It'd be even sunnier in Pittsburgh if GM's customers drove on E85.

By Gunnar Heinrich

No, the General hasn't taken up bartending on weekends to make ends meet.

GM is busy promoting the fact that according to its numbers, if every one of its customers who live in greater Pittsburgh, PA and drive Genuine GM E85-ready cars swapped dino-juice for corn booze, there'd be 6.2 million gallons of gasoline left over every year for the rest of us.

But those Pittsburghers are such gas hogs. Little do they realize how readily accessible everyone of those (count 'em) seven local ethanol pumps (not stations) are to be used at their disposal. Talk about convenience and ease of access.

Well, the General's out to tell them. And to try and encourage that a few more E85 pumps get put in locally.

Read the full press release after the jump.

[Source: GM]



-GM PR

FOR RELEASE: 2007-10-04

GM Promotes E85 Ethanol Infrastructure in Pittsburgh

Automaker Partners with Fuel Producers and State to Grow Biofuels Awareness

PITTSBURGH - If the 10,305 owners of General Motors E85 ethanol-capable vehicles in the Pittsburgh area refueled solely with E85 ethanol fuel, they could save an estimated 6.2 million gallons of gasoline every year. Millions of additional gallons of gas could be saved if all owners of flex-fuel vehicles regularly used mostly renewable E85.

Ethanol can be made from domestic resources that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the nation's dependence on imported petroleum. Educating consumers about the use of E85 as an alternative to gasoline is the goal of GM's E85 Fall Kick Off of the Fuel for Thought Tour.

Pittsburgh is the first of six stops on the national tour that runs through mid-November.

As part of the tour, Carnegie Mellon University, a leading ethanol researcher, will host a biofuels forum on Tuesday, Oct. 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Porter Hall. Representatives from Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, Sheetz Inc., the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and GM will discuss the manufacture, availability and benefits of ethanol, and dispel myths about E85.

On Oct. 10 at the Sheetz station at 3954 William Penn Ave. in Monroeville, GM and Sheetz will sell E85 ethanol for 85 cents per gallon from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. E85 ethanol regularly sells for about $2.40. In Pittsburgh, the average cost of a gallon of midgrade gasoline was $2.88 as of Oct. 2.

There are seven E85 ethanol fuel pumps within 100 miles of Pittsburgh. According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, there are more than 1,200 ethanol fueling stations in the U.S. www.e85refueling.com

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell is a strong biofuels supporter as exemplified by his strategy requiring that all diesel or gasoline sold in the state have a percentage of ethanol or biodiesel by 2017 and that the state be in a position to produce 1 billion gallons of alternative fuels in the same time frame. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/energindependent/site/default.asp

For the 2008 model year, GM has 10 E85-capable vehicle models that comprise an annual production of more than 400,000 vehicles. The vehicles are equipped with a yellow fuel cap and badging that indicates the vehicle can be fueled with any mix of gasoline and ethanol up to 85 percent ethanol.

"At GM, we believe ethanol has by far the greatest potential of anything we can do during the next decade to actually reduce U.S. oil consumption, reduce oil imports and reduce carbon gas emissions," said Elizabeth A. Lowery, GM vice president, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy. "The work being done by Gov. Rendell, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon is critical to the growth of the ethanol infrastructure.