Kyoto Commitment Holds Promise for Ethanol

The Prime Minister’s recent declaration at the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainability that he intends to ratify the Kyoto protocol can only be good news for ethanol. "Support for ethanol as been building in Ottawa and around the country for the past two years and ratification will only boost that support further," said CRFA Chair Bob Sicard.

Department officials from Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada have been working throughout the summer on an ethanol mandate and dealing with the many complicated issues that would confront the government should the Minister go forward with his plans to have ethanol in all gasoline. It is still unclear what form a mandate may take, but ethanol is clearly on the minds of Ministers and the Prime Minister’s Office when discussing Kyoto and green house gas reductions. The Ottawa citizen reported this spring that Minister Dhaliwal was "seriously considering a law that would force oil companies to mix the plant-based fuel ethanol into motor vehicle gasoline as a way to cut green house gases under the Kyoto protocol." Under the recently announced Climate Change discussion paper, Ottawa has proposed a 5% and 10% mandate for ethanol in Canada.

With respect to timing, it is expected that the federal government will provide a "plan" to meet its Kyoto target some time in late October prior to the next round of climate change discussions known as CoP8.

While momentum continues to build for ethanol it is very important that people evidence their support to the government. If you wish to express your support for ethanol and Minister Dhaliwal’s proposed mandate please click on the icon below and send a message to the Prime Minister.

CRFA Launches Ad Campaign to Promote Ethanol

The CRFA launched their climate change ad campaign on September 16 with a series of bus shelter ads promoting the benefits of ethanol. The bus shelter ads promote ethanol’s climate change and green house gas benefits and will be initially located along Wellington Street facing Parliament Hill. The campaign will also launch a series of newspaper ads beginning with the Hill Times in Ottawa later this month that will focus on the many benefits of developing an ethanol industry in Canada. The bus shelter ad featured above will almost certainly get the attention of a few MPs when the House resume sitting at the end of September!

Source:
http://www.greenfuels.org/

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Most flexible fuel equipped vehicles on the road are minivans, SUVs, and trucks, NOT cars. These vehicles can burn gasoline or renewable ethanol (E85) fuel interchangeably. However their owners are often unaware of this capability.

Check out this website:
http://www.ccities.doe.gov/vbg/consumers/e85.shtml

But the government mandate is 5 - 10 percent ethanol mixed with gasoline. Cars can burn E5 or E10 without any modifications at all. At the same time they displace 5 - 10 percent of gasoline consumption and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by the same amount.

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Refueling Stations in Ontario

There are currently no public access ethanol (E-85) refueling stations in Ontario.

Source:
http://www.ccities.doe.gov/corridor/refueling.shtml

The Canadian government plans to require ethanol to be mixed with the gasoline before it reaches the refueling stations, so we don't have to choose between gasoline or ethanol. At the intended levels of 5-10 percent ethanol in gasoline no modifications are required. However any greater amount of ethanol will require flexible fuel equipped vehicles.