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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]

Système U, a chain of gas stations in France, has decided to stop delivering E85 at the 22 pumps where it was on sale. According to the company's press release, "This biofuel has not found its public. The French adhesion is just not there." Système U comprises more than 900 shops in France, 600 of which have gas pumps.

The 22 pumps where E85 was distributed barely sold an average of 1000 liters a day (about 250 gallons), mainly because of the low number of flex-fuel vehicles currently running in France. Previously Système U's had plans to grow to 100 pumps in two years' time. Currently, only 211 pumps in France are selling E85, 43 at Leclerc and 42 at Carrefour supermarkets.

France is actually in "pause mode" regarding first-generation biofuels, as French Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo announced last week. However, he also said that current investments in this technology should be "honored."

[Source: Les Echos via Le Blog Auto]

That didn't take long. We've just discussed what the news that Underwriters Laboratories would certify ethanol/E85 pumps might mean, now we already have official word that such certification has been established. UL announced yesterday that safety requirements for E85 fuel dispensing equipment have been set up, and you're all now more than welcome to submit equipment for certification.

UL says it has gone through a "comprehensive research program to investigate potential safety concerns associated with dispensing highly concentrated ethanol-blended fuels." This program looked at how E85 is being pumped in the U.S. and, smartly, Brazil and included a forum of "32 national experts from automobile and petroleum companies, ethanol producers, dispenser and component manufacturers, industry associations, government agencies and university researchers." I'd say they did their homework. Now let's see if this brings the promised changes to the ethanol market in 2008.

Related:

• With UL-approved ethanol pumps, 2008 could be big E85 year

[Source: UL]

Sure, corn farmers and ethanol producers are very keen to see that you always have E85 available to you when you go to fill up your car. 2008 just might be the year when we do stop noticing E85 pumps because they will be everywhere. Next year's possible E85 explosion will not only come from a large supply of ethanol, but because of new pumps (this is something we've mentioned before).

Steve Tarter, writing in the Peoria Journal Star, explains that certification of ethanol pumps by Underwriters Laboratories is expected by the end of 2007. Once that happens, watch out. Mark Lambert, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board's marketing director, said that the official UL seal opens the door to many more stores to sell the biofuel. "We're not just looking at the Mom and Pop stores but chains like Wal-Mart that could add 300 E85 outlets at one time," he told Tarter.

[Source: Peoria Journal Star]