Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jessica Lyons Hardcastle  (Environmental Leader)  … (O)il remains the leading source of fuel for cars, trucks and planes and its responsible for the majority of CO2 emissions from transportation.

Companies are increasingly installing solar panels and purchasing renewable energy to supply their power needs. But rising transportation emissions show a need to also focus on corporate fleets, says Nate Springer, who manages BSR’s Future of Fuels initiative. This B2B effort, whose member companies include Walmart and UPS, provides tools and partnerships to accelerate progress to low-carbon road freight.

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“Currently available, cost-effective, and proven efficiency technologies could save 624 million tons of CO2 by 2022 if adopted by freight fleets, according to one study. And most airlines are already using lower carbon jet biofuels.

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For almost a decade the US has been increasing the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline via the Renewable Fuel Standard program. While corn farmers and the biofuels industry say the ethanol mandates aren’t aggressive enough, the oil industry has pushed back saying the ethanol volumes aren’t safe for cars on the road and will raise gas prices at the pump, which are on the low end of there they have been in recent years.  READ MORE and MORE (GreenAir Online)

Excerpt from GreenAir Online:  EU greenhouse gas emissions in 2014 from international aviation overtook those from international shipping for the first time as they increased by 95% between 1990 and 2014 compared to shipping’s rise of 24% during the same period. Together, the two sectors accounted for around 6% of total EU GHG emissions in 2014. Compared to 2013, EU GHG emissions from international aviation rose by 1.6% in 2014 while emissions from domestic aviation fell by 0.8%. Overall GHG emissions for the 28 EU member states plus Iceland in 2014 were 24.4% below 1990 levels and decreased by 4.1% between 2013 and 2014. GHG emissions decreased in the majority of sectors, reports the European Environment Agency (EEA) in its latest annual EU GHG inventory report, with the notable exceptions of road transport – responsible for the largest increase – and international aviation and shipping.  READ MORE

According to data supplied by Eurocontrol to the EEA, CO2 emissions from jet kerosene used in international aviation – defined as flights that depart from one country and arrive in another – for the 28 EU states and Iceland (EU-28 + ISL) increased from 69.3 Mt in 1990 to 136.4 Mt in 2014 (see Figure 1 below). The UK had the biggest share of 2014 emissions (24%), followed by Germany (18%), France (12%) and Spain (10%), with the four countries contributing more than 60% to the total.

CO2 emissions from international shipping fell by 0.2% in 2014 compared to the previous year.