Energy Secretary Steven Chu Ignores Biofuels at DC Auto Show and in Resignation Remarks

by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) In yesterday’s address on Policy Day at the Washington, DC Auto Show, Energy Secretary Steven Chu spoke passionately about the need for the US to reduce dependence on foreign oil. He listed the ways that the Department of Energy was working to accomplish this goal mentioning solar and wind-generated electricity, compressed natural gas, liquified natural gas, hydrogen…. And not a word about biofuels, not a word about renewable liquid transportation fuel. No acknowledgement that renewable liquid transportation fuels have already replaced about 10% of petroleum-based transportation fuels.

News just broke of Secretary Chu’s resignation. His speech yesterday seems consistent with his 3700 word resignation letter which only mentions the word “biofuels” once, in a sentence about the scope of ARPA-E.

Instead, Chu elaborated on the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge focusing on a workplace charging challenge. In a press scrum after his formal remarks, he affirmed that he anticipates 1 million electric vehicles on the road in the US by 2016.

He envisions improvements to battery systems, lighter weight vehicles and competitive pricing that will compete with 35-45 mpg vehicles of the future; noting that price should not be a factor for mid-sized cars with plug-in hybrids reaching 70-100 mpg.

The first 13 employers that have signed the Workplace Charging Pledge as Partners, include 3M, Chrysler Group, Duke Energy, Eli Lilly and Company, Ford, GE, GM, Google, Nissan, San Diego Gas & Electric, Siemens, Tesla, and Verizon. The pledge commits each partner organization to assess workforce PEV charging demands, and then develop and implement a plan to install workplace charging infrastructure for at least one major worksite location.

Before concluding, Chu explained his belief that using more electricity overall will benefit the nation.

After the speech, Brian Wynne, president of Workplace Challenge partner Electric Drive Transportation Association clarified this point explaining that EDTA’s position was that increased use of electricity, greater demand for electricity, would bring down prices.

Perhaps the statement of Institute for Energy Research Senior Vice President Daniel Kish in response to the announced resignation of Energy Secretary Steven Chu gives more clues to Chu's energy use desires: “As Secretary Steven Chu leaves the Department of Energy, it is important to measure his tenure by his record. Under his watch, energy consumption in the United States declined by 2.24 percent while our leading economic competitor, China, increased energy consumption by 28 percent. Similarly, GDP growth in the United States has limped along at the anemic annual rate of 0.6 percent while China’s economy has soared at the annual rate of 9.12 percent, more than 15 times our own. Clearly, the policies and priorities of Steven Chu’s energy department have benefitted our global competitors and intensified the economic pain felt by millions of unemployed Americans.”

So, while biofuels producers and automobile manufacturers struggle to conserve and reduce energy use, others, like Chu, seek to increase the market for the oil/gas industry.

Workplace Benefit: Free Charging Stations and Avoid Paying for Transportation Infrastructure

In response to a question of how this workplace EV charging challenge would work as a practical matter; and how employees might expect to pay for charging cars at work, EDTA's Wynne explained that charging stations are usually provided by employers as benefit. However, he continued, employers would like to find ways to not have to identify the value in accounting to the IRS, that they shouldn’t have to pay taxes on this benefit.

When asked how he proposed that electric vehicle owners should pay their fair share of highway user fees since they don’t participate in the program that is funded through gas taxes collected when fueling at a gas station, he indicated that EDTA’s policy was that charging electric vehicle drivers for highway infrastructure would be a disincentive to purchasing and using EVs, and thus, should be avoided. He did acknowledge that the current funding for transportation infrastructure is inadequate and cannot be met with current gas tax revenues.

We will see if the vision of Secretary Chu, of an administration that does not recognize or acknowledge the accomplishments of renewable liquid fuels sector and that promotes increased use of mostly non-renewable fuels, will leave the building with him. READ MORE and MORE (US Department of Energy) and MORE (The Washington Post) and MORE (Huffington Post) and MORE (The Washington Post In The Loop) and MORE (ACORE) and MORE (Institute for Energy Research) and MORE (EV Everywhere Grand Challenge Blueprint) and MORE (AutoBlogGreen) READ Resignation Letter