e85 grants

Unlike many states in the northeast, Indiana, a state in America’s corn belt, is taking the right steps to help their retailers upgrade their fuel tanks to allow dispensing of e85 fuel. Indiana is beginning to offer their retailers grants to help convert their fuel tanks to hold e85 ethanol fuel. Retailers can expect grants up to $5,000.

As many retailers know, upgrading their fuel tanks to distribute e85 ethanol fuel can be a very expensive endeavor. The Indiana Corn Marketing Council hopes to offer as much help as possible to any retailer that will help promote and distribute e85.

According to representatives of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, their grant plus the corn checkoff grant program can pay big dividends to local retailers should the state of Indiana raise the corn checkoff to $20,000 which is currently proposed.

Currently in the state of Indiana, there is just below 100 e85 stations.

With the help of this grant, this should help may new retailers in Indiana convert to e85 tanks. The Indiana Corn Marketing Council is trying to make e85 fuel mainstream to everyone who have already done the correct thing and gone out and bought a flex-fuel automobile, a car that uses E85 or regular gasoline.

Hopefully other states in the United States will consider such grants them selfs. With little e85 penetration in the nation’s east coast grants such as these will allow e85 to gain a good foot hold for the United States to rely less on foreign oil.

Custom e85 chopper

Orange county choppers revealed a very green chopper, a first of its kind. This chopper runs on e85 ethanol. It was the first one that they have built which only uses e85.

OCC e85 ethanol custom chopper
America’s First Renewable Energy Chopper

Some of the features from the bike are as follows:

Wind Turbine Spokes
Here’s where the Teutuls paid homage to the wind. Iowa ranks third in the nation for wind power, with over 900 wind turbines across the state, with plans for another 300 more. Right now we can harvest enough wind to power 250,000 Iowa homes. Wind energy is the cleanest renewable energy source and reduces more then 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

E85 Gas Cap
This bad boy runs on e85. E85 or 85% ethanol ethanol blended gas burns cleaner, which reduces green house gases, can be grown right here in Iowa and helps increase our energy independence.

Soybean and Corn Paint Detail
Even though the bike runs on e85 and not biodiesel, the Teutuls still wanted to call out Iowa’s biodiesel industry. The fuel is clean-burning, biodegradable fuel typically produced from soybeans or animal fat. It is also great for the environment since it reduces sulfur and carbon dioxide emissions.

Corn Head “Scoop”
Orange County Choppers designed the corn-head to represent the part of the machine used to harvest our main crops; the combine. Iowa farmers lead the nation in corn and soybean production and their hard work and dedication make our nation’s renewable energy movement a reality.

E-85 Logo
You might see this very same logo at gas stations all around Iowa. If you have a flex-fuel vehicle, this is the fuel to use because 85% of it was made right here in Iowa. If you don’t see this logo at your local gas station, be sure to ask them to start selling e85.

Livestock Seat
For ethanol plants to be successful and efficient, having livestock nearby is very important. Cattle eat what’s left over from making ethanol: Distillers Grain and Solubles (DGS). By feeding this coproduct to cattle, ethanol plants save money on transportation costs (they don’t have to ship it out of state), and livestock farmers save money on feed costs.

Farm Bureau Logo
Why did we have this bike built? Well, as Iowa’s largest general agriculture organization, our members expect us to promote and celebrate their efforts on the farm. And what better way then taking all the great things they grow and use for renewable energy and rolling it all into the look and feel of a custom OCC Chopper!

Ethanol Plant Piping Exhaust
These custom pipes were designed to look like some of the pipes used in Iowa’s modern ethanol plants that help Iowa the nation’s leader in ethanol production.

E85 Fuel Pump Certification By End Of Year

Underwriters Laboratories announces excellent news for the ethanol industry. UL representatives say that they will be begin to accept E85 fuel pumps for intensive tests by the end of 2007. UL states that they are currently expecting to finalize studies and will publish certification requirements by the end of the fourth quarter of this year. Shortly after the publishing UL will begin to accept E85 dispensing equipment for certification compliance and safety screening.

UL has worked with the US Department of Energy in an expansive scientific research study that is researching the long term, potentially corrosive effects of highly concentrated ethanol on the components of E85 dispensers, and ethanol’s subsequent effects on fire and environmental safety.

The UL certification is expected to expand the infrastructure of distribution for E85 ethanol, which is now mainly managed in America’s Midwest. UL develops standards and safety for much than 19,000 merchandise types, including petroleum and other fuel systems.