Twitter headlines« GM to Build Hybrid Cars in China in 2008 | Main | Galp Energia Licenses UOP/Eni Ecofining Hydroprocessing Technology for Renewable Diesel Production »
EPA Announces 2008 Renewable Fuels Standard
28 November 2007
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting a new renewable fuels standard (RFS) of 4.66% to meet the 2005 Energy Policy Act’s mandate that at least 5.4 billion gallons of renewable fuels be blended into transportation gasoline in 2008.
Based on the standard, each party determines the minimum volume of renewable fuel that it must ensure is used in its motor vehicle fuel. The standard for 2007 was 4.02%, equating to roughly 4.7 billion gallons. The overall volume target increases every year, reaching 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.
According to industry statistics, the actual quantity of renewable fuel demanded has already outpaced the mark set by the RFS. In 2006, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, demand for fuel ethanol in the US reached 5,377.4 million gallons, of which US production provided 4,855 million gallons.
The Energy Policy Act requires EPA to annually determine the standard—which applies to refiners, importers and non-oxygenate blenders of gasoline—by 30 November for the following year.
November 28, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Henrik | November 28, 2007 at 08:03 AM
Legislation is in progress. Someone in Washington needs to call Bush's bluff on this. My bet is if it came by his desk he'd pander to his real base constituency, not the rural Midwest but the petroleum industry.
Posted by: Jim G. | November 28, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Hmmm--mandating renewable fuels is fine, but the overall policy picture is skewed by corn subsidies and tariffs on imported ethanol. Corporate ag gets rich, food prices go up, fossil energy use declines slightly, perhaps. Seems to me we're spending a lot for minimal returns. We need more effective and even-handed policies.
Posted by: Nick | November 28, 2007 at 09:39 AM
The amount of anti-business anti-free enterprise rhetoric here continues to mount. It seems some days that the posters are all from some People's Republic third world cesspool, who despise capitalism and get no progress at all.
Instead of celebrating that industry has achieved a 2012 strech objective, fully 5 years earlier than mandated, industry is criticized for doing so.
Get real.
Posted by: Stan Peterson | November 29, 2007 at 07:46 PM
Aw come on Stan... These comments are posted by true believers - in the inevitable apocalypse!
Posted by: Sulleny | December 01, 2007 at 10:37 AM
The Renewable Fuels Standard should be upped to more closely follow actual production capacity.
Posted by: mus302 | December 02, 2007 at 12:11 AM
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef00e54fa304ae8834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference EPA Announces 2008 Renewable Fuels Standard:
As of November 27, 2007 the annual US ethanol production capacity reached 7.2 billion gallon pro anno. See http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/locations/
In one month or two at the latest the US ethanol producers will satisfy the RFS of 7.5 billion gallons in 2012. This legislation should be updated. To require 15 billion gallons by 2012 would make more sense and be entirely achievable.