Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jessie Stolark (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  EESI Policy Associate Jessie Stolark spoke on a roundtable panel about the health and environmental considerations of fuel choices, at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on January 29.  Below is an abbreviated version of her remarks at that presentation, which highlighted the benefits of ethanol blends for helping with air quality and greenhouse gases.

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Looking forward, zero fossil, sustainably sourced biofuels in highly efficient internal combustion engines or in hybrid electric vehicles – would provide the highest fuel efficiency combined with the lowest emitting fuel.

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It shouldn’t be an and/or discussion between biofuels and electric vehicles.  There will be a place for liquid fuels in light-duty vehicles for decades, whether in the legacy fleet, in hybrid electric vehicles, or in other sectors, such as aviation and shipping.  Biofuels can and should position themselves to be the low-carbon fuel that will complement and indeed enable an electric future. 

Another segment of the biofuels industry we’re watching closely is biogas. 

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Real-world fuels must be used for the test fuels that are used to certify emissions. This is a major problem in moving to higher blends and needs to be addressed in the near term. A consulting group just did a review of nearly 100 peer-reviewed studies of the impacts of ethanol-blended fuels on air quality, and found there was no consensus in these studies, despite the fact that ethanol is overall, a much cleaner burning fuel.  These studies are used by the EPA and other regulators to set fuels policy. This problem is causing confusion and reluctance to embrace ethanol as a safer alternative by policymakers and the public. If real-world fuels were used in testing procedures, the benefits of ethanol would be much clearer to the public.

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Just moving to ten percent ethanol (E10) has allowed refiners to reduce aromatic content from gasoline by 25 percent.  If we move to higher blends such as E25 or E30, we can reduce the content of aromatics in gasoline even further—and that would be good news for public health.

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I tell people that we have two choices when it comes to octane – ethanol, and aromatics.  We don’t really have other options today. One is clean burning, renewable, and cheaper.  The other is dirtier, highly toxic, and expensive.  When you put it like that – it makes it easier for people to understand that there are these two options before us today, and one is clearly better than the other.  READ MORE