I want to avoid gas brands that contain 10% ethanol because they give 15% less gas mileage than 100% gas brands.
Why don’t stations put a notice on the pumps if their gas contains ethanol? The government forces labeling on almost all items why not gas?
[b]Gas pumps should have a placard on them indicating if there is any ethanol in the gas.
If you want to locate gas stations in your area that don’t have ethanol in the gas, check with your local street rod club web sites. These people run older vehicles where the fuel systems can’t tolerate any concentration of ethanol in the gas.
Here, the Minnesota Street Rod Association has a web site that lists those gas stations that have fuel available without any ethanol content.
Tester[/b]
Here is list of areas that have to use RFG (reformulated gas with MTBE or ethanol). As I live in NJ, I don’t have a choice about it.
Ed B.
Let’s try that again.
Ed B.
I think it differs by your locale and by state laws within the same gas brand. Our pumps simply display a placard.
I have never experienced any drop in my relatively high performance vehicle(Subaru WRX) using 10% ethanol premium fuel vs non ethanol premium fuel. I seem to get 22-23MPG consistently. The only variable I find is that winter season drops the mileage about 1-2 MPG.
According to an article in “The Week” magazine for October 5, 2007, the field corn currently being used to brew ethanol is not very efficient, it costs more than oil to produce, and it doesn’t reduce the U.S.'s dependence on oil (foreign or otherwise). Our tax dollars are already going to subsidize the ethanol industry, to the tune of $50 billion, $10 billion of which is going to Archer-Daniels-Midland (which gave $3 million in campaign contributions last year, so they get a pretty good return on their investment). Plus it drives the cost of things like milk, meat, and bread up, and encourages farmers to keep land in production that might otherwise lie fallow, use land that is marginal, grow corn instead of wheat, barley, oats, etc., and rely more and more on fertilizers which have their own ill effects.
How do I get off the ethanol bandwagon? How can I find out what brands/stations in the Boston area don’t use ethanol in their gas, without having to stop at every station and look for the tag on the pump (Shell hid theirs, and I only saw it yesterday).
Its not the brand but the station and state. If you are going into South Dakota you’d better have a full tank because you’ll hardly find any stations that haven’t added 10%. In Minnesota, no problem. I have never had a problem though and I’d rather keep my money here than sending it to the Arabs.
In my area (southern tier NH) I don’t think there’s any without ethenol anymore. In my opinion there’s more politics than science in this ethenol “push”.
MTBE has been banned here.
Most of the gas stations I’ve come across with ethanol have a sticker on the pump somewhere stating that ethanol in blended into the gasoline. The problem is, these stickers are very SMALL, and half the time you don’t see them until it’s too late. I’ve started avoiding gas stations by BRAND to avoid ethanol, although my state’s governor is pushing 10% ethanol in every gallon sold. I hope he’s not successful.
The Federal Government (EPA) decides who gets what gasoline. The oil companies have little say in the matter. The ethanol industry is growing rapidly and as new high-volume stills come online, more and more gasoline will be blended with it. It is home-grown energy and that is more important than your gas mileage.
Ethanol contains 30% less energy than gasoline. Therefore, E-10, which is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, contains 3% less energy than straight gasoline. Your fuel mileage will decrease by 3%. If your car gets 30 to 35 mpg on gasoline, the reduction will be only 1 mpg. This is too small to measure on the road. To decide which one to buy, compare prices. E-10 can be a better bargain than straight gasoline, but only if it is at least 3% cheaper. At today’s prices, the necessary discount is about 10 cents per gallon.
E-85 is a different story. It is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Only so-called flexible fuel cars can use it without damage. E-85 contains 25% less energy than straight gasoline. A car that gets 32 mpg on straight gasoline will get only 24 mpg on E-85. To be a good bargain, E-85 must be at least 25% cheaper than straight gasoline. At today’s prices, the necessary discount is about 75 cents per gallon.