Most recent 40 articles: Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel
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Cyanobacteria-Based Biofuel: an Innovative Platform for Clean Energy Production - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 27, 2021) |
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May 27, 2021 · Burning fossil fuels is a major driver of climate change with more than two billion tons of carbon dioxide released annually, leading to increased frequency of natural disasters and health concerns. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is a key strategy to mitigate this harm. Biological approaches to generate clean, green energy from renewable sources offer great promise for sustainable fuel production, but first- and second-generation biofuel crops compete for farmland, which limits their potential. By contrast, photosynthetic microorganisms, including algae and cyanobacteria, offer great promise as third-generation biofuel agents without the drawbacks of ... Read more ... |
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'Little’ Errors Add Up: What an Electric Vehicles Study Gets Right, and What It Gets Wrong - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 26, 2021) |
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May 26, 2021 · A new study by consulting firm Arthur D. Little (ADL) claims that the benefits of electric cars, both environmental and economic, are lower than others, including UCS, have shown. However, the differences are largely due to questionable assumptions about battery replacements and the use of electric vehicles as a gasoline car replacement. EVs on average have lower overall greenhouse gas emissions and lower costs to fuel than gasoline cars now, and these benefits are likely to increase over time. This is the conclusion of our report and also the ADL analysis. In our report, “Cleaner Cars from Cradle to Grave”, we found that the average electric vehicle results in about half the ... Read more ... |
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Can Trees, Oceans and Giant Carbon Sucking Machines Save Us from Climate Catastrophe? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 26, 2021) |
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May 26, 2021 · The world needs leadership on climate change–as witnessed by the limited progress made by nearly 200 country delegates to the climate conference last week who failed to overcome Saudi Arabia’s block on formal discussion of the latest climate science produced by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As we confront ever more obvious impacts of a warming world, we must immediately tackle the political and technical challenges of reducing the pollution causing climate change. And, just as actively, seek ways to remove, store and manage carbon to bring our climate back into balance. Florida is perhaps the US state facing the most obvious evidence of a warming ... Read more ... |
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Washington State Tackles Transportation Emissions - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 26, 2021) |
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May 26, 2021 · The climate crisis demands an immediate response on multiple fronts, and while in Washington DC the Trump administration is attempting to reverse the progress of the last administration, in Washington state legislators are tackling the challenge head on. The largest source of pollution in Washington state is transportation, which is another way to say burning petroleum-based fuels like gasoline and diesel. Tackling emissions from transportation requires policies that focus on vehicles and transportation fuels. Broad economy-wide measures like carbon pricing or cap and trade are important and should be pursued but will have limited direct impact on transportation in the near ... Read more ... |
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An Insider’s View on the Value of Federal Research - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 21, 2021) |
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May 21, 2021 · Not long after receiving my doctorate in biochemistry I took a research position with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the main research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prior to retiring in 2014 I had spent my entire career, 33 years, with ARS. I had a chance to see federal research from within the system. Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s been my experience that federal research is solutions-oriented, transparent, and nonpolitical. Mike and his technician, Karen Wagner, developing a new method for biodiesel synthesis. Photo: Agricultural Research Service, USDA. Among the key aspects of that system were the following, which I believe ... Read more ... |
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Hitting US Climate Targets: Will Electric Trucks Deliver the Goods? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 21, 2021) |
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May 21, 2021 · It was exciting to be part of the discussion in Paris this past December when countries came together to make a renewed commitment to limit climate warming to two degrees or less, with each country committing to what it felt it can deliver. The United States, for its part, has committed to cutting CO2 by 26-28% by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels). This should be achievable, but there’s one sector in the U.S. that is increasing its CO2 emissions at a rapid pace - trucking. Currently, trucks move 72% of the tonnage and 70% of the goods’ value nationwide. By 2050, truck travel is expected to increase by 80% nationally and by 50% in California. Given current trends, the Energy ... Read more ... |
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5 Reasons Clean Fuel Standards are the Secret Key to Decarbonizing Transportation - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Dec 14, 2020) |
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Dec 14, 2020 · Clean Fuel Standards like the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) have been around for more than a decade but have not attracted the attention of more narrowly targeted policies promoting electric vehicles, biofuels, or renewable power. Recently, however, Clean Fuel Standards are enjoying something of a resurgence, with states from coast to coast (including Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and New York) considering joining California and Oregon in adopting this proven model to support transportation decarbonization. Washington, DC is also taking notice. They see Clean Fuel Standards as an opportunity to get federal fuels policy back on track. ... Read more ... |
