A new CALSTART brief indicates that California’s climate and energy policies are not only helping to protect the environment and improve air quality, but are also helping to accelerate growth of the clean transportation technology industry (CTTI) in the state. The paper, “California’s Clean Transportation Technology Industry: Time to Shift... Read more →

Global companies are partnering with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) in a new global initiative called below50, to promote the best-of-breed of sustainable fuels that can achieve significant carbon reductions, and to scale-up their development and... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board’s report on the state of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program for the compliance year 2015 indicates a compliance rate of 98%, with a total of 5.49 million credits generated in the year. These credits are roughly the same as removing 1 million cars... Read more →

Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that as part of a more C$7-billion (US$5.4-billion), 4-year climate change plan, the Ontario government will invest C$285 million (US$221 million) in electric vehicle incentives; implement lower carbon fuel standards; and invest C$280 million (US$217 million) to help school boards buy electric buses and trucking... Read more →

The staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) released the first full set of carbon intensity (CI) pathways certified under the readopted LCFS regulation using the CA-GREET 2.0 model. (Earlier post.) These pathways include both new applications and requests to have “legacy” pathways (adopted under the prior LCFS rule)... Read more →

Tesoro Corporation plans to foster the development of biocrude, made from renewable biomass, which can be co-processed in its existing refineries along with conventional fossil crude oil to produce lower-carbon drop-in fuels. Tesoro expects that converting renewable biomass into biocrude will enable existing refining assets to produce fuels with lower... Read more →

California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff posted 32 new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications for comments at the LCFS website. Among the multiple applications for different processing pathways of corn or sorghum ethanol are four pathways from LytEn for hydrogen produced from biomethane; four pathways for renewable... Read more →

AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District), which operates the third-largest public bus system in California, has filed a fuel pathway application for gaseous hydrogen produced via electrolysis powered by renewable electricity (solar) with the California Air Resources Board (ARB) under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) regulation. According to AC... Read more →

The Air Resources Board re-adopted a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which requires a 10% reduction by 2020 in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. The program requires that transportation fuels used in California meet a baseline target for carbon intensity which is reduced each year. The Board also adopted... Read more →

California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted thirteen new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications to the LCFS public comments website. Among them are two pathways for cellulosic ethanol produced by Abengoa Bioenergy at its Hugoton, Kansas plant. One pathway uses corn stover for feedstock, the other... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board has issued Sustainable Oils Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Clean Energy Holdings, a feedstock-only pathway for the production of camelina-based fuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The feedstock-only CI (carbon intensity) is 7.58 gCO2e/MJ. A feedstock-only pathway allows a fuel producer... Read more →

Fuel carbon intensity reduction from 2015-2030 from fuel deployment scenarios for the Pacific Coast region. Source: ICCT. Click to enlarge. A new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and E4tech finds that the targets adopted or proposed by British Columbia, California, Oregon, and Washington to reduce the... Read more →

Among four new California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications is a used cooking oil (gutter oil) to renewable diesel (NExBTL) pathway from Neste Oil at its Singapore plant. (Boeing and COMAC are opening a demonstration facility in China to convert gutter oil to renewable aviation fuel. Earlier... Read more →

Oregon’s Department on Environmental Quality (DEQ) is inviting public comment on a proposed rulemaking that would fully implement Oregon’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). (Earlier post.) The first phase required Oregon producers and importers of fuels to register with DEQ, keep records and submit reports about the fuels they currently... Read more →

The staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted three new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications to the LCFS public comments website: one for corn ethanol (from Heartland Corn Products in Minnesota) and one ARB staff-developed pathway (with two scenarios) for the production of... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Re-Adoption Concept Paper, which will be discussed during the LCFS workshop on 11 March 2014. The LCFS regulation mandates a 10% reduction in the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels used in California by 2020.... Read more →

