Phillip Lampert compares his job promoting E85 with that of a bottled water salesman 20 years ago. At that time, no one could have imagined that giving up five feet of refrigerator space for water would some day be the most profitable move a convenience store manager could make.
Similarly, the executive director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) says he must "break paradigms" in order to sell his idea. It's taken a lot of education, advocacy and marketing to influence ethanol producers, fuel retailers, automakers, consumers, the oil industry and the government, he says.
Lampert admits that the ethanol industry hasn't always accepted E85, but it's come a long way. "We had visionaries to bring E10 where it is today, and I think there are visionaries that are moving toward making E85 a mainstream fuel of the future," he says. Additionally, the growing production pool is prompting the search for other market opportunities. "E85 could be the new profit center where we could sell this product," he says.
Developing a market for the product has been a long road for Lampert. Automakers have been building flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) for almost 10 years but didn't promote sales until February 2006. General Motors' "Live Green, Go Yellow" advertising campaign was a major coup for Lampert and the NEVC. "It had been such a goal and struggle to have the automakers embrace this program," he says, which explains why, when he first saw the promotion, tears came to his eyes.
The opinions of government policymakers have also shifted, says Lampert, an industry advocate since the early 1990s. He has been at the forefront of shaping ethanol policy and promoting E85 since 1991 when he was chosen to represent Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft in the newly formed Governors' Ethanol Coalition (GEC). He was involved in major legislation, including 1990 Energy Policy Act revisions and 1992 Clean Air Act revisions, which contained a proposal to establish a renewable oxygenate standard. Additionally, the first FFV introduced in 1992 was the result of a public policy initiative that had been established by the GEC.
In 1997, Lampert helped found the NEVC as an ad-hoc group. It was incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit organization in 2000. Out of 65 applicants for the executive director position, the board of directors chose Lampert to continue to lead the organization. Through the years, his duties have changed. "I've gone from 1995 when my job was mostly technical work to 90 percent policy work now," he says.
The policy work is focused primarily on incentives for E85 fueling stations and FFV production. "We've worked very hard to encourage government to provide incentives," Lampert says. He cites a 2005 law to provide an income tax credit for E85 fueling facilities, as well as state tax credits. One of the biggest policies to boost E85 was the blenders' tax credit revision in 2003 and 2004. "Prior to that, it was difficult to receive benefits if you were blending E85," Lampert says. "We were able to change that so that taking advantage of the credit is now very straightforward."
Lampert is currently working to increase the incentive for E85 from the current 51 cents, to 1 cent per percentage of ethanol blend. The intent is to offset the mileage reductions that are apparent with the use of E85. "If we add more incentives, we need to ensure that the consumer receives the majority of the benefit to offset loss of mileage," he says.
Lampert believes E85 is at the cusp of becoming a mainstream fuel. His vision for E85 is to see 50,000 stations selling it and 50 million cars using it. "Once it becomes a mainstream fuel, we won't need an organization like the NEVC," he says. "I don't know if that's in two years or 10 years."
It's doubtful that Lampert will move on from ethanol at that time. "I've given some thought to the cellulosic industry," he says. "That's where E85 was 10 years ago."
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