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Coronavirus Pandemic: Science Sidelined in Trump Rose Garden Fiasco - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 15, 2020) |
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Mar 15, 2020 · Having paved over the science on pandemics, the Trump administration puts up parking lots. Literally. It wasn’t enough that President Trump’s Rose Garden declaration of a national coronavirus emergency on Friday disintegrated into a self-congratulatory monologue. It wasn’t enough that he trashed reporters who dared ask him if he bore any responsibility for one of the worst responses to a pandemic by a wealthy country in modern times, driving the United States toward a double collapse of human and economic health and the indefinite shutdown of normal life and movements. The heads of Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and CVS, with a combined 2019 net income of $20 billion, ... Read more ... |
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Coronavirus Data Is Being Concealed by the Trump Administration - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 12, 2020) |
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Mar 12, 2020 · Just yesterday, we learned that the White House has held dozens of meetings on coronavirus that were considered “classified,” meaning that federal health officials, including experts, were unable to enter the room. Without experts in the room, how can we expect our government to follow the best available science on this rapidly developing issue and enact science-based policies that protect our health and safety during this pandemic? When it comes to the novel coronavirus, it is imperative that the US government report robust scientific information about where the disease is spreading, how to control the spread of the disease, and who is most at risk of serious illness. ... Read more ... |
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States Need to Update Emergency Election Plans, Scientists Need to Step Up - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 11, 2020) |
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Mar 11, 2020 · Even if the U.S. is successful at managing Coronavirus infection rates and lethality, it has the capacity to wreak havoc on the November election. Flattening out the infection curve over time in order to maintain adequate healthcare delivery supply will push outbreaks into summer and possibly Fall. Voters may be hesitant to go to precincts, poll workers could be in short supply, and local election officials who lack direction could make arbitrary decisions over polling hours or the processing of ballots. Introducing all this uncertainty into an already close election is sure to amplify claims of voter suppression and voter fraud. If the election is contested and the results ... Read more ... |
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Environmental Racism in Action: The Trump Administration's Plans to Gut NEPA - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 08, 2020) |
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Mar 08, 2020 · The Trump administration is trying mightily to gut the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that mandates rigorous, science-based environmental impact reviews for major infrastructure and construction projects prior to federal permitting. NEPA also reserves significant time for the public to weigh in on the impact of projects to their communities. The loss of public input in the administration's proposed changes to NEPA has environmental justice leaders up in arms. For them, the silencing amounts to regulatory racism. At a February 25 public hearing on the proposal in Washington, D.C., Hilton Kelley, a 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize winner for ... | By Derrick Z Jackson Read more ... |
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Trump USDA Commemorates National School Breakfast Week by Declaring Potatoes a Fruit - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 06, 2020) |
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Mar 06, 2020 · It's National School Breakfast Week, and the Trump administration is celebrating by rolling back science-based nutrition standards that are keeping kids healthy at school. (Not that it takes a special occasion to pull the plug on policies that protect children's health.) This is the second time the administration has taken aim at the nutrition standards put in place by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the bipartisan landmark legislation that brought school meals in line with evidence-based dietary guidance for the first time. By many measures, the standards have been a success: kids are getting more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains on their lunch trays, and ... | By Sarah Reinhardt Read more ... |
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The EPA's Rule to Restrict Science Could Compromise Your Confidential Research Data - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 05, 2020) |
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Mar 05, 2020 · It is a nice story that the tobacco industry came up with in the 1990's – in order to be transparent, scientific studies informing policies affecting the tobacco industry should be "sound." And tobacco companies could better determine this "soundness" if they were allowed to reanalyze the underlying data these studies used in their analyses. Numerous internal documents have shown that the tobacco industry's primary reason for this suggestion to policymakers was to obtain the raw data of the studies linking smoking to lung cancer, for the purpose of creating doubt of the science underlying this finding. It was never about the "soundness" of science; it was a tactic to delay ... | By Anita Desikan Read more ... |
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Bettina Elias Siegel's - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 04, 2020) |
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Mar 04, 2020 · I'm not a purist about much when it comes to parenting, and that's by design. And so, I confess: on occasion, our family indulges in a fast food meal, mostly out of what feels like necessity - think ill-planned long car rides or exhaustion after a stomach bug that started at 1 AM. The feasibility of running into a grocery store for those last two dinner ingredients changes A LOT when you have a small child and a car seat. Sometimes it even feels like a treat, especially when life has gotten so busy and out of control that something simple and easy is just what the doctor ordered. I imagine, too, that plenty of parents out of necessity lean on a fast-food trip to make the kids smile ... | By Rebecca Boehm Read more ... |