A recent report prepared by UC Davis researchers for the California Air Resources Board (ARB) found that compliance costs for the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) may increase rapidly in the future if there are large differences in marginal costs between traditional fossil fuels and alternative, low-carbon-intensity fuels; or if... Read more →

Minor changes to an existing Federal tax incentive for second-generation biofuels (i.e., biofuel made from cellulose, algae, duckweed, or cyanobacteria) could mitigate the current elevated risk of investing in the industry that is retarding its advance, according to a new paper by a team from the International Council on Clean... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted six new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) pathway applications to the LCFS public comment web site: corn ethanol; molasses ethanol (from Brazil); palm fatty acid distillates (PFAD) to biodiesel; and landfill gas to LNG, L-CNG, and CNG. The LCFS requires oil... Read more →

Annual balance of LCFS credits and deficits for Scenario 1. Each colored stacked bar represents credits generated via low carbon fuels; the red line represents the deficits from forecasted CARBOB and ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) consumption. Click to enlarge. The requirements of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)... Read more →

Continued LCFS compliance will require continued reductions in CIs. Net credits generated is the number of credits or deficits generated in each period; banked credits after compliance is the number of excess credits banked from the current or previous compliance years. Source: Yeh et al. Click to enlarge. According to... Read more →

California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted four new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) pathways to the LCFS web site. (Earlier post.) Among the new pathways to be considered is the production of renewable diesel from Australian tallow at Neste Oil’s Singapore plant. Others are sugarcane molasses ethanol from... Read more →

A status review of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) (earlier post) for the period of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 by Dr. Sonia Yeh at the Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis and Julie Witcover found that regulated parties in the LCFS—i.e., oil producers and importers to... Read more →

Vehicle efficiency improvements via effective standards and policies could reduce annual CO2 e emissions from the US, China, and the EU by 1.3 Gt at a savings of about $135 billion per year by 2030. Source: McKinsey & Co., ICCT-ClimateWorks. Click to enlarge. The US, China, and the EU could... Read more →

The National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Project has released two major reports that synthesize its findings from the past several years of work: a Technical Analysis Report (TAR) and Policy Design Recommendations. The primary objectives of the National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Study were to (1) compare an... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Alberta (Canada) have quantified the transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Their analysis suggests that carbon storage loss caused by peatland conversion could be equivalent to as much as... Read more →

In an order issued 23 January, US District Court Judge Lawrence O’Neill denied a motion filed by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to stay the injunction on the enforcement of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) he had ordered in the earlier decisions of 29 December 2011 while ARB... Read more →

The California Energy Commission is seeking proposals to provide funding for the development of new, California-based biofuel production facilities that can sustainably produce low carbon transportation fuels. (Program Opportunity Notice (PON-11-601) About $37 million dollars will be available under this solicitation. The intent of this solicitation is to encourage production... Read more →

On Thursday (29 December 2011), Judge Lawrence O’Neill of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California issued three separate rulings in a set of federal lawsuits challenging the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) (Rocky Mountain Farmers Union et al v. Goldstene). (Earlier post.) One of the court’s... Read more →

Federal District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, Eastern District of California, ruled on Thursday that the State of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program is in violation of the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution and issued an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. (Earlier post.) The LCFS intends to reduce, on... Read more →

In a draft of the first Review Report for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), the staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) notes that the harmonization of LCFS programs globally will be important “for ensuring that global GHG emission reductions actually result from these programs”. Harmonizing LCFS... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) will consider at its December 2011 meeting amendments to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) regulation. The LCFS intends to reduce, on a full-fuel lifecycle basis, the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels (measured in gCO2e/MJ) used in California by an average of 10%... Read more →

A new lifecycle analysis (LCA) by a team from the University of of Cambridge (UK), the Great Plains Institute, and the University of Minnesota suggests that renewable fuel mandates such as those currently enacted by 12 states are not likely to lower the emissions of biofuels unless they provide a... Read more →

