Ethanol production is increasing at an impressive clip. Right now there are slightly more than one hundred plants capable of producing a total of five billion gallons of ethanol per year. More plants – capable of producing another five billion gallons of ethanol per year – are being built.

The task now is to get that fuel to consumers.

At the moment, six million of the 240 million cars on the road are “flex-fuel” or “dual-fuel” vehicles, which can run on both conventional gasoline and E85. These include popular models, such as the Dodge Dakota, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Lincoln Town Car, Chevrolet Suburban, Mercedes C230 Sport Sedan, and Mercury Grand Marquis.⁴⁵ But only two percent of the consumers who buy flex-fuel cars are running them on E85.⁴⁶ Their reasons are twofold:

• Many consumers don’t know that their car can run on E85.
• Consumers who want to use E85 don’t know where to find it.

In the United States, there are 170,000 filling stations where you can buy conventional gasoline.⁴⁷ And there are more than 1,000 filling stations where you can buy E85.⁴⁸ The heaviest concentrations are in the Midwest Corn Belt, where the bulk of ethanol is produced⁴⁹ – but consumers can find E85 in all but nine of the lower 48 states. Still, consumers shouldn’t have to search for it. We’d like to see E85 available alongside conventional gasoline at every service station in the nation.

Ethanol can fuel our journey to environmental health and energy independence. To get there, we need to do three things.

1. Educate consumers about flex-fuel vehicles and E85.
2. Increase the number of filling stations that offer E85.
3. Invest in cellulosic ethanol research, development, and production so that this efficient and environment friendly technology can continue to grow.

Ethanol isn’t an experimental or theoretical technology. It’s a burgeoning American industry that has already attracted a high level of investment and ingenuity. It recycles waste, revitalizes agriculture, and reduces air pollution. It can help us reverse global warming and achieve energy independence. Ethanol is ready to power the engine of environmental and economic sustainability. All we have to do is put it in our cars and drive off into the future.