28-05-08 A new company hopes American drivers will help kick country’s oil addiction by brewing ethanol at home.
E-Fuel has unveiled the "MicroFueler", touting it as the world’s first machine that allows homeowners to make their own ethanol and pump the brew directly into their cars. The portable unit that sells for $ 10,000 resembles a gasoline station pump and nozzle, but instead of tapping gasoline from an underground tank, the pump’s back end plugs into home power and water supplies to make ethanol for as little as $ 1 a US gallon (3.8 litres), according to E-Fuel.

The company says one of the machine’s top selling points is its sweet tooth. It ferments fuel from sugar, the price of which is historically cheap as global supplies are glutted. That means it avoids the Achilles heel of today’s US ethanol system -- reliance on corn -- which has been blamed for contributing to spiralling global food prices.
“No mother in America is crying that their kids aren’t getting enough sugar,” said Tom Quinn, CEO and founder of E-Fuel.

Regular table sugar is too expensive, so E-Fuels says it will link customers to cheaper surplus supplies, including inedible sugar from Mexico that sells at a fraction of the price. It also hopes to get users to help pay for feedstock by selling carbon credits for using the machine, since making ethanol from sugar emits fewer greenhouse gases than making it from corn.
“We will break the traditional ethanol system,” said Quinn a California computer and computer games inventor.

He said that despite the steep upfront costs the machines will pay for themselves quickly. For a two-car family that drives about 34,500 miles a year (55,520 km), the MicroFueler will pay for itself in less than two years, assuming average gasoline prices of $ 3.60 per gallon, the company said.
The unit makes up to 35 gallons (132 litres) of 100 % ethanol per week.