Green Options » Renewable Fuels Standard

A Bleak Outlook for Biofuel

Lisa Wojnovich — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:01:50 +0000

The downturn in the national economy has hit just about every major industry. And now it seems that ethanol is no exception. Yesterday, Archer Daniels Midland Co., or ADM, a major U.S. producer of ethanol, stated that ethanol production in the U.S. has dropped 21% since last year. Falling oil prices, a decrease in overall demand, and low profit margins are to blame.

Ethanol: Helping to Reduce our Reliance on Foreign Oil (Opinion)

GO Media Sponsor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:19:57 +0000

Editor’s Note: This post was provided by one of our paid sponsors, the Ethanol Promotion Information Council (EPIC). EPIC is a nonprofit alliance of ethanol industry leaders who have come together to grow consumer demand for ethanol energy through targeted marketing.

The Ethanol Promotion Information Council (EPIC) is working to get the word out that ethanol is actually helping to keep gas prices lower. The following is from an interview with Toni Nuernberg, executive director of EPIC.

If you’ve been exposed to the media lately you’ve probably heard the phrase “renewable fuels.” What exactly are renewable fuels? According to Wikipedia, “renewable fuels are alternative fuel sources such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel -e.g. soy, vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant greases-) or hydrogen.” Texas Governor Rick Perry recently petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower ethanol mandates, saying that the production of ethanol was causing food and fuel prices to go up. The EPA rejected Gov. Perry’s request in August, saying that the Renewable Fuels Standard “remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.”

EPA Denies Texas Request for Ethanol Waiver

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:29:19 +0000

Following an analysis that included reviewing 15,000 public comments, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L. Johnson today announced his decision to deny a request submitted by the State of Texas to reduce the nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). As a result, the required total volume of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, mandated by law to be blended into the fuel supply will remain at 9 billion gallons in 2008 and 11.1 billion gallons in 2009.

The renewable fuel program was adopted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and was recently expanded in the Energy and Independence Security Act of 2007. This program requires gasoline to contain a specified volume of renewable fuel. The Governor of the State of Texas requested a fifty percent waiver of the national volume requirements for the renewable fuel standard (RFS or RFS mandate) on April 25, 2008.

Administrator Johnson said:

“After reviewing the facts, it was clear this request did not meet the criteria in the law. The RFS remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil, in aggressive yet practical ways.”

Current law authorizes EPA to waive the national RFS if the agency determines that the mandated biofuel volumes would cause “severe harm” to the economy or the environment. The agency recognizes that high commodity prices are having economic impacts, but EPA’s extensive analysis of Texas’ request found no compelling evidence that the RFS mandate is causing severe economic harm during the time period specified by Texas.

Representatives from the food and grocery industry were disappointed with the EPAs decision as they have had to sharply increase the prices of their products which has resulted in a drop-off in sales.

“We are deeply disappointed that EPA has failed to recognize the very clear signs that the food-to-fuel policy is causing severe harm to the economy,” said George Watts, president of the National Chicken Council.

Economic Conditions Shifting in Favor of Ethanol

Sarah Lozanova — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:14:45 +0000

One of the most viable solutions to our large-scale environmental challenges is to use “waste” instead of virgin materials. This is especially true for the transportation fuels industry. Unfortunately, with the current infrastructure in place, virgin resources can actually be more cost effective than “waste.” I became aware of this when I toured the Coskata ethanol laboratory in suburban Chicago. I discovered that there is a cheaper and more consistent supply of harvested trees to produce ethanol than trash.

Trees, agricultural waste, storm debris and trash are all viable fuel sources for ethanol, using the Coskata process. This highly flexible technology allows future manufacturing plants to cater to locally available materials, making ethanol viable in parts of the globe that would not use corn or sugar cane for fuel. Argonne National Laboratory tests show that greenhouse gas emissions are up to 84% lower for Coskta ethanol than conventional gasoline. It has a net energy balance of up to 7.7, compared to 1.3 for corn-based ethanol. These results were achieved with a production cost of $1 a gallon when timber was used as an ethanol fuel source.