OfficeofTransportationFebruary2005EmissionFacts.pdfVIP

Office of Transportation EPA420-F-05-001 and Air Quality February 2005 Emission Facts Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions Resulting from Gasoline and Diesel Fuel The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed this series of four fact sheets to facilitate consistency of assumptions and practices in the calculation of emissions of greenhouse gases from transportation and mobile sources. They are intended as a reference for anyone estimating emissions benefits of mobile sources air pollution control programs. Carbon content in motor vehicle fuels One of the primary determinants of carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions 2 from mobile sources is the amount of carbon in the fuel. Carbon content varies, but typically we use average carbon content values to estimate CO emissions. 2 The Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR 600.113) provides values for carbon content per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel which EPA uses in calculating the fuel economy of vehicles: Gasoline carbon content per gallon: 2,421 grams Diesel carbon content per gallon: 2,778 grams 1 Note that for the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, EPA estimates CO2 emissions from fuel from the heat content of the fuel and carbon content coefficients in terms of carbon content per quadrillion BTU (QBTU), using data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA’s numbers are derived from carbon content by mass, and equate to roughly the same carbon content per gallon of fuel as the values provided in 40 CFR 600.113. EPA uses heat content data from Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) “Annual Energy Outlook 2003 and carbon content from EIA’s “Emissions of Green- house Gases in the United States, 2000.” Note also that these estimates are based only on an ave