Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 6

ALL EDITIONS A6 THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1987 Alternative fuels compared Ethanol-gasoline blend Methanol-gasoline blend Methyl-butyl ether (Gasohol) (MTBE) Source: Grains, mostly corn Mostly natural gas, also coal Crude oil Estimated carbon-monoxide reduction: 1 9 to 2 1 percent 1 9 to 2 1 percent 1 5 to 1 7 percent Effects on automobiles: Could clog fuel filters, tanks Same problems as ethanol- "Virtually no impact" and lines; and swell non- gasoline blend in 5 to metallic parts in fuel 1 5 percent of cars, systems in 5 to 1 5 percent particularly those built before of cars, particularly those 1980 or by Chrysler and built before 1980. American Motors. Estimated gasoline-price increase per gallon: 1 to 5 cents 7 to 8 cents 4 cents Source: Energy and Environmental Analysis 1987 report GASOHOL Continued from A1 tmmmwm.y'. Johnson leads an entourage from Arizona down tank. Gasohol accounts for about a third of Nettie steps after viewing the inside of a gasohol braska's 260 million gallons of fuel sold annually.

Phoenix Councilman Paul Johnson (left) speaks with Todd Sneller, director of the state agency that oversees gasohol use in Nebraska. "My car tends to run better, but it's a little more expensive. It runs quicker. I'd use it all the time, except it's too expensive." Lincoln resident Matt Swanson Arizona delegation that included Valley business leaders, public officials and the media. The erouo visited an indepen- dent gas station Lincoln wnere motorists quickly drove in and out, reaching automatically for nozzles on gasohol or non-gasohol pumps, The routine was no different than the habits of Phoenix motorists who choose between premium and regu- i lar gasoline.

"My car tends to run better, but it's a little more expensive," said Lincoln resident Matt Swanson as he filled his Jeep full of 90-octane premium gasohol at 96 cents a gallon. "It runs quicker," he said. "I'd use it all the time, except it's too expensive." swanson said he uses tne luei about every three fill-ups. The station also offered a 91-oc- tane gasohol for 91 cents a gallon. The third type of gas available at the station is 87-octane unleaded gasoline without gasohol for 94 cents a gallon.

The octane number posted on gas pumps is a measure of the gaso-; line's ability to prevent engine knock. The higher the number, the greater the resistance to knock. Gasohol, on the average, boosts octane two to three points. Some stations sell it for a few cents more I than regular gas, while others charge less. Rack Edwards also chooses the rwrtrMiiitv tin Chevrolet Cavalier.

"I've never had a problem, and I get about 30 miles to a gallon," Edwards said. "I also use it in my '85 Camaro, and I've had no problems with that." Others bypassed the gasohol. "It's not good for my car. It screwed up my carburetor four times," Dave Peters said of his 1979 Plymouth Volare. Asked how he determined that, he said, "That's what the mechanic said at the Chrysler-Plymouth deal-' ership." But Sneller dismisses such com- t-loInfc Wo coi1 nrQonKnl Viae pan.

yiCXlklvO' Alt OU1U UOUliVA 11UJ VIAJV tured more than two-thirds of the pasnline market in the state's two 1 IT 1 largest cities, umana ana uncoin. uasonne is a complex prouuci, nnrt merhanirs who cannot neure out what is wrong with a vehicle often blame the fuel, he said. "This is an easy thing to point to. T'rt fltrt nnn AfC rtrnnl Viinrr fKmr rQ point to," Sneller said. "People il 1 f- A assume mai gasoime is a peiieui product.

It's not. And gasohol is 90 percent gasoline. "The guys who work on cars are typically not knowledgeable about fuel composition. There are a num- Vr rf AAmisAnanfc in rrocrtlitin fViaf can cause deterioration, cracking onA curollincr nf olnatunorc (Vilnetip nies have been saying it would cost thousands of dollars to convert gas stations to gasohol. Rod Voight, a regional manager for Decatur, Archer-Daniels-Midland one of the nation's largest ethanol producers, estimated it would cost each station $250 to $400, depending on the number of pumps.

Voight, who manages a five-state region that includes Nebraska, recommended against the mandatory use of alternative fuels. He said ethanol is good enough to sell on its own merits. The Arizona Legislature is expected to consider making alternative fuels mandatory in the winter throughout most of the state. That measure alone would clean up about a fifth of the carbon-monoxide pollution, according to a Maricopa Association of Governments study. "As as far as we're concerned," Voight said, "any time you say the word mandate, it becomes controversial, it becomes a political football.

"I can sell ethanol without a mandate. It's fine for clean air, but we also sell it as an octane enhancer, and that's how we've been selling it. We don't really need a mandate to sell the Will 91 1 -it wl mmA parts in carburetors), and typically, they will be attributed to ethanol." Before Nebraska started making ethanol available, state officials tested the fuel on state vehicles for 2 million miles from 1974 to 1977 in temperatures ranging from below zero to 105 degrees. Despite fears by car owners that gasohol fails to perform in extreme temperatures, Sneller said the tests showed otherwise. Ethanol left no carbon deposits in cars, increased octane to about 90 from 87 and did not cause vapor lock, stalling or hesitation, he said.

Recent reports on gasohol confirm Nebraska's findings. Phoenix Councilman Paul Johnson, a proponent of alternative fuels who organized the trip, said problems typically attributed to alternative fuels are mostly associated with methanol, not ethanol. Methanol blends are more corrosive and are not as common as ethanol, which is used in 29 states, Johnson said. Tests have shown that methanol blends can corrode metal and make cars hesitate and stall. "Everybody who's against the program always lumps the two together," Johnson said.

