Probably in an effort to pump up it's green image, Wal-Mart is now advertising the Ethanol,a corn based biofuel, in it's gas. The article from wcpo suggests Wal-Mart is the first major retailer to advertise it's use of gas "Enhanced with Ethanol." The article takes issue with the phrase 'enhanced': "However, some critics question the term "enhanced with ethanol." They say since it reduces your car's gas mileage, why is that "enhanced?"" In fact in addition to Ethanol reducing gas mileage (though also decreasing the total amount of gas used), it is also posing other environmental problems. According to a recent article in Time magazine, the production of Ethanol is leading to mass deforestation, a rise in food prices, and a potential water shortage. Combine their proud Ethanol use with their fleet of 7,200 semi tractor-trailers that traveled up to 900 million miles and used 6.3 billion gallons of diesel fuel last year, and the green picture Wal-Mart tries to paint looks very different.
Posted by Taylor - April 7, 2008 10:48 AM - In The News
We found an interesting article about the problems with Ethanol on ConsumerReports.org:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2008/03/ethanol-e85.html
"But there are some problems with increasing ethanol blends. Ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, so increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline will likely result in lower fuel economy. Increasing standard fuel blends from zero to 10 percent ethanol, as is happening today, has little or no impact on fuel economy. In tests, the differences occur within the margin of error, about 0.5 percent. Further increasing ethanol levels to 20 percent reduces fuel economy between 1 and 3 percent, according to testing by the DOE and General Motors. Evaluations are underway to determine if E20 will burn effectively in today's engines without impacting reliability and longevity, and also assessing potential impact on fuel economy."
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Posted by TheSUBWAY.com - April 7, 2008 03:48 PM