I wonder just how much money and time has been spent by national organizations promoting flexfuel vehicles - even though we all know that E85 fuel is pretty hard to find. Whatever the calculation, we need to add in the cost of a new F150 crew cab flexible-fuel vehicle (around $36,000) and a year's worth of E85 (around $6,000). This was a bonus prize awarded to the Dirk Devries family in Minnesota, which recently won ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The local Dave Syverson Ford is providing the vehicle and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), along with local POET biorefineries, is providing the biofuel. According to the local paper, the Devries family hasn't had it easy recently and a friend of the family submitted their story to the TV show for consideration. Along with a new home, a new truck might make things better for them. We'll see how they feel when they have to pay to fill it up next year.

[Source: Ethanol Promotion and Information Council]

Holidays in the U.S. are used for so much more than celebrating. We've got President's day sales, the Christmas shopping season, special Easter candy flavors (notice a trend?). For the Fourth of July, something to do with being free is often in order, and this year the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has decided that it's energy independence that we need to focus on as a country, dagnabit.

EPIC has put out a statement calling for "unity in search of solutions." By coming together, fellow Americans, EPIC thinks that July 4th could become Energy Independence Day, with ethanol and other renewables for all. A few smarter driving sacrifices (if you can call consolidating trips when gas is at $4/gallon a sacrifice) and increased biofuel output would shift the balance of domestic vs. foreign energy sources to a more homegrown one.

Note: if we're going to be using corn to make all of this ethanol, let's not forget that October 16 is World Food Day.

[Source: EPIC]

Here's an interesting way to phrase things. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) is trying to reframe America's current high pump costs with this headline: "Gas Prices Force Americans to Push for Ethanol Fuel." O rly?

See, EPIC commissioned a survey (conducted by Luth Research's SurveySavvy online research at the end of April, with just over 1,000 respondents) that found that American motorists will be rethinking their driving habits. No one needed a survey to figure that out, but EPIC also asked about the role fossil fuels play in the mix. I found the announcement strangely worded (read it for yourself after the break), but it seems like EPIC found that Americans don't want to pay for fossil fuels if they cost more than $5-6 a gallon. Ergo, said Toni Nuernberg, executive director of EPIC in that statement, "Motorists are frustrated and angry about high gas prices. Everyone is feeling the pinch at the pump, which really underscores our need for biofuels." It really underscores our need for alternatives, that's for sure, but not just biofuels.

click picture to enlarge

Sorry to anyone in Atlanta who could've used this information today, but I just noticed it now: a half-dozen fuel stations are offering E85 for $1.85 a gallon tomorrow. The low price - subsidized/sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), Clean FUEL Distribution, Indore Oil and BP - also happened today at six other stations. The deal is here because these 12 shops are all new ethanol retailers (Wonder how the post office feels about this?), and EPIC and the other promoters want people to fill up their flex-fuel vehicles with the biofuel. Speaking of which, only vehicles can be tanked during the two-hour sale, not portable gas carriers. If you're interested in buying the fuel, you can click on the image above to read the list of stations better or visit the EPIC website for more information.

[Source: EPIC]

Teachers, start your biofuel engines. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) is providing one free pack of ethanol promotional items to educators. On the EPIC website, the item list for the packs says they contain the following:

• 50 Minute Educational Units (Crossover to 5 different subjects)
• 30 "Pump Ethanol" Books - an insightful story about how corn is produced to fuel America
• 30 Environmental Window Clings
• 30 Embroidered Athletic Wristbands
• 4 Children's T-shirts (2 girls and 2 boys)
• 5 Matchbox Indy Cars
• 1 Poster/Game Board
• Activity Sheets (Crossword and Wordfind)
• Multiple Coloring Pages
• Interactive CD containing a fun educational animated video and PDFs of all the handout materials

EPIC says that these "Go Green Racer Educational Fun Packs" can help "encourage students to learn more about renewable fuels and the role they play in being good stewards of the earth. Games to coloring pages, there is something fun for everyone in your class."

So, what's with my headline? As political observers know, a lot of issues easily become something like punching bags when brought into classrooms, with evolution vs. creationism being the big one here. While ethanol production doesn't have nearly the same emotional resonance as religion - and I'm not against children learning about the potential of biofuels - something tells me these "Fun Packs" don't present a very complete picture of the ethanol story. Just an inkling.

