In: Statistics and Probability
At the moment gasoline costs $0.74/liter in the US,
and optimistic estimates of biobutanol costs are around
$1.3399999999999999/liter. For greenhouse gas emissions, we’ll need
to use lifecycle estimates that account for emissions at all stages
of production and use, since biofuels lead to emissions from cars
but involve negative emissions when plants used to make fuels
absorb CO2. Lifecycle estimates of gasoline are 3.3 kg
CO2e/liter; lifecycle estimates of biobutanol have
substantial uncertainty, but 1.7 kg CO2e/liter is a good
central estimate. As with most alcoholic biofuels, biobutanol is
less energy-dense than gasoline, 30 MJ/liter as opposed to
gasoline’s 35 MJ/liter.
Give the cost of mitigation in $/tCO2e.