Ethanol pumps debut at Sacramento area stations

SACRAMENTO — Air quality officials have unveiled 23 ethanol fuel pumps at gas stations around the Sacramento region, giving the California capital the highest concentration of ethanol-blend pumps west of the Mississippi.

The new pumps are marked by a distinctive yellow nozzle to match yellow gas caps that come with vehicles equipped to run on ethanol. The blended fuel, E85, offers motorists a domestically produced and slightly "greener" alternative to regular gasoline.

The pumps, at stations stretching from Fairfield to Folsom, are usable by an estimated 23,000 "flex-fuel" vehicles in the region, local air quality officials said.

The fuel is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline. Flex-fuel vehicles can run on E85 or regular gasoline. E85 gets roughly 25 percent fewer miles per gallon than regular fuel, state officials said, but it was selling at $2.26 a gallon Tuesday at one of the stations, Valero on Madison Avenue in North Highlands. Regular unleaded fuel there was selling for more than $3 a gallon.

The installations were made possible by a $3.5 million California Air Resources Board grant, administered by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols described E85 as a transitional fuel that will help get Californians used to the idea of trying alternative fuels as the state moves forward in its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

source: contracostatimes