"When you lump the two together, you'll find a lot more problems." For example, he said, oil compa divorce, had consumed several beers after work. But it was the first time he was caught driving while intoxicated. In March, Paul appeared before Santa Clara County Municipal Judge LaDoris Cordell, who gave him a choice: two days in jail or, for the next three years, use a new device that would not allow his car to be started unless he first blew sober breath into an ignition-locking system. Paul opted for the ignition device, the centerpiece of a pilot program that, so far this year, has seen about 400 of the units meted out as part of the punishment package for inebriated drivers. The computerized device, which looks like a small calculator, fits snugly under the dashboard of Paul's car.

Some judges are so much in favor of the device, which is also being tested in other states, including Washington and Oregon, that they view it as a breakthrough toward reining in the drinking driver. But other law-enforcement officials say it is too etjji to tell. In Mike SmithThe Arizona Republic The controversial fuel is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent unleaded gasoline. pumps 90-octane at a gas station. Device prevents car from starting if driver has been drinking Matt Swanson of Lincoln, premium gasohol into his Jeep But whether the device will be given an official statewide endorsement depends on a state Office of Traffic Safety interim report to the California Legislature due by next July and a final report due by Jan.

1, 1990. Karen Pearson, a spokesman for Guardian Technologies, said the company also is starting to get orders from consumers (retail price tag: $486), "who are either concerned with their own drinking behavior, or concerned about someone else." "We expect a large voluntary market such as the parents of teen-age kids," added Ron Garren, president of Safety Interlock. The ignition device produced by Gar-ren's company is the invention of a Carmel Valley man that caught the eye of Assemblyman Sam Farr, who introduced legislation last year creating the pilot program. Convicted drunken driver Paul, for example, uses the AutoSense unit. The theory behind it is similar to that of the Breathalyzer, used by police in many states.

Demonstrating for a reporter, old boy and a girl, 5 he declared that he was "very open" with them about his offense, explaining that it "was a good thing to show them that I paid the price." For Paul, part of that price included a $300 court fine, plus about $800 out-of-pocket expenses to cover the cost of using the ignition device and nine weeks of classroom work on the problems of drinking and driving. Judges like Santa Clara County's Cordell, the first to use the ignition locking system, are counting on this technology to alter the drinking driver's behavior patterns. A recent check of Paul's printout, she said, tells her "he's basically clean. He's not a menace to anyone anymore." Paul's example, she added, is why she's so high on the device. "It will change behaviors and contribute toward eliminating the drinking-driver problem," believes Cordell, a former assistant dean of students at Stanford Law School.

"It forces people to recognize how much they are drinking. Then it prohibits them, from continuing their drinking-driving behavior." Paul plucked the device from under the dash and punched in a four-number code, activating the system. He then breathed into a mouthpiece atop the deyice which, in turn, is attached to a cord. A blue digital readout of his blood-alcohol level appeared on a display to the left of the steering wheel. The entire process can be completed in about 12 seconds.

Some critics argue that the system can be circumvented by having someone else breathe into it. For this reason, the Guardian company has developed a "breath code" involving a series of short and long breaths to activate the device. Guardian's competitors say they are skeptical of such a system. "It's a pain, and sometimes it's a little humiliating," Paul said. There are times, he said, when he hunkers down in the driver's seat so that passers-by cannot watch him go through the drill.

Still, he added, "it was a good idea for me. A good idea for everyone (who drinks). I'd hate to get hit by a drunk driver." As for his children a 10-year- any case, they add, a scheming drinking driver can circumvent it. And, to be sure, some defendants do not like it, charging that it is humiliating to use and smacks too much of "Big Brother." For. her part, Cordell has been using the device in conjunction with a defendant's first drunken-driving offense.

Under state law, the first conviction allows a 48-hour minimum jail sentence, a minimum fine of $390, 90 days of restricted driving privileges such as only commuting to work plus up to three years' probation. But mostly the locking system's use has been confined to a second conviction, which can also include 48 hours to a year in jail. Three companies AutoSense Corp. of Hayward, Safety Interlock of Monterey, and Guardian Interlock Systems of Denver are marketing the ignition-interlock hardware, primarily in Alameda, Sonoma and San Diego counties. A handful of judges in other areas of the state, suci as in Los Angeles County, have used it too.

Bv RONALD L. SOBLE Los Angeles Times Paul recalled having "six or seven, maybe more" beers with a kiill loci of a Jianomit in A ...1 Vupcl tliiu, vaiii. xjju vvucu tiicjr finally drove off in Paul's beat-up, hrnum 1Q8fl HrmHn autn thpv wprA fimnsVipH. "I was drunk. No doubt about it," Jie recalled recently.

i i r'AU nHfi iiriveii umv a ihw uiuckh un uusv owjveus ji ten. i i cil i. Boulevard when a wire short-cir-" cuited, sparking an engine fire. As he was Duttine out the blaze, he said, an unmarked Santa Clara deputy oiierea assisiance. Then, Paul remembered, she got a willll Ul ma uicaui, auu aoivtu, "Have you been drinking?" "Yes," was Paul's honest reply.

A subsequent blood-alcohol test revealed that Paul had a level of 0.17 percent, clearly above California's driving-under-the-influence legal standard of 0.10 percent. It was not the first time the 33-year-old Paul (he asked for anorymity), still adjusting from a.