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From the Newport News, Va., Daily Press

Energy expert touts 'flex-fuel'

Author-engineer Robert Zubrin says vehicles that run on biofuels will help the U.S. break its oil addiction.

By PATRICK LYNCH, Reporter

January 24, 2008

HAMPTON — — Robert Zubrin thinks the United States can break free from the grip of Middle East oil-producing countries by immediately mandating that all cars sold in this country be "flex-fuel vehicles," capable of running on gasoline, ethanol or methanol.

Once the cars are on the road, the sheer number of them could provide a huge boost to the biofuel market and lead station owners to install more pumps for alternative fuels. That could give drivers a cheaper option at the pump and lessen the U.S. economy's reliance on oil, Zubrin said.

The aerospace engineer and wide-ranging thinker spoke at NASA Langley Research Center to kick off the center's yearlong focus on "green" topics. Zubrin is best-known for his advocacy of Mars exploration but spoke Wednesday about the themes in his most recent book: "Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil."

Ethanol and methanol represent the best short-term chance to power the country's transportation sector with sources other than gasoline, Zubrin said. They also could represent a step away from relying so heavily on what he called terrorism-sponsoring countries for our energy needs.

Ethanol is made mostly from corn and sugar. Methanol can be made from fossil fuels, just about any plant material and even residential trash. Production technologies for both alcohol-based fuels are advancing, Zubrin said.

What holds them back from making a bigger impact on the economy is the lack of vehicles built to run on them and the lack of widely available ethanol and methanol fuel pumps, Zubrin argued.

He endorsed a congressional mandate that all cars sold in the United States be flex-fuel cars. U.S. automakers already produce more than 20 models, which retail for only a few hundred dollars more than standard vehicles. More flex-fuel cars were sold last year than hybrids, Zubrin said.

The mandate, Zubrin said, would set in motion a chain of events that would make ethanol and methanol worldwide competitors with gasoline. Foreign automakers wouldn't want to lose any share of the U.S. market, so they would begin manufacturing flex-fuel cars everywhere.

A growing worldwide demand for the corn and sugar cane required for intensive production of alcohol fuels could be met by, and be a boon to, many developing countries, he said.

Brazil is the one major country where a widespread ethanol economy exists (it was kick-started decades ago by the demands of the military oligarchy government). Zubrin said the South American country does not import any foreign oil.

At the time of the 1973 oil embargo, which crippled the economy, the United States received 30 percent of its oil from Arab countries, Zubrin said. Now, we receive 60 percent of our oil from those countries.

The U.S. energy policy in the intervening three decades, he noted, has been a "scandal of fecklessness and failure."