Thanks to a huge, six-state partnership, Michiganders now have greater access to the biofuels E85 ethanol and biodiesel in a B20 blend. One E85 station is now open at the BP station in Romulus and one B20 station located at the Oasis Trucking Center in Detroit.
The week of June 9-13, 2014 marks the celebration of this project that is five years in the making. In 2009, an ambitious, multi-state project started in Knoxville, Tennessee. Through a grant funded by the Department of Energy Clean Cities Program, the I-75 Green Corridor Project began with the goal of allowing any American driver to traverse any portion of I-75 and be able to make the entire trip running on either biofuel. The project has significantly increased the availability of the biofuels E85 and B20 along the entire length of Interstate 75, which runs from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan at the Canadian border to Miami, Florida. Biofuels stations were added with the intent of filling in gaps in biofuels access along the corridor and adding more stations in metropolitan areas, such that a station of each type could be found no greater than 200 miles apart along the entire length of the interstate.
Since the project’s inception, over 3.3 million gallons of biofuels have been sold from stations associated with the project, and 2.6 million gallons of petroleum have been displaced. The project has now displaced over 61,000 barrels of oil, or alternatively, the U.S. has now produced over 61,000 additional barrels of renewable, American fuel!
This also equates to:
25,222 tons of CO2 emissions avoided, or
Eliminating the annual CO2 emissions from 4,817 U.S. passenger vehicles
The amount of carbon sequestered by 18,946 acres of U.S. forests in one year
Switching 604,604 incandescent lamps to compact fluorescent lamps
The energy used by 2,109 homes for one year Thus far along the entire corridor, E85 has been installed at 26 fuel stations, and B20 has been installed at 9. These numbers are expected to increase in the coming months with another 6 stations coming online this summer. The project is now in its final year and has resulted in the 1,786-mile interstate becoming the planet’s longest biofuels corridor.
The significance of this project lies not only in the extensive length of American interstates involved or the six-state, multi-partner coordination that has taken place. There is also significance in the fact that American drivers now have a greater number of fueling options, as well as alt-fuel vehicles. There are nearly 100 flex fuel vehicle (or “FFV”) models on the market today. Couple that with the fact that, by conservative estimates, there are over 10 million flex fuel vehicles already on the road, and there is strong evidence for the need for more stations offering E85.
Conveniently, almost all diesel vehicles can run on biodiesel with few if any modifications to the vehicle. Even in the B20 marketplace, there are a growing number of B20-capable vehicles, from passenger to larger utility vehicles. With exciting developments like the B20 approved Chevrolet Cruze, more consumer-oriented, biodiesel-capable vehicles will surely come to market. More and more OEMs are responding to consumer demand for diesel vehicles, and some of those vehicles are approved for B20 use, such as the diesel 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. Clearly, now is the time to put these fuels into action, and this endeavor is helping to diversify America’s fuel portfolio one gallon at a time.
“As a renewable, domestically-produced fuel, ethanol helps our country increase its energy security and break our dependence on foreign oil. It has environmental benefits too – E85 reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 52% compared to gasoline, providing drivers with an opportunity to reduce their personal impact on the environment. Once scarce, E85 is now more widely available, thanks to forward-thinking gas station owners” said Aaron Champion, coordinator of Detroit Area Clean Cities, which is managed by Clean Energy Coalition.
See all the stations added in the project at the project Website; here is a list of the stations added in Michigan:
Partner Biofuel added Store address
Oasis Trucking Center B20 4201 Central AvenueDetroit, MI 48210
BP Romulus E85 15024 Middlebelt RdRomulus, MI 48174
To find the closest alternative fueling stations view the alt fuel locator map here.
Source: Clean Energy Coalition
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