The World in 2030

The World in 2030 203
most have never had a drop of E85 (ethanol fuel) in
their tank. They are only fueled with standard gasoline
blends. There are over 6 million vehicles on the
US streets that could run E85. Most never have.
Most FFVs are oil guzzlers; fueled with E85, they are
corn guzzlers. In 2007 the best rated car running on
E85 was the Chevrolet Impala, with a United States
EPA mileage rating of 16 miles per gallon in the city
and 23 on the highway when fueled with E85. For a
typical US year of driving, the annual fuel cost would
be at $1,657 and 6 tons of CO 2
would be emitted by
this FFV when running on E85.
A big problem is that ethanol cuts miles per gallon
by about 27 per cent. The energy content of E85 is
83,000 BTU/gallon, instead of 114,000 BTU/gallon
for gasoline. Even by 2030, the US Energy Information
Administration (EIA) projects that only 1.4 per
cent of ethanol use will be E85. The vast majority will
be for small percentage blending with gasoline. 386
So, if ethanol is an unsuitable biofuel (except perhaps as a
basis for jet fuel – see previous section) what type of biofuel
might have a role in the sustainable world of energy?
One solution is to re-use fats and oils which have already
been used for one purpose for transportation energy – as the
McDonald’s restaurants do in the UK. The company’s 150
trucks are powered by the vegetable oil that has cooked their
popular hamburgers and fries. 387