Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)

Gas vs. Ethanol

While it’s true that on a gallon-to-gallon basis ethanol historically has been cheaper than gasoline, ethanol contains far less energy than gasoline and therefore has cost consumers more to travel the same distance.[read more]

fuel price breakdown

The mission of Fuels America and the Renewable Fuels Association is a no-holds-barred defense of the corn ethanol industry and the defective federal biofuels standard, not the interests of U.S. consumers.[read more]

Carolina K. Smith MD / Shutterstock.com

Despite an aggressive push with promotions and massive state investment, and more stations offering E85 for sale in Minnesota now than a few years ago, significantly less of it is being bought by consumers.[read more]

ethanol/shutterstock

Two members of the University of Illinois’ agricultural and consumer economics department have an article out this month that raises some important concerns about the Renewable Fuel Standard.[read more]

ethanol plant/shutterstock

This year is shaping up to be decisive for ‘cellulosic’ ethanol made from corn stalks and other agricultural waste, as oil companies and the ethanol industry clash over government mandates for the automotive fuel.[read more]

Harvesting for Biofuels via Shutterstock

 

The majority of biofuel development to date has been driven by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in the United States and the ethanol program in Brazil, Proálcool. These programs have created a burgeoning ethanol industry, and the RFS program has gone slightly further to provide additional support for biodiesel and to lay the groundwork for next generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol.[read more]

Biofuels via Shutterstock

Unlike other alternative fuels, biofuels already experience substantial use in the market and are likely to remain the dominant alternative fuel for the conceivable future. With modern advances in biofuel technology coming online and with policy incentives in place to create the market for adoption, it’s important to take some time to...[read more]

We often read the lament that the USA has no energy policy.  Of course it does.  It’s what we have today – a policy which favors fossil fuels through permanent subsidies and special financial treatments written into the federal tax code.  And perhaps it will take an act of Congress to make them stop picking the most...[read more]

Jim Barber/Shutterstock

There was good discussion of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) during a Hill hearing this week. API supports the appropriate use of ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels in transportation fuels, but, unfortunately, in some ways the standard is bearing out the law of unintended consequences.API President and CEO Jack Gerard addressed the...[read more]

Digital Storm/Shutterstock

The last decade has seen a big shift in our energy policy priorities, with more fuel efficient vehicles and the shale gas revolution making the US more energy independent than ever. Yet whoever is inaugurated next January still faces an exhaustive list of energy policy problems. Here's an overview.[read more]

Today's Washington Post includes a noteworthy opinion piece from Tim Searchinger of Princeton University concerning the impact of expanding biofuel production on global food prices and availability. Food vs. fuel competition made headlines in 2007 and 2008 but then subsided during the recession and financial crisis. This year, with...[read more]

Over the next two posts, I will examine some of the tactics used by the Renewable Fuels Association to justify keeping the $6 billion ethanol subsidy that was made almost entirely redundant when the the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was passed into law in  2005. Not satisfied with a market that is mandated by law to grow by 25%...[read more]