Green Options » biofuel refineries

U.S. Unable to Meet EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standards?

Adam Shake — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:49:53 +0000

The EPA, through its Renewable Fuel Standards program, has set a pretty idealistic goal for the introduction of cellulosic biofuels, and many are wondering if the goal will be able to be met.

In its mandate, the EPA has ordered that 36 billion gallons of biofuel be blended into the fuel supply by 2022. That doesn’t seem like such an unrealistic goal, until you consider that as of this writing, there are no commercial-scale refineries in existence in the United States and no distribution network to move the fuel once it has been developed. With these two roadblocks, 2022 doesn’t seem so far distant.

Unintended Consequences and the Ethanol Deathwatch

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:13:06 +0000

The U.S.’s rush to grow corn for fuel has already been blamed for rising food costs that are pricing the world’s poor into hunger and malnutrition. But the high cost of corn is having another unintended consequence: a plunge in biofuel plants’ profit margins.

About one-fourth of all corn grown in the U.S. is now cultivated for fuel rather than for food. Meanwhile, the growing demand for both food and fuel is driving commodity prices for crops like corn to record highs. That means, even with the federal government’s generous subsidies for ethanol production, today’s biofuel profits aren’t what they used to be.