(Diesel Technology Forum) As more governors look to California for leadership on climate change, they should look to what’s working in California…and it doesn’t have to do with electric cars, but with use of low-carbon renewable biofuels in internal combustion engines. — According to @CalEnergy 10x as much C02 has been eliminated since 2011 from the use of biodiesel, renewable diesel fuel and ethanol than from the fleet of about 600,000 all-electric cars.
Newly elected governors are turning to California for climate leadership, through the U.S. Climate Alliance and its growing list of governors that remain committed to abide by the spirit of the Paris Climate Accord. Almost half of all states are now members actively considering initiatives to reign in carbon emissions, mostly from stationary sources like power generation and building energy efficiency, but its transportation sources where California’s experience shows a way ahead.
California’s almost decade-long effort to promote zero-emissions cars and trucks gets all the headlines but the biggest contributor to progress in reducing California’s transportation-related greenhouse gas emission reductions has very little to do with a shift to electric cars and very much to do with internal combustion engines and the fuels they use.
Reducing the carbon content of transportation fuels – gasoline and diesel – has paid off handsomely. Policies California adopted almost a decade ago gradually reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels. This includes efforts to promote all-electric cars and buses but also efforts to use biofuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel fuel and ethanol. According to the California Energy Commission that keeps tabs on the progress of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, greenhouse gas emission reductions from internal combustion engines, operating on blends of biofuels, have been exponentially more than the cumulative benefits all-electric cars and buses.
According to the California Energy Commission, ten times as much C02 has been eliminated since 2011 from the use of biodiesel, renewable diesel fuel and ethanol than from the fleet of about 600,000 all-electric cars. The benefits of these biofuels show that an “all hands on deck” approach is one that is working for California and can work for other states. All-electric technologies can reduce emissions, and in Califronia they have reduce almost 3 million tons since 2011. Biofuels are also having an enormous benefit as measured by emission reductions. Policies that exclude benefits of biofuels are leaving millions of greenhouse gas emissions on the table.
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These fuels can be used in the existing vehicle fleet in blends with petroleum fuel or, in the case of renewable diesel fuel, as a replacement to petroleum fuel. READ MORE