Wal-Mart To Bring E85 To The Masses?
Fortune's Marc Gunther takes a look at how Wal-Mart, with their massive amount of gas stations (both through ownership and a partnership with Murphy Oil Corp), is looking at offering E85 fuel (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline).
This move, outside of being a business decision, is fueled by Wal-Mart's vision of being a more environmentally-responsible company.
I'm excited for them to do this. It's going to rush ethanol ahead in development, reducing our dependance on foreign and hopefully weakening the control the oil companies have over our economy and lives.
An important thing to note is that although Wal-Mart would clearly dominate the E85 market early on (since they would be adding potentially 3,000 locations to a current number of 800 gas stations offering E85), I don't think that market position would hold. There would be plenty of competition coming later as more gas stations get on board with E85. The catch I would see is if Wal-Mart would be able to get exclusive deals with E85 producers, which would limit the ability of the market to compete.
Tags: Wal-Mart, ethanol, E85
This move, outside of being a business decision, is fueled by Wal-Mart's vision of being a more environmentally-responsible company.
I'm excited for them to do this. It's going to rush ethanol ahead in development, reducing our dependance on foreign and hopefully weakening the control the oil companies have over our economy and lives.
An important thing to note is that although Wal-Mart would clearly dominate the E85 market early on (since they would be adding potentially 3,000 locations to a current number of 800 gas stations offering E85), I don't think that market position would hold. There would be plenty of competition coming later as more gas stations get on board with E85. The catch I would see is if Wal-Mart would be able to get exclusive deals with E85 producers, which would limit the ability of the market to compete.
Tags: Wal-Mart, ethanol, E85
posted by Jeramey @ 8/13/2006 03:25:00 PM
2 Comments:
At August 13, 2006 4:36 PM ,
Anonymous said...
What? Wal-Mart doing something good for America? Go figure! But, those to the left will still find reason to hate Wal-Mart (yet continue to shop there). As if providing thousands of jobs to American workers who need them most and providing products to customers at low prices so consumers can afford them is not enough, now they are helping America's farm industry AND helping the environment! Keep hating them everyone! A company like this is SURELY bad for America!
RA
At August 13, 2006 4:44 PM ,
Jeramey said...
I think you're missing something, like my past posts. I'm clearly a political leftist and standing in support of what Wal-Mart is doing in regards to these issues.
If Wal-Mart does something stupid, yeah I'll jump on them. If they do something I think is good, I'll praise them.
The environmental things they are doing right now are praise worthy.
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