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It's Time to Ask the Candidates: How Will You Use Science to Protect Everyone? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 04, 2020) |
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Mar 04, 2020 · Now that election season is in full swing and presidential candidates are actively seeking out the opinions and viewpoints of voters, we have the rare moment to get their attention about a fundamental issue: the need for science and democracy to aid the public good. This election is an opportunity for positive change - to strengthen the ability of science to inform decisionmaking at the highest levels of our government and ensure that the channels of democracy work better for everyone. I know I'm not alone in getting incensed when I hear that our government ignores science or public input during the policymaking process. The government's policy actions often have widespread ... | By Anita Desikan Read more ... |
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Senators Must Stop Nancy Beck's Playbook for Undermining Science - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 03, 2020) |
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Mar 03, 2020 · President Trump has nominated Dr. Nancy Beck for the role of chair and commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an agency charged with "protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death" related to the use of consumer products on the market. The American Chemistry Council representative turned EPA chemicals-focused political appointee, Beck has made headlines for egregious changes to EPA process and policy that have resulted in measures that fail to adequately protect all of us, particularly children. For example, her fingerprints were all over a recently released risk assessment for the chemical, Trichloroethylene (TCE), a degreasing solvent used ... | By Genna Reed Read more ... |
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Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture in the Midwest - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 03, 2020) |
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Mar 03, 2020 · Farmers in the Midwest are already feeling the effects of climate change. For example, in 2019 some areas saw between 200-600 percent the historical normal amount of precipitation. This extreme precipitation and historic flooding in the region was the primary reason that farmers across the nation were prevented from planting nearly 20 million acres of insurable crops, setting a new record. Agriculture is a huge industry in the Midwest region. Can you talk about the importance of corn and soybean crops specifically? The "Corn Belt" stretches across much of the Midwest, including large parts of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. For a few months of the ... | By Jessica Collingsworth Read more ... |
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Science, Denied, Again. Interior Department Adds Inaccurate Climate Change Info to Reports - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 03, 2020) |
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Mar 03, 2020 · The New York Times reported this week that a senior employee at the Department of the Interior (DOI) is pressuring scientists to include inaccurate information about climate change in agency reports. So far at least nine different reports have been affected in what may be violations of the department's scientific integrity policy. And this isn't the first time that DOI's science and technology policy analyst Indur M. Goklany has interfered with scientific reports. In 2018 he was linked to attempts to add a pro-warming slant based on his own flawed hypotheses to a USGS report on the impact of climate change on Montana's shrinking glaciers. According to emails obtained by the ... | By Maria Caffrey Read more ... |
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Profiles in Cowardice: Oregon Lawmakers Run Away from Climate Action. Literally. - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Mar 02, 2020) |
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Mar 02, 2020 · Several months ago, I kicked off a series of blog posts profiling the lack of courage so frequently demonstrated by our elected leaders, their appointees, and their compatriots in the corporate sector. I knew there would be no shortage of material. Cowardice is not limited by place, sector, or issue. It cuts across state lines and all areas of leadership. For this series, I define cowardice as lacking the firmness of purpose to put the public interest first and foremost. Today's post builds on that with an even more literal aspect of cowardice - running away. Last week, 11 Republican senators walked off the job and took to the hills; they literally ran away in order to ... | By Kathleen Rest Read more ... |
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Trump Administration Ignores Worker Safety in Pursuit of Offshore Oil Profits - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 28, 2020) |
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Feb 28, 2020 · Recent reports show that political appointees at the Department of the Interior (DOI) ignored experts who opposed issuing a rule rolling back safety measures for offshore oil rig workers. This is not the first time, however, that experts have been ignored or information has been manipulated to ensure that oil rig worker safety is weakened. The evidence is building that this was a coordinated strategy between political officials at DOI to allow the fossil fuel industry to profit at the expense of worker's lives. First, let's talk about some recent news about who will now be leading the charge at Interior: Katharine MacGregor, who was just confirmed this week as deputy ... | By Jacob Carter Read more ... |
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The Trump Administration Has Hindered Our Ability to Effectively Respond to the Coronavirus Epidemic - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 27, 2020) |
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Feb 27, 2020 · "At the start of every disaster movie, there is a scientist being ignored." – 2017 March for Science protest sign The novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, may be the most intense international public health crisis seen in the last few years. In the coming days, as COVID-19 inches towards becoming a full-on pandemic, it will become more important than ever to listen to the scientists and public health professionals advocating for disease control and prevention measures based on the best available science. But the unfortunate truth is that the Trump Administration has carried out actions that appear to leave the US less prepared to face the threat of this ... | By Anita Desikan Read more ... |
