Nwg Foodvfuel And The Rfs

Loading...

Flash Player 9 (or above) is needed to view presentations.
We have detected that you do not have it on your computer. To install it, go here.

0 comments

Post a comment

    Post a comment
    Embed Video
    Edit your comment Cancel

    Favorites, Groups & Events

    Nwg Foodvfuel And The Rfs - Presentation Transcript

    1. Food, Fuel, Global Warming, and the RFS Nathanael Greene Director of Renewable Energy Policy September 10, 2008
    2. Since Transportation is One-Third of Problem, It Must be Part of Solution 2007 US Greenhouse Gas Inventory by Sector Source: EIA, Annual Energy Outlook 2007
    3. 2050 80% Climate Stabilization Target: Four Key Strategies Cars and Light Trucks Vehicle Efficiency (78 mpg by 2050 ) Reduced Driving (16% below forecast) Clean Electricity (Plug-in Hybrids) Advanced Biofuels (58B gallons of etoh) 1 2 3 4 Source: NRDC analysis
    4. RFS Environmental Details
      • Large Volume Increase
        • Nearly 5-fold increase in biofuels mandate
        • Majority of increase is “advanced” biofuels
      • Groundbreaking GHG Provisions
        • Established performance standards for biofuels
        • Legislative definition includes “indirect” emissions in lifecycle analysis
        • Compared to petroleum fuels at least:
          • 20% reduction from all new biofuels
          • 50% from all advanced biofuels
          • 60% reduction from cellulosic biofuels
      • Foundational Land/Wildlife Safeguards
        • Strong protections for public forests, native grasslands, natural forests, key wildlife habitat
    5. Traditional Biofuels Lifecycle GHG Analysis Growing feedstock Refining Driving
      • Corn ethanol industry 20% better than gasoline, efficient new plant 35-45% better
      • Cellulosic 70-95% better than gasoline
      • GREET model is gold standard
    6. Biofuels Plus Direct Land-use Change Growing feedstock Refining Driving Clearing new land for feedstock
    7. Biofuels Plus Indirect Land-use Change Growing feedstock Refining Driving Clearing new land for feedstock Market dynamics
    8. Searchinger et al. in Science Growing feedstock Refining Driving Clearing new land for feedstock Market dynamics
    9. Same dynamic that drives GHG emissions drives higher food/feed/fiber prices Increased demand for biomass and arable land for biofuels
      • Higher prices for food/feed/fiber and for land
      • how long depends on how fast demand grows vs how fast yields increase
      Increased rate of conversion of natural ecosystem (high carbon & high biodiversity) to managed lands to capture higher land and commodity prices
    10. Lifecycle GHG standards + renewable biomass safeguards
    11. States can help transition to advanced biofuels
      • CA (and MA) is developing “low-carbon fuel standard” (LCFS)
        • LCFS requires oil companies to lower average GHG intensity (lbs/Btu of fuel) by a given % over a given period
        • LCFS is a technology neutral, performance based policy
          • Biofuels will play a major role in compliance but electricity, natural gas, oil refinery improvements can all contribute
        • We still need to define and measure lifecycle GHG emissions right
        • LCFS also protects against high carbon fuels (tar sands, oil shale, liquid coal)
      • New York has supported 2 pilot cellulosic plants
      • MA, PA, and other states providing tax and other incentives specific to “cellulosic” and/or “low-carbon” fuels
    12. Food price/GHG impacts
      • Biofuels have an impact on food prices
      • There is debate about how large the impact is
      • We should strive to minimize even a small impact on food prices while also striving to stop global warming and achieve greater energy security
      • To do this our biofuels policies should be designed to quickly remove biofuels from the food price equation to the greatest extent possible
      • The best way to do this is to require them to be as low carbon as possible.
      • Our current RFS does this by setting minimum standards and the LCFS does this by encouraging the best performance

    + ngreenengreene, 2 years ago

    custom

    819 views, 0 favs, 0 embeds more stats

    More info about this presentation

    © All Rights Reserved

    • Total Views 819
      • 819 on SlideShare
      • 0 from embeds
    • Comments 0
    • Favorites 0
    • Downloads 0
    Most viewed embeds

    more

    All embeds

    less

    Flagged as inappropriate Flag as inappropriate
    Flag as inappropriate

    Select your reason for flagging this presentation as inappropriate. If needed, use the feedback form to let us know more details.

    Cancel
    File a copyright complaint
    Having problems? Go to our helpdesk?

    Categories