One solution to America’s dependence on foreign oil may soon be at every corner gas station. In April this year, two West Des Moines gas stations opened E85 gas pumps, offering a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, and the number of E85 outlets continues to rise.

Until last month, the nearest E85 pump to West Des Moines was at a Kum and Go convenience store in Ankeny. Now the 11,000 cars in Polk County capable of running on E85 fuel can fill up at the Kum and Go convenience store on South Jordan Creek Parkway and the Hy-Vee gas station on 51st Street. Dahl’s Foods also plans to open two E85 gas pumps as part of eight new gasoline dispensers being built at its Merle Hay supermarket. Dahls will become the 37th location in Iowa to offer E85.

“Customers are asking for E85,” said Lucy Norton, managing director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA), “They are purchasing flexible-fuel vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol. They are anxious to have access to fuel they can use and are looking for an alternative to fossil fuel.”

Although there is no EPA-approved conversion kit to enable standard gasoline-powered vehicles to run on E85, more consumers are purchasing flexible-fuel vehicles that allow them to choose between regular and E85 fuel. E85 tends to be a cleaner and more environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline and helps lessen dependence on fossil fuels. The cost is about 40 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded without ethanol, but because vehicles using E85 get about 5 to 20 percent fewer miles per gallon, the price is comparable to regular fuel.

Sales of E85 fuel in Iowa for the first three months this year are already nine times higher than in 2005, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources expects at least a million gallons will be sold by the end of the year. From 2003 to 2005, sales increased 700 percent, with 26 stations selling a combined total of 668,595 gallons last year.

“We saw an opportunity in the marketplace and felt like it would be a good opportunity for customers and us,” said Maureen Roushar, public relations director for Kum and Go. “E85 has surpassed our expectations for the amount of volume sold.”

Although installing equipment compatible with E85, including pumps and tanks, can cost as much as $60,000 for an entirely new system, Monte Shaw, executive director of the IRFA, said it’s comparable to installing a new regular gas pump. To help offset the price for new equipment and to encourage old stations to convert pumps to E85, the IRFA offers a cost-share grant though the Grow Iowa Values Fund Infrastructures Program to help cover 50 percent of the total cost.

In April, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill calling for 25 percent of all fuel sales to be ethanol or biodiesel by 2019. Gov. Tom Vilsack plans to sign the bill, and the government will add $13 million over the next three years to the Values Fund program. This will allow the IRFA to go from being able to help 10 to 20 businesses with $325,000 over three years to being able to fund more than 100.

“As people realize money is available and see competitors put it in,” Shaw says, “you’ll start to see that the smart retailers are going to wake up and take advantage of these grants while money is available.”

Already Norton is aware of 20 stations throughout the state planning to install E85 pumps this year. This goes hand in hand with Shaw’s expectation that one in every three or four cars manufactured will be capable of running on the alternative fuel.

“There’s been a tremendous response to E85,” she said. “Sales are very strong in locations that have built it and that’s based on a consumer demand for it.”