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A Resilience Roadmap: Fulfilling Agriculture's Role as a Climate Solution - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 26, 2020) |
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Feb 26, 2020 · America has many stories. In children's books and classroom texts, the stories we tell of our collective experience vary widely and yet still, somehow, coexist. There are stories of genuine opportunity and of great success that inspire us. And there are also stories of senseless tragedy and systemic oppression which urgently demand attention and action. Throughout our shared history, a defining thread running throughout these stories has been resilience: the ability to withstand setbacks and keep moving forward. Perhaps more than any other profession, farming demands resilience - to weather, pests, and shifting markets. Still, resilience has been almost completely absent from ... | By Mike Lavender Read more ... |
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Sabotaged Science in the Arctic Refuge: Interior Department Works to Undermine Its Own Scientists - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 25, 2020) |
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Feb 25, 2020 · It's been a long, tough road for scientists during the Trump administratio - articularly those at the sprawling Department of the Interior. Interior scientists have been reassigned and marginalized by political appointees, their results have been suppressed, their funding has been choked off, and their programs have been threatened with closure or relocation. Those who remain on the job are keeping their heads down for fear of retaliation, diligently continuing to do whatever research is still permitted, and avoiding publicizing results that may draw fire from the Secretary's meddling hallway. Unfortunately it's no longer just the scientific findings that the Trump ... | By Joel Clement Read more ... |
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Five Things You Should Know About Lyft and Uber's Climate Impacts (and what you can do) - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 25, 2020) |
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Feb 25, 2020 · Ride hailing services like Lyft and Uber have been changing the way people get around. My colleagues and I just released a short report - Ride-Hailing's Climate Risks: Steering a Growing Industry toward a Clean Transportation Future – analyzing the climate pollution associated with these services and making recommendations to ensure they help improve our transportation choices without increasing pollution and congestion. You should read the whole report, but to whet your appetite, here are 5 key findings. They have already vastly surpassed taxi service, and in the downtown areas of key metropolitan centers are now providing a significant and fast-growing share of rides (and ... | By Jeremy Martin Read more ... |
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Five Reasons Midwestern States Need a Clean Fuel Standard - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Jan 07, 2020) |
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Jan 07, 2020 · This week I joined the Great Plains Institute, the American Coalition for Ethanol and many other stakeholders in calling for to adopt clean fuel standards to cut transportation emissions by moving away from carbon intensive gasoline and diesel fuels toward cleaner transportation fuels, including electricity and low carbon biofuels. Clean fuel standards are already in place in California, Oregon and British Columbia. and several other states and jurisdictions are actively considering implementing similar measures. Here are five reasons now is the time for Midwestern States to get started on a clean fuel standard. Scientific studies tells us how much the Midwest has at ... | By Jeremy Martin Read more ... |
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Five Reasons Midwestern States Need a Clean Fuel Standard - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Jan 07, 2020) |
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Jan 07, 2020 · This week I joined the Great Plains Institute, the American Coalition for Ethanol and many other stakeholders in calling for Midwestern states to adopt clean fuel standards to cut transportation emissions by moving away from carbon intensive gasoline and diesel fuels toward cleaner transportation fuels, including electricity and low carbon biofuels. Clean fuel standards are already in place in California, Oregon and British Columbia. and several other states and jurisdictions are actively considering implementing similar measures. Here are five reasons now is the time for Midwestern States to get started on a clean fuel standard. Scientific studies tells us how much the ... Read more ... |
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Unwinding the Perverse Arithmetic of Scott Pruitt’s Small Refinery Exemptions to the RFS - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Jul 25, 2018) |
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Jul 25, 2018 · Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is gone, but the messes he created will be with us for a long time. His approach to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) took an already complicated policy and turned it upside down. Here, we untangle the opaque way Pruitt rigged the system for his fossil fuel friends and what this means for the ongoing RFS rulemaking. Last year Pruitt, acting on behalf of some oil refineries, tried to roll back the standard through a rulemaking process, but his efforts were blocked by the political power of the ethanol industry and its backers in the Senate. But when Pruitt was blocked through the normal administrative process, he did the administrative ... Read more ... |
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Pruitt Steps Up His Attack on Biofuel Policies - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Oct 19, 2017) |
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Oct 19, 2017 · It was just 6 weeks ago I last posted on how Pruitt’s EPA Undermines Cellulosic Biofuels and Transparency in Government, and I hoped to shift my attention to other topics. But in late September, the EPA Administrator Pruitt stunned the biofuels world by releasing a rulemaking document (called a Notice of Data Availability or NODA) suggesting he planned to cut more deeply into the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) 2018 targets for advanced biofuels and biodiesel than had been previously indicated. The NODA linked the changes to tariffs recently imposed on imports on soy-based biodiesel from Argentina and palm oil biodiesel from Indonesia, but citations in the NODA make it plain ... Read more ... |
