Fact Sheet: A Brief History of Octane in Gasoline, From Lead to Ethanol

A cornerstone of U.S. environmental policy has been the reduction of harmful tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Thanks to EPA regulations of mobile sources, air pollutants have been reduced by millions of tons in the urban environment. Several EPA fuel regulations have concerned octane. Octane is a gasoline additive that is needed for the proper functioning of modern engines. Octane sources have taken many forms throughout the years, both renewable and petroleum-based. They include lead, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene (BTEX), and ethanol (a biofuel). As adverse health and environmental consequences have been discovered for lead and petroleum-based octane providers, they have been removed from the fuel supply or decreased. Today, there are two primary sources of octane used in the U.S. gasoline supply, the BTEX complex (a petroleum refining product commonly referred to as gasoline aromatics), and ethanol

Fact Sheet: The Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act

Today, 10 percent of the U.S. gasoline supply is provided by renewable fuel, primarily ethanol. Increasing the use of renewable fuel, which is more sustainable and less polluting than gasoline, will require the greater adoption of higher ethanol blends in the transportation fuel supply. While electrification of the light-duty fleet could achieve the greatest potential reductions in both tailpipe emissions and greenhouse gases (GHG), the lifecycle of the vehicle fleet and market realities suggest that the internal combustion engine will continue to dominate the light-duty fleet for several decades.The transportation sector currently accounts for 27 percent of U.S. GHG emissions. To address rising transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollutants, steps are available to immediately reduce emissions from the transportation sector. Greater use of E15 (15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline), a fuel usable by nearly 90 percent of cars on the road today, is one such step. Additionally, utilizing mid-level ethanol blends (E25 to E40) in the near future will optimize the cleaner, more fuel-efficient internal combustion engines being produced by automotive manufacturers.The retail gasoline market has seen a marked uptick in sales and interest in E15 in the past few years, thanks to a combination of private-public partnerships and competitive pricing of E15 relative to other fuels. E15 offers drivers an improvement in emissions, price and performance over regular E10. However, with rising interest in E15, gasoline marketers and the ethanol industry have run into an obscure piece of air quality regulation—Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) standards—that inadvertently block the year-round sale of E15. A bill in Congress, the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act (S.517, H.R. 1311), would amend the Clean Air Act to allow for the year-round sale of E15

Fact Sheet: High Octane Fuels: Challenges and Opportunities

While internal combustion engines are more efficient and cleaner than ever, the transportation sector is still responsible for 27 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with half of all transportation emissions coming from light-duty passenger vehicles. The Energy Information Administration predicts the internal combustion engine will be the dominant engine for the next several decades, making both fuel and engine efficiency critical pieces in reducing the GHG intensity of the transportation sector. Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have been conducting coordinated studies to address the opportunities and challenges of deploying high octane fuels with mid-level ethanol blends to the passenger vehicle fleet. They are finding that fuels that blend between 25 to 40 percent ethanol (E25 to E40) with conventional gasoline, instead of the current 10 percent ethanol blend (E10), can lead to greater fuel efficiencies and lower overall GHG emissions in the existing passenger fleet. Additionally, the introduction of this high octane mid-level ethanol fuel could provide an optimized fuel source for the much more efficient internal combustion engines carmakers are developing

Congressional Action on Resilient Infrastructure - Areas of Progress and Future Needs

Even though the 115th Congress did not enact a comprehensive infrastructure bill as many had hoped, lawmakers passed and advanced several pieces of legislation that address resilience in homes, defense facilities, airports, and water infrastructure. Going forward, resilience should be a central goal for the new construction, repair, or modernization of any infrastructure project, from early planning, budgeting, and design, through the duration of a project's life cycle. At a minimum, Congress can require resilience metrics and mitigation strategies for federally-funded projects. Prioritizing resilience in planning decisions can help meet the challenges posed by climate change-driven events, facilitate greater resource efficiency, and promote safe, healthy, and enduring infrastructure where people can thrive. Future infrastructure investments should reflect a triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental sustainability in a manner that equitably serves the community

Obama FY2017 Budget Proposal: Sustainable Energy, Buildings, Transportation and Climate

On February 9, 2016, President Obama released his $4.15 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2017 federal budget proposal, a 5 percent increase over 2016. In his final budget request, President Obama is calling for investment into clean energy research and development to double by 2021, from$6.4 billion (in 2016) to $12.8 billion. The budget seeks$7.7 billion for clean energy research at 12 federal agencies, with the Department of Energy receiving the bulk of the funding (80 percent). The extra funding would support the development of clean, renewable energies such as bioenergy, geothermal, hydrogen, solar, water, and wind, as well as clean-vehicle technologies and energy storage. The proposed 2017 budget increases the Department of Energy's (DOE) funding by 10 percent over 2016 estimated levels, raises the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget by 4.23 percent, and increases the Department of Transportation's (DOT) funding by 10.27 percent.This issue brief outlines the Obama administration's FY 2017 budget request for several clean energy programs within key agencies