500 MPG
Renewable fuels like ethanol won’t wean us from oil all by themselves. But they are critical as part of a diversified energy strategy that also includes other fuel-saving vehicle technologies. Here’s an example:
Take a hybrid vehicle like the Toyota Prius. Convert it to a “plug-in” hybrid, so it can use a standard electrical outlet to charge its battery. Now make it flex-fuel capable, so it can use E85 instead of regular gasoline.
What do you get? 500 miles on one gallon of gasoline mixed with five gallons of ethanol.
That’s a long way down the road to energy security.
Sources:
“Continuing the Clean-Car Revolution,” by Paula J. Dobriansky and R. James Woolsey, Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2008.
