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Errata for Biofuels in the U.S. Transportation Sector as of 10/15/07
 

Paragraph 14 should read:

E10 (10 percent ethanol) has 3.3 percent less energy content per gallon than conventional gasoline. E85 (which currently averages 74 percent ethanol by volume) has 24.1 percent less energy per gallon than conventional gasoline. AEO2007 assumes that engine thermal efficiency remains the same whether the vehicle burns conventional gasoline, E10, or E85. This means that 1.03 gallons of E10 or 1.32 gallons of E85 are needed for a vehicle to cover the same distance that it would with a gallon of conventional gasoline. Although the difference is not expected to have a significant effect on purchases of E10, AEO2007 assumes that motorists whose vehicles are able to run on E85 or conventional gasoline will compare the two fuels on the basis of price per unit of energy.

Table 12. Energy content of biofuels should be corrected as follows:

Fuel

Btu per gallon
(low heating value)

Btu per gallon
(high heating value)

Gallons of gasoline equivalent
(high heating value)
Conventional Gasoline
115,500
125,071
1.00
Fuel ethanol (E100)
76,000
84,262
0.67
E85 (74% blend on average)
--
94,872
0.76
Distillate fuel oil (diesel)
128,500
138,690
1.11
Biodiesel (B100)
118,296
128,520
1.03