Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol
Environmental Protection Agency bumps renewable fuel requirement
When the new energy bill was signed into law by the president in December, it included requirements for increased use of biofuels as part of the package. The Environmental Protection Agency has just updated the 2008 renewable fuels standard for the second time since November. Prior to the energy bill, the law mandated 5.4 billion gallons of renewable fuels had to be blended into the gasoline sold in the United States in 2008. That amount has now been bumped up to 9 billion gallons or an average of 7.76 percent of the fuel sold. By 2022 that amount will climb to 36 billion gallons, of which hopefully all of it will be cellulosic ethanol or other next generation biofuels (including biodiesel). [Source: Environmental Protection Agency]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 12:03PM (2/12/2008)
Mandating a specific minimum level of biofuel blending sounds like a very green idea. However, this is true only if that volume of biofuel can actually be produced sustainably. Current, first-generation ethanol production from domestic feedstocks depends on food crops such as corn and sugar beets. Importing it from tropical countries, where it is made from sugar cane or nipah palm, invites slash-and-burn clearing of virgin rainforest. The picture is rosier for first-gen biodiesel, but not by much.
In addition, Germany is currently going through contortions because the government there wants to comply with EU policy by mandating that Euro95 - the most popular grade - must in future contain 10% ethanol by volume (E10 blend). Meanwhile, oil companies are discontinuing sales of regular unleaded because high demand from the US means its price is now virtually identical to that of Euro95. The snag is that the fuel systems of older European cars may not cope with an E10 blend, forcing their drivers to fuel up on expensive Euro98 instead. Just how many cars would be affected is being hotly debated right now.
Ergo: a sane policy would stick with E5 at most for now and defer raising that to E10 until cellulosic ethanol is actually available in sufficient quantity. Similar logic should apply to diesel fuel blends. There's still plenty of incentive to advance the state of the art given the policy would guarantee a captive market at a predetermined floor price. That's arguably socialist but without any coercion, neither refineries nor consumers will bother with expensive, troublesome biofuels at all.
While we're all waiting for second-gen liquid biofuels, more should be done to increase biomethane production by changing laws and regulations so it is considered equivalent to renewable electricity. Biomethane is a high-quality fuel for NG vehicles. In terms of aggregate CO2 emissions, it can also be used for stationary applications, albeit at lower profit levels.
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