[Source: EPIC via Domestic Fuel]

Trying to get citizens to do the heavy lifting of ethanol promotion, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council has opened up a commercial contest with a big cash prize. The call for short entries (27 seconds is the maximum length) asks for people to "Tell us in less than 30 seconds how ethanol is a part of your life and how you're fueling American independence and a greener, cleaner future one tank at a time."

Called Fuel The Change, EPIC is offering both a $10,000 grand prize and a $5,000 people's choice award, along with a few smaller prizes. Considering the strong anti-ethanol movement out there, I'm curious to see if the people's choice award - which will be "based solely on the popular vote during the last two (2) weeks of the Contest, April 21st to May 5th, 2008" - won't be hijacked by people who submit a subversively anti-ethanol video. Oh wait, only videos that are "relevant to the Sponsor's promotional objectives" will be allowed to be voted on. I see they're one step ahead of the Banksy wannabes.

Other rules are that you need to live in the U.S. and be at least 14 years old. Entries are due May 5, and complete rules can be found here. If any AutoblogGreen readers submit a video, drop us a line and we'll share your creation with our readers.

[Source: EPIC]

As I wrote yesterday, even people in Kansas have a hard time supporting corn ethanol. Still, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has never let problems with the biofuel's negative impact get in the way of talking it up at every chance. Now, that good news is going to go into overdrive with EPIC's Good News Network. According to Domestic Fuel, the GNN is a "new e-newsletter to spread the good press that ethanol is getting." I can't tell exactly how often the emails will go out, as Domestic Fuel says it's both biweekly (which means every two weeks) and "published Monday and Friday afternoons" (which implies twice a week, or semiweekly). Still, I'm pretty sure we can guess what the newsletter will contain when it does come, can't we?

[Source: EPIC via Domestic Fuel]

Even though this week's $100-a-barrel oil prices were a bit of a false alarm, expensive oil is not a joke. In response to the record rate, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) released a statement that calls ethanol one of the "realistic solutions to our dependence on a dwindling supply of energy" and says that "he ethanol industry will rise to the challenge and continue to provide a renewable, efficient, economy boosting product for Americans. Without ethanol, the cost of our oil addiction is far too great."

This is all nice and good, but saying that the cost of being addicted to oil if a huge burden is not the same as delivering us from it. And that sort of deliverance is not something that ethanol alone can bring. Sure, EPIC is careful to place the biofuel in league with other oil alternatives, but a lot more needs to be done than just putting our eggs in the corn basket.

[Source: Robert White, Interim Executive Director, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC)]

I wrote about Sam Hornish, Jr.'s initial win of $2,500 Ethanol Fast Lap contest at the Indy 500 a little over a week ago and now there's updated news. There are a total of five of these Ethanol Fast Lap days this month, four of which have now taken place. Turns out, Hornish has won the competition all four of those days and his fast lap times have earned him $10,000 from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. The awards go to the driver with the fastest practice lap speed for five days during the month of May. The final Ethanol Fast Lap day will be the 26th (Friday). Here's hoping there's other drivers up to the challenge that day.

[Source: Driving Ethanol]

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman will promote Ethanol during an appearance at Ethanol Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tomorrow, Energy Efficient Motorsport. Rahal Letterman Racing, which runs a car supported by Team Ethanol, invited Bodman, who will do a press conference about ethanol in racing and the more general future of alt-fuels in America. He will also meet with executives of the EPIC (Ethanol Promotion and Information Council).

In February, Bodman answered questions from Internet users as part of the White House's "Ask The White House" series. In that discussion, he called ethanol, "a key part of the solution to the problem of our future energy needs" and said that "cellulosic ethanol" should be cost-competitive by 2012, displacing up to 30 percent of the U.S.'s current petroleum-based fuel use.

[Source: EEMS, the White House]

South Dakota is making it a little bit easier to see Mt. Rushmore or the Corn Palace in a green car. The state office of tourism is mailing out up to 3,000 $20 ethanol vouchers to drivers to spend when they fill up with some sort of ethanol-related fuel in South Dakota. As of today, there are 64 participating gas stations in the state, but more are promised.

Only licensed drivers from 10 states (Kansas, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Missouri, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska) are eligible for these ethanol vouchers, and when drivers sign up, they “agree to receive promotional information from the South Dakota Office of Tourism, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and their partners.” Why these ten states, I don’t know. The promotion runs until August 31st.

[Source: South Dakota Office of Tourism, Hat tip to reader Autoblog.com reader Mavkato]