Source: Commercial Appeal
Tennessee state agencies missed the Jan. 1 goal of cutting gas and diesel use because of gaps in the supply of biofuels, according to recent state audit.
Legislation enacted in 2007 required all state agencies, universities and community colleges that have more than 10 cars to develop a plan to increase the use of alternative fuels and synthetic lubricants and switch to fuel-efficient or low-emission vehicles.
The recent audit by the Comptroller of the Treasury found that only the Tennessee Board of Regents' central office has met the goal. Other agencies, like the Department of Transportation and the Department of General Services, said they have had difficulties finding biofuels across the state.
Alan Jones, manager of the environmental policy office at TDOT, said there are still some big gaps between commercial biofuel pumps across the state, including much of West Tennessee and around Chattanooga.
"The 20 percent reduction was a challenging goal," he said.
According to TDOT, there are just 33 pumps across the state selling B20, a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel fuel. Another 27 pumps provide E85, a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
In West Tennessee there are just two locations that sell B20 and none that sell E85.
Jones said it's a difficult problem because gas station owners won't sell biofuels until there's a demand, but there won't be a demand until there are more vehicles on the road that can use biofuels.
About 9 million cars on the roads today are flexible fuel vehicles, meaning they can use E85 or regular petroleum fuel, he said.
"A lot of those vehicle owners continue to use 100 percent unleaded and in fact, surveys have shown that a lot of those vehicle owners don't even realize they can use E85," he said.
