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Non-Tech : $2 or higher gas - Can ethanol make a comeback? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patrick Slevin who wrote (1044)	4/15/2006 9:05:57 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2801

Most likely your going to be getting ten percent in your gas anyway, as ethanol will replace MTBE in gas very soon. Message 22354696 >The transportation of ethanol * Most ethanol, about 75%, is transported by rail. Trucks are used to transport small quantities of ethanol shorter distances, and barges ship larger quantities longer distances. * Rail is an efficient, reliable way to transport ethanol from the Corn Belt to its markets, often on the East or West Coast. From the time ethanol is produced, it can be at its market within a few days' or a week's time. ethanol.org nter-regional transportation issues and associated costs for renewable fuels >Probably the largest issue associated with increased ethanol use is distribution. Since EIA has not performed detailed analysis of ethanol transportation issues, the EIA transportation paper largely summarizes recent work by Downstream Alternatives, Inc., (DAI) for the U.S. Department of Energy. The DAI analysis found that expanding the market for ethanol to 5.1 billion gallons per year results in an estimated average national cost of about 8 cents per gallon of ethanol to transport it to markets. This translates to a cost of about 1 cent per gallon of gasoline when 10 percent ethanol is used. Delivery infrastructure issues requiring attention before demand reaches this level include: rail terminals able to unload more than a few cars, constraints on the Inland Waterway System, and a possible shortage of Oil Pollution Act of 1990-compliant Jones Act vessels. However, our analysis concludes that the major transportation mode for ethanol will be rail. The number of entities needing to invest to make the needed infrastructure changes is large, and breakdowns in pieces of the chain could affect ultimate supply availability. This implies that the transitions beginning in 2004, particularly the large volumes of ethanol required to flow to California, could result in some initial supply dislocations and price volatility. Even after the transition periods, coastal RFG areas dependent on ethanol, which requires a separate distribution system from gasoline that includes railcar and water transport, could experience increased price volatility if distribution becomes hampered due to events such as flooding and winter storms, as has been the case with other fuel disruptions eia.doe.gov