Here’s a thought, Quit buying gasoline and use ethanol you make yourself to run your vehicle. Sounds like a sci-fi story but it is true. I came across a Reuters story called Kick the oil habit and make your own ethanol, dated May 8, 2008. (download a PDF copy of this article here) The company is E-Fuel Corporation in Los Gatos, CA .This story says:

A new company hopes drivers will kick the oil habit by brewing ethanol at home that won't spike food prices.

E-Fuel Corp unveiled... the world's first machine that allows homeowners to make their own ethanol and pump the brew directly into their cars.

I had to check this out to see what is behind this story and I came across a Scientific American article, titled “Are Backyard Ethanol Brewers an Answer to High-Priced Gas? “ dated May 9, 2008. (download a PDF copy of this article here) This story says:

…its EFuel100 MicroFueler can produce up to 35 gallons (132 liters) of ethanol a week that consumers can pump directly into their cars and trucks. There is no combustion inside the device, which runs on a standard household 110- to 220-volt AC power supply (consuming about 150 watts per day) and uses a membrane system to distill the sugar, yeast and water solution required to make ethanol rather than combustion heating elements, as commercial ethanol producers do.

The normal process for making ethanol is to turn the product (corn, cane, algae…) into sugar and then begin the distillation process to turn the sugar into alcohol and then into ethanol. This machine (pictured above) makes the ethanol from sugar and the estimated costs are $1.00 per gallon. At 6 feet high, 6 feet deep and 42 inches wide this machine isn’t very large.

It takes 14 pounds of feedstock (sugar) to make one gallon of ethanol. Regular sugar you buy at the store will work but the price is too high. Instead they have suppliers that can provide non-food sugar from Mexico which costs 15 to 30 cents per pound. This machine also qualifies for Carbon Credits that can be used towards the purchase of this feedstock, reducing the prices further.

Making ethanol this way does not affect the food chain and food prices. The company claims that this fuel is more environmentally friendly (though that might be debatable) and that a family with 2 cars getting 22 miles per gallon driven a total of 34,500 miles per year can save $4,200 per year (assuming gasoline prices at $3.60 per gallon). They also claim that greater savings can be achieved by adding water to the ethanol, providing the mixture contains at least 65% ethanol.

This all sounds pretty good and you are probably saying “Where do I get one and how much does it cost?” Well you can click the link above to visit their website to complete the “pre-order” form and provide a $3,000 down payment towards the purchase price. They will be distributed some time this fall and the total cost is $10,000. The company doesn’t think the price is too hefty since you could achieve that much or more in savings within the first 2 years. Still seems pricey to me.