• you get about 5% fewer miles per gallon of fuel, so you need to fill up more often.
  
• uh . . . that's about it really.