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.
Public support for policies to encourage biofuels production as a renewable alternative to gasoline and diesel has become ambivalent in recent months after broadbased support in recent years. 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.
Controversial information on rising food costs in relation to biofuels and net energy debates have sparked some to rethink the benefits of biofuels. WORC has produced fact sheets that address these issues.
Senator seeks changes to spur on-farm and community biodiesel
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana urges EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to reform rules to allow small, clean, low carbon on-farm and community-scale biodiesel production.
WORC strongly supports sustainable, community scaled renewable fuels to help farms and ranches become energy independent and lower their carbon footprint.
- See Sen. Tester's letter to the EPA
EPA Administrator ruling on RFS echoes WORC's recommendations
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson adopted rules on February 3, 2010 implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) 2 incorporating indirect land use change analysis into the calculation of the net carbon reductions in any fuels produced from biomass.
WORC supported this consideration in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and urged the EPA to adhere to the principle in rulemaking. WORC asked EPA to revisit the formulas determining indirect land use change using the most current and best available science, which is what the Administrator did in adopting the rules.
- EPA fact sheet on the newly adopted rule.
WORC comments on Renewable Fuels Standards rules
WORC continued to uphold its policy of holding biofuels accountable to rigorous greenhouse gas accounting, including developing a methodology to assess indirect land use changes that accrue from increasing fuel production. The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing rules to implement the Renewable Fuels Standards adopted in by Congress in 2007 in the Energy Independence and Security Act, which include 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol and 22 billion gallons of advanced renewable fuels such as cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel.
However, WORC articulated concerns with modeling that compares indirect land use for biofuels to conventional petroleum without attempting to analyze indirect land use coefficients.
“The modeling should compare apples to apples when it comes to indirect land use impacts of different liquid fuels,” WORC Chair K.C. Duerig wrote. “The fuels that the RFS2 is bringing into the mix of U.S. energy supplies are in direct competition with a variety of unconventional fuels that carry a much higher carbon cost and direct and indirect land use impacts than those modeled in the proposed rule,” citing Canadian tar sands, coal liquefaction and oil shale as examples.
WORC issues report on small and community-scale biodiesel production
A new report by WORC presents policy-makers and prospective producers with information on small and community-scale biodiesel production.
Homegrown Prosperity from the Bottom Up looks at the biodiesel industry as it is emerging in the rural economies across the region. It examines the experiences of farmers and local entrepreneurs in their public and private partnerships to start a new industry, and it assesses the potential contributions of this new economic engine to rural income and jobs.
This report presents six case studies on the economic potential, legal and systemic issues, sustainability, and available technical assistance and financial resources.
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
WORC's letter to Senators in region emphasizes hard wiring sustainability and low carbon standards into Renewable Fuels Standard for biofuels.
WORC Releases New Biodiesel Benefits Report
Biodiesel Benefits reviewed data on the nutritional value of biodiesel byproducts as feedstuffs for cattle on ranches in the Northern Great Plains.
Biodiesel Benefits for Cattle Producers: Feeding Byproducts of Biodiesel Production
WORC Adopts Biofuels Sustainability Criteria
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.
- Converting public transportation fleets of targeted institutions from petroleum diesel use to biodiesel use.
- Establishing public policies that create incentives for sustainable biodiesel production.
- Shaping the structure of the industry to insure benefits to rural communities and family farmers and ranchers.
- Increasing the adoption and use of biofuels on-farm and in small scale ventures.
Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal
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
- Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal
Other good resources on the importance of biofuels to a low carbon future:
Background
Improved technology and economics raise hopes that biofuels can contribute significantly to solving several critical problems:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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