The Black Nozzle Pledge

Last year, we actually grew corn here in Lansing. It was only two maize plants, but we still don't know how they got there. We do some gardening, but we haven't grown corn in years. I managed to squeeze 8 ears of corn from the two plants - which sprouted in August! One grew to be 6 feet tall; the other, only 3 feet. 

Back in November last year, I was driving these 8 ears over to the Carbon Green BioEnergy ethanol plant in Lake Odessa. Halfway there, I ran out of fuel in the "E85 dead zone" know as Portland, Michigan. 20 miles from E85 in Lansing, and 20 miles from the public ethanol pump at the plant in Lake Odessa. I was furious. Unable to get E85, I was forced to break down and buy an overpriced fuel container at the Speedway there, and fill it with tar sands, er uh, gasoline.  Due to my clumsiness, only about 1.1 gallons of the original 2.3 made it into my car's tank. A state trooper gave me a ride to my car (I should have taken notes - the Charger he gave me a ride in would end up being the type of car I'd get the next summer!). I had barely enough fuel to get to Carbon Green BioEnergy, and put in the absolute minimum to get there. With gasoline all over my hands, I finally made it. 

That day, I began beating myself up over how irresponsible I felt. I knew the fuel tank was low, but decided to chance it so that I could fill up at the plant in Lake Odessa. This could have been avoided. It took a while to get over it - even though it was only two gallons of gasoline, compared to the millions sold every day in the United States. I then made a pledge. Thanks to a battery-powered lawn mower, and a battery-powered weedwacker, I had no need to ever touch a black nozzle for any reason. To this day, 238 days later to be exact, this remains the case. I have not purchased an ethanol blend lower than E50 since. 

While in Florida for the 2014 National Ethanol Conference, I ran out of fuel again. This time on the side of Florida 408 on the east side of metro Orlando. While waiting for a triple A dispatched driver to come, I had a Florida Highway maintenance vehicle stop by. He verified that I had run out of fuel, and offered to give me the gallon of gas he had in the back. I wanted nothing to do with gasoline, so I just said I'd wait for the driver to come. Three hours and one infuriated, irritable dad later, I finally got to fill the Sebring with E85 at a Shell station on Florida's Turnpike. 19.1 gallons into a 16.9 gallon tank.

I hope that battery technology improves for lawn equipment, and I hope that I can get as many people as possible to take the same pledge I have. It's not rocket science finding E85. We have the E85 station locator app from e85prices.com, we have the "Flex Fuel Locator" and "FlexFinder" apps. One of my personal favorites is "Alternative Fuels" by William Moffitt (iPhone/iPad only: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alternative-fuels/id655668911?mt=8). 

www.e85prices.com is an awesome site to find E85. What even more awesome is that this site tracks ethanol-free (E0) prices and stations, E10, E15, E20, E25, E30, E40, and E50 too. It has an interactive map to show where stations are, and as mentioned, you can see user-submitted prices! All it takes on my end is knowing when the fuel tank is low, and filling up ASAP. I should never again go into an "E85 dead zone" with a low amount of fuel.