API’s Own Study Shows That 33% of Engines Failed With Straight Gasoline
May 21, 2012
By Gale Lush, Chairman

WILCOX, Neb. – Gale Lush, Chairman of the American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF) is responding to recent news articles reporting on an API study slamming E15. The May 17, 2012 Farm Futures article with the headline “Test Slamming E15 Draws Fire”, reports on a new study on E15 (15 percent ethanol blended in gasoline). The API study, suggests that E15 can damage engines, but the study results actually make a strong case that E15 is better for engines than straight gasoline, when the reported data is analyzed more closely. “The study reportedly funded by the American Petroleum Institute (API) shows that only two of eight engines (25 percent) failed using E15. However, one of those engines was reportedly under recall for engine failure, so actually only one of seven engines (14.3%) failed using E15 versus one of three engines or 33.3 percent that failed using straight gasoline (see Farm Futures article cited above). That suggests that burning E15 actually reduced engine failures by nearly 60 percent compared to straight gasoline in that API study/test,” said Lush.

“The economic benefits of burning ethanol, whether it’s E10, E15 or higher blends, keep adding up. Recent updated research by the University of Wisconsin and Iowa State University shows that ethanol in the fuel supply reduced wholesale gasoline prices to U.S. consumers by $1.09 per gallon or about $1,200 per household in 2011. That is a giant savings to the U. S. economy of nearly $146 billion in 2011. According to the Energy Information Agency 134 billion gallons of gasoline were consumed in the U.S., including about 13 billion gallons of ethanol in 2011. $1.09/gallon savings multiplied times 134 billion gallons equals $146 billion in reduced gasoline prices at the pump to gas consumers in 2011 alone. Since 2000 ethanol has saved consumers about $40 billion per year, according to the university study,” said Lush.

Lush added, “given the tremendous positive economic driver that ethanol is for the U.S. economy and workforce, plus the fact that ethanol adds to our national energy security it is great to see that two new studies reconfirm what we have known about ethanol for quite a long time. Ethanol is an economic superstar and it benefits every household in this country in multiple ways.”

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