A lot more people are thinking of ways to save money and get away from using gasoline, and the letters I?ve been receiving lately reflect that.
CJ writes: “As an Ellicott City resident working at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I can tell you I travel 13 miles to work one way. It takes me about 10 minutes on Route 40 to travel halfway to about the Beltway, and more than 30 minutes to travel the other half of Route 40 from the Beltway to JHH. As my schedule varies, the MTA bus route is not an option. I would like to see the Metro expanded from downtown like spokes on a wheel to the Beltway, with a Metro Beltway loop line. … This would really elevate traffic/congestion in and out of the city and around the Beltway. The rising transportation costs will ?drive? people to use it.”
I agree and the demands on the state to increase and improve transit options are likely to get a lot louder.
On another albeit-related topic, Courtney writes: “With all of the talk of alternative fuel and with the high price of gas, I decided to try out E85. I drove to the Fort Meade Chevron, which is the closest station to my house (14 miles round trip) and found out that the price for E85 was $3.22 a gallon. Regular gas was $3.11 at the same station, while at the station I usually go to it is $2.99 a gallon and its only one mile away. Why in the world would anyone use E85? I?m guessing that the government vehicles at Fort Meade are required to use E85, so in other words, this gas station is stealing our tax money and pricing us out of using E85. So the CEO of Exxon says that if we want lower gas prices, we need to stop using so much gas. … Exactly how does the average suburban family do that? Not by using E85!”
E85 is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol to 15 percent unleaded gasoline. Ethanol is made from grains such as corn that the U.S. leads the world in producing. The cost is high because there aren?t yet the huge manufacturing systems in place to produce it. That could change and America?s farmlands could thrive. Consider the extra cost in the same way as the purchase of a hybrid vehicle: more money to do the same thing but with the benefit of reducing fuel consumption and helping the environment. The big problem right now is that only certain vehicles can use it.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
