New Study: Ethanol Saves U.S. Drivers Over $50 Billion Each Year

With a Middle East crisis once again roiling global oil markets, a new report shows that American-made ethanol keeps gasoline prices down saving drivers well over $50 billion each year, or 39 cents per gallon.

In the report, George Hoekstra of Hoekstra Trading LLC, an expert in petroleum refinery process research and technology management, analyzed the economics of substituting ethanol for refinery-derived gasoline, considering the effects on both octane value and energy content. Ethanol is a high-octane, low-cost component of the fuel supply. The report estimates the cost of refinery-derived octane to be 4.5 times higher than that of ethanol-derived octane.