Minnesota state fleet using 77 percent more E85 this year

The Minnesota SmartFleet Committee took a look at the amount of E85 used thus far in 2008 and found that the biofuel mixture's use is way up compared to 2007. In the first nine months of 2008, the state fleet of about 1,700 flexfuel vehicles has burned 529,000 gallons of E85; in the same time period in 2007, this number was just 295,000 gallons. That's an increase of about 77 percent and E85 now makes up about 12 percent of all the fuel that the state buys. As is almost always the case with these sorts of governmental initiatives, the future looks to be made up of even bigger numbers. The chair of the SmartFleet Committee and director of Fleet and Surplus Services, Minnesota Department of Administration, Tim Morse, said that, "we can do even better" than that 12 percent.

[Source: American Lung Association of Minnesota]

PRESS RELEASE:

More State Vehicles Filling Up With E85 Fuel

SAINT PAUL, Minn., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More Minnesota state employees are heeding Governor Pawlenty's call to reduce petroleum fuel consumption and use cleaner-burning alternative fuels like E85 in state vehicles whenever possible. According to a new report from the Minnesota SmartFleet Committee, E85 use in the state fleet during the first three quarters of 2008 is 79 percent greater than during the same period in 2007. In the first nine months of 2008, 529,000 gallons of E85 were used to fuel the state's roughly 1,700 flexible fuel vehicles. Last year at this point, only 295,000 gallons of the locally-produced, largely renewable fuel had been used.

"We have increased our E85 use to approximately 12 percent of our total fuel purchases," said Tim Morse, chair of the SmartFleet Committee and director of Fleet and Surplus Services, Minnesota Department of Administration. "That's very good progress toward our goal, but with E85 available at more than 360 locations statewide, we can do even better."

The report was hailed by the American Lung Association of Minnesota, which supports the use of E85. "A flexible fuel vehicle running on E85 instead of gasoline produces significantly less tailpipe emissions than the same vehicle using gasoline," said Kelly Marczak, director of the American Lung Association of Minnesota's clean fuels program. "To-date, the state fleet's use of E85 in 2008 has prevented more than 2100 tons of lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions and other harmful pollutants from entering our air simply by using E85 instead of gasoline."

There are an estimated 200,000 vehicles that can use E85 as well as gasoline on the road today in Minnesota. As with the state fleet, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has noted an increase in overall E85 sales throughout 2008, even as gasoline sales have declined for four consecutive months. While vehicles using E85 instead of gasoline get fewer miles per gallon, the price of the ethanol-based fuel in Minnesota is averaging from 40 to 60 cents less than regular unleaded, according to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest, which tracks E85 prices on its www.CleanAirChoice.org website.

NOTE: a previous version of this press release had "55 percent" instead of the correct "79 percent."