Current reported CI for ethanol plants. Gasoline baseline of 95.86 g CO2e/MJ highlighted in red for comparison. Data: California ARB. Click to enlarge. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has updated carbon intensities (CIs) and other information about registered biorefineries, and posted the information at the Low Carbon Fuel... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board formally considered the first 28 proposals for new ways to make low carbon transportation fuels under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). (Earlier post.) Data related to the manufacture and production of the proposed fuels were presented by staff to ARB Executive Officer James Goldstene... Read more →

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) filed a legal challenge to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) with the US District Court, Eastern District of California, Fresno Division. NPRA was joined in the suit by the American Trucking Associations (ATA); the Center for North American Energy Security, an organization... Read more →

Governors of 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states signed a Memorandum of Understanding that commits their states to continued participation in a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuels for vehicles and other uses. (Earlier post.) A LCFS (Low Carbon Fuel Standard) program is a market-based, fuel-neutral program to... Read more →

Well-to-wheels vehicle emissions (gCO2 equiv.km-1) by energy source, vehicle energy intensity (MJkm-1), and fuel carbon intensity (gCO2 equiv. MJ-1) by vehicle pathway and timing profile. Source: McCarthy et al.Click to enlarge. A study by researchers at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies suggests that the near-term marginal electricity mix... Read more →

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) earlier this year (earlier post) requires a 10% reduction in the average greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity of the state’s transportation fuels by 2020. The regulation also levies the calculation of Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC)... Read more →

Including biofuels under a cap-and-trade scheme could create a more complete carbon management framework for the transportation fuels sector, according to a new peer-reviewed discussion paper by Dr. John DeCicco. DeCicco, formerly on staff at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), is now a Senior Lecturer at the University of Michigan’s... Read more →

The LCFS is an important component in California’s effort to reduce transportation GHG. Source: ARB. Click to enlarge. At its meeting on Thursday, the California Air Resources Board adopted a regulation that will implement Governor Schwarzenegger’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (earlier post) calling for at least a 10% reduction from... Read more →

More than 170 scientists and economists have sent a letter to California Air Resources Board (ARB) Chairman Mary Nichols urging the board to account for greenhouse gas emissions from indirect land use change for biofuels and all other transportation fuels under the state’s proposed low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). The... Read more →

Chairman Henry A. Waxman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee on Tuesday released a draft of far-reaching energy and climate legislation that targets job creation, promotes renewables and energy efficiency, and places limits on emissions of greenhouse gases. The... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) released its proposed regulation to implement the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The release of the proposed regulation allows 45 days for the public to review the language and provide comment before the item is considered at the 23 April 23 ARB hearing. The regulation... Read more →

Eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states will cooperate to develop a regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The 11 states—the 10 members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) plus Pennsylvania—will work together to create an emissions-performance standard that will eventually provide incentives for energy providers to use lower-carbon fuels. In... Read more →

More than two-dozen advanced biofuel companies, joined by researchers and investors under the aegis of the New Fuels Alliance, submitted a letter to the California Air Resources Board (ARB) questioning ARB’s intent to include indirect land use change (ILUC)—or any kind of indirect effects enforcement against biofuels—as part of the... Read more →

Proposed compliance schedule for gasoline and diesel fuels and substitutes. Click to enlarge. The staff of the California Air Resources Board has posted the Draft Regulation for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) which contains the latest staff proposals on the regulatory approach following the March 2008 concept outline.... Read more →

Sample compliance schedule for gasoline and diesel. The diesel carbon intensity values are adjusted by the vehicle efficiency factor. Click to enlarge. The staff of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) has released the Proposed Concept Outline for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation as part of the process... Read more →

Illustrative compliance paths for the LCFS. The report recommends either the Technology Forcing or Accelerated compliance paths. Click to enlarge. The California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) should apply to all gasoline and diesel used in California for transportation, including freight and off-road applications, according to experts at the University... Read more →

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the state of California and the Canadian Province of British Columbia to fight global warming. The agreement outlines key actions that California and British Columbia will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The... Read more →