Renewable Fuel Standard

This is Part 2 of a three part series comparing biofuel mandates in the United States and European Union. Part 1, which focused on rising food prices, appeared yesterday. Part 3 will be published tomorrow. Despite what the ethanol industry would have you believe, biofuel mandates place unrealistic and ever-rising burdens on energy producers. In America, for example, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) will soon require oil refiners to blend more ethanol into gasoline than the nation’s fuel...
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This is Part 1 of a three part series comparing biofuel mandates in the United States and the European Union. Part 2 will be published tomorrow.  Biofuel mandates are harmful for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is that they raise food prices . In the U.S., for instance, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) makes corn, America’s most abundant crop, more expensive by requiring refiners to blend increasing amounts of corn-based ethanol (and other biofuels) into gasoline. The...
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An old adage often attributed to Mark Twain identifies three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In a recent blog post, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows why this axiom stands the test of time. NRDC claims that “AB 32 , [the California Global Warming Solutions Act] including the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, will save California consumers and businesses $50 billion over the next decade in fuel costs.” This statement is not just misleading, it is just...
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Fuels America trotted out a series of stale, debunked talking points in a recent advertising campaign extolling the virtues of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is one of the latest attempts by the ethanol lobby to conceal the truth about ethanol as Congress considers changing or repealing the federal ethanol mandate, which requires refiners to blend greater and greater amounts of ethanol into gasoline. The Institute for Energy Research (IER) has compiled a list of claims and...
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Growth Energy recently unveiled a national ad campaign to tell “the truth about ethanol” and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)—the federal mandate that requires oil refiners to blend ethanol into gasoline. But the ethanol lobby has a curious definition of “truth,” as many of their claims are incomplete, misleading, or outright false. NASCAR doesn’t use ethanol because it is a “high performance” fuel, but because it is “product placement” Graphic from Growth Energy: ...
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The ironic thing in the debate over carbon policies is that opponents of massive new federal taxes and regulations don’t need to go to obscure websites or ideological Think Tanks to get their talking points. On the contrary, those of us who are very wary of giving the government more power over the entire energy sector (and hence economy itself) just need to quote verbatim from the supporters of such policies. For example, the White House recently updated its estimate of the “social...
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Tesla Motors repayed a $465 million dollar loan from the federal government yesterday, nine years ahead of schedule. While being touted as a major success for the future of renewable energy and Zero Emissions Vehicles in particular, the truth behind Tesla’s façade of success is worrisome. The company’s first profitable quarter demonstrates the difficulty of finding real success in an unproven market. Critics have raved about Tesla and its offerings. By any standard, their cars would...
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  The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert recently published a comment entitled “Lines in the Sand ,” arguing that President Obama should not approve the Keystone XL pipeline because of the climate impacts of using oil. Kolbert’s argument is flawed for multiple reasons including the fact that she fails to consider the actual climate impact and the reality that even if the oil is not shipped to the U.S., it will be used anyway—obviating any climate impact of not building the pipeline....
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A recent Bloomberg article underscores the government distortions in the fuel and food sectors. The piece discusses the rising price of ethanol because of expected supply problems:

Ethanol’s discount to gasoline narrowed to a four-month low on speculation that the slowest pace of corn planting since 1986 will make it difficult to replenish supplies. The price difference, or spread, shrank 3.75 cents to 21.9 cents a gallon. The Agriculture Department said in a report yesterday that 5...

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  Earlier this week, the Renewable Fuels Association released a report arguing that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is only slightly raising gasoline prices. The implication of the report is clear—there is no need for RFS. If the RFS has positive benefits, as the report claims, or only slight costs, then there is no need for Congress to mandate the use of billions of gallons of ethanol a year. With gasoline prices spiking recently, the ethanol fuel industry, through its promotion of...
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