Biofuels: Clean Renewable Fuel from Farms

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Biofuels Sustainability

Biofuels:
Clean Renewable Fuel from Farms

Biofuels are liquid fuels made from plants, instead of from petroleum. Ethanol made from plants can replace gasoline made from oil. Biodiesel can replace diesel fuel for buses, cars and trucks, and can be used in place of heating oil.

Global production of biofuels and political support for policies to encourage biofuels production as a renewable alternative to gasoline and diesel are growing rapidly. Rising oil and gasoline prices and concerns about national security, depleting world oil supplies, and global warming have magnified the interest of business, family farm and environmental organizations, and policymakers in biofuels.

WORC urges EPA to stick with ethanol RFS

WORC submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency in response to a request by the Governor of Texas to freeze the Renewable Fuel Standard ( RFS) adopted by Congress in December for corn based ethanol. WORC Chair Randy Joseph noted that safeguards adopted by Congress in the RFS would permit only biofuels that will significantly reduce greenhouse gases. This low carbon fuel standard marks an ambitious and laudable precedent.

WORC's Recommendations to Congress

Congress is moving rapidly to spur biofuels. With its deep roots in the rural West and longstanding commitment to sustainable, community-friendly energy and agricultural policies, WORC is uniquely positioned to set forth a pro-active, visionary, yet achievable and sustainable agenda for federal biofuels initiatives.

Developing Biofuels: Congressional Recommendations (pdf 112k)

WORC's letter to Senators in region emphasizes hard wiring sustainability and low carbon standards into Renewable Fuels Standard for biofuels.

The Great Plains and Rocky Mountain West stand to benefit from development of a biofuels industry if it is environmentally and economically sustainable. We need small-scale, locally controlled, widely distributed plants that bring economic benefits across the region. Here's what we're doing to promote sustainable biofuels production and use.

1. Converting public transportation fleets of targeted institutions from petroleum diesel use to biodiesel use.

2. Establishing public policies that create incentives for sustainable biodiesel production.

3. Shaping the structure of the industry to insure benefits to rural communities and family farmers and ranchers. (pdf 1.4MB)

4. Increasing the adoption and use of biofuels on-farm and in small scale ventures.

Much has been made of the controversy over the net energy of biofuels. WORC has prepared an analysis of this question summarizing a large body of research that indicates that biofuels, even conventional corn ethanol, can be produced with significant gains in net energy and lower greenhouse gas emissions than current liquid transportation fuels. Our commitment to sustainability leads us to advocate for a rapid deployment of advanced biofuels (such as cellulosic ethanol or biodiesel) with high net energy and low greenhouse gas emissions, that can be produced in ways that maximize the conservation of water, soils and wildlife.

WORC's Fact Sheet BIOFUELS: FOOD VS FUEL (pdf 154kb)

Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal (pdf 70kb)

Other good resources on the importance of biofuels to a low carbon future:

Saving the Poor and the Planet with Biofuels (pdf 47kb)

Biofuels: An Important Part of a Low-Carbon Diet (pdf 70kb)

Improved technology and economics raise hopes that biofuels can contribute significantly to solving several critical problems:

1. Energy independence and national security: Biofuels could replace oil imports, in large part or completely, in a relatively short time. Reduced oil imports would improve the U.S. balance of trade.

2. Consumer prices: Recent increases in oil prices have made ethanol and biodiesel competitive with gasoline and diesel refined from oil. As biofuels production increases, more and more consumers will be able to use biofuels in place of increasingly expensive fuels made from petroleum.

3. Global warming and other air pollution: Biofuels take as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, when the plants they are made out of are growing, as they emit when burned as fuel.

4. Jobs, rural economic development and farm policy: The emerging biofuels industry can provide badly needed jobs across the country, constructing and operating ethanol and biodiesel plants. Farmers can get a badly needed economic boost producing home-grown fuel for America.