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Ethanol use won't help city, county
Fuel mileage drops with E85 so it won't help Pueblo fleets cut costs.
By JEFF TUCKER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
With unleaded gasoline at $4 a gallon, filling up the tank for a buck less per gallon seems like a fine idea.
But implementing it on a wider scale with the city or county fleets is a different matter.
Last week, county fleet director Carl Chavez told the Pueblo County Board of Commissioners that both the city and the county had looked into the possibility of using ethanol fuel in fleets, but it doesn't appear that doing so will save the agencies any money.
Sam Ingo, fleet maintenance director for the city, said there are a number of challenges to using E85 in the city's fleet.
Among the biggest are that it would require the city to retrofit most of its vehicles to use the corn-based fuel and it would require the city to install new tanks at its filling stations. But beyond the capital costs associated with such a switch, it doesn't appear that using E85 would save the city any money in the ongoing cost of gas either Ñ at least not at current prices.
"The problem is that you lose 20 percent in efficiency because it doesn't have as much energy or BTUs per gallon," Ingo sad.
So even though E85 is cheaper, the city would have to buy more gas to keep its fleet fueled.
The city doesn't buy at the pump. It buys fuel in bulk to fill its own tanks.
Ingo said the most recent price quote for E85 wasn't enough to make a real difference.
"It was only 57 cents a gallon less than regular unleaded, so we're really not going to save anything," he said.
Ingo researched E85 and quoted tests done by Consumer Reports and Edmunds.com, a Web site dedicated to providing information about automobiles.
Both tests suggested the same thing: that fuel mileage drops under E85.
Both reports tested emissions and found that carbon emissions from both fuels were about the same, Ingo said.
The Consumer Reports test also looked at nitrogen emissions and found that E85 emitted one-sixth of what regular gasoline does.
While consumers continue to feel the pinch at the pump, Ingo said his department isn't as troubled as last year.
The city made allowances for escalating fuel prices in its budget this year and Ingo says gasoline costs have run about even with expectations.
He said there may be a slight adjustment toward the end of the year, but he doesn't expect it will be much.
But implementing it on a wider scale with the city or county fleets is a different matter.
Last week, county fleet director Carl Chavez told the Pueblo County Board of Commissioners that both the city and the county had looked into the possibility of using ethanol fuel in fleets, but it doesn't appear that doing so will save the agencies any money.
Sam Ingo, fleet maintenance director for the city, said there are a number of challenges to using E85 in the city's fleet.
Among the biggest are that it would require the city to retrofit most of its vehicles to use the corn-based fuel and it would require the city to install new tanks at its filling stations. But beyond the capital costs associated with such a switch, it doesn't appear that using E85 would save the city any money in the ongoing cost of gas either Ñ at least not at current prices.
"The problem is that you lose 20 percent in efficiency because it doesn't have as much energy or BTUs per gallon," Ingo sad.
So even though E85 is cheaper, the city would have to buy more gas to keep its fleet fueled.
The city doesn't buy at the pump. It buys fuel in bulk to fill its own tanks.
Ingo said the most recent price quote for E85 wasn't enough to make a real difference.
"It was only 57 cents a gallon less than regular unleaded, so we're really not going to save anything," he said.
Ingo researched E85 and quoted tests done by Consumer Reports and Edmunds.com, a Web site dedicated to providing information about automobiles.
Both tests suggested the same thing: that fuel mileage drops under E85.
Both reports tested emissions and found that carbon emissions from both fuels were about the same, Ingo said.
The Consumer Reports test also looked at nitrogen emissions and found that E85 emitted one-sixth of what regular gasoline does.
While consumers continue to feel the pinch at the pump, Ingo said his department isn't as troubled as last year.
The city made allowances for escalating fuel prices in its budget this year and Ingo says gasoline costs have run about even with expectations.
He said there may be a slight adjustment toward the end of the year, but he doesn't expect it will be much.
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