Source: Examiner
Ethanol is the fuel of the future — or so we are being led to believe. In the wake of the top three U.S. automakers’ pledge to build 50 percent of their products as flex-fuel vehicles, some industry experts say consumers are being misled about its benefits.

“It’s a total scam,” said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club’s global warming program. “The automakers are trying to shield themselves from having to make more efficient vehicles. They’re avoiding the path to cutting oil dependence, curbing global warming, saving consumers money and ultimately saving Detroit from competitors like Toyota.” The reality is that ethanol, an outgrowth of the Alternative Motor Fuels Act, has done more to spawn a billion-dollar industry than to lessen the total cost consumers will pay at the pump, said David Friedman, research director for the vehicles program for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Under the act, automakers receive credit for building vehicles that run on alternative fuel, but the vehicles are not fuel-efficient. Ethanol is a win because it costs manufacturers only $50 per vehicle to make it a flex-fuel vehicle. However, the end product is a gas-guzzling, fuel-inefficient vehicle that will actually create more greenhouse gases than those that run on gasoline, Friedman said. [more]