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Setting the Record Straight on EVs and Biofuels - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Oct 11, 2017) |
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Oct 11, 2017 · Late last week I submitted a response to an article critical of UCS analysis on electric vehicles that appeared in Biofuels Digest on October 2nd. The editor graciously printed my response in full on Monday, and I am reposting it here. Last week, Biofuels Digest ran a piece claiming that biofuels beat electric vehicles on cost and emissions. The piece specifically took issue with a report my colleagues wrote, Cleaner Cars from Cradle to Grave, which found that battery electric vehicles (EVs) are less polluting than gasoline powered cars, even when the additional emissions associated with producing the cars, particularly the batteries, are considered. I’m not interested ... Read more ... |
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Pruitt’s EPA Undermines Cellulosic Biofuels and Transparency in Government - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Aug 30, 2017) |
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Aug 30, 2017 · As the New York Times recently reported, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been conducting much of his work to undermine the EPA’s mission in secret. The recent proposed rule implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) provides yet another example of the Pruitt EPA taking decisions that should be based on evidence, and substituting their political preferences instead. The RFS is a complex and controversial regulation that is currently in a rulemaking process that will put the Pruitt EPA’s first official stamp on biofuels policy. Pruitt has made no secret of his distaste for the regulation, and his inclination to reduce burdens of any type on the oil industry, and his first ... Read more ... |
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California’s Cap-and-Trade Program and Low Carbon Fuel Standard Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (May 22, 2017) |
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May 22, 2017 · This year is shaping up to be another action-packed year on climate change in the California Legislature. Last year, legislators passed a sweeping commitment to cut California’s global warming emissions 40 percent between 2020 and 2030, and this year policy makers are considering how California should achieve these big goals. At the center of that conversation is a debate about whether to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program beyond 2020.(For a quick primer on cap-and-trade, check out our Carbon Pricing 101 webpage.) California’s cap-and-trade program is an important tool for addressing climate change. This is because it sets a price on global warming emissions and that ... Read more ... |
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Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program Off to a Great Start - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Apr 28, 2017) |
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Apr 28, 2017 · Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program (CFP) was initially authorized by the legislature in 2009, with subsequent legislation in 2015 allowing the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to fully implement the program in 2016. The program’s goals are to foster the development of an in-state market for cleaner fuel by requiring that transportation fuels used in Oregon get steadily less-polluting over the next decade. The program requires average life cycle global warming emissions per unit of energy in transportation fuels to decline by 10% by 2025 compared to 2015. Oregon’s CFP completed a very successful first year, but it remains under attack, so it’s a great time to ... Read more ... |
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The Bioeconomy in a World Without Carbon Pollution - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Nov 14, 2016) |
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Nov 14, 2016 · Reaching the climate targets set in Paris will require dramatic action from all sectors of the economy over a period of several decades. While energy and transportation are the largest sources of U.S. emissions, the future climate also depends in great measure on the biological carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and stored for months, decades, or even millennia in plants, trees and soils, and later returned to the atmosphere when the plants die and break down and carbon stored in soils is oxidized. This cycle keeps a great deal of carbon out of the atmosphere, which is described as a carbon sink. Biofuels, bioenergy and other biobased ... Read more ... |
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The Road to High Octane Fuels - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Oct 05, 2016) |
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Oct 05, 2016 · The biofuels world is abuzz with talk of high octane fuel. Ethanol trade groups weighed in recently with regulators on the role of higher octane fuel in meeting fuel economy targets. Their interest in gasoline and fuel economy might seem odd, except that their plan is to deliver higher octane gasoline by increasing the amount of ethanol blended into it. Octane is a confusing, technical topic with complex implications for ethanol and vehicle efficiency. Depending upon whom you ask, high octane gasoline blends with more ethanol are either critical to enable cars to deliver much needed fuel economy improvements, or a dead-end strategy that Congress should block, by requiring ethanol ... Read more ... |
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7 Facts You Should Know About Gasoline, from our Brand New Report… - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 09, 2016) |
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Feb 09, 2016 · Changes to the cars we drive make headlines every day, but changes to the fuels we use to power them are hidden from view, behind the gas pump. My new report, Fueling a Clean Transportation Future, released today, takes a broad view of how transportation fuels are changing. I delve deep into the changing sources of oil used to make gasoline and the growing negative consequences for the climate; the way ethanol is made today, and the prospects to make it cleaner in future; and the growing importance of electricity as a transportation fuel, and what it will take to realize the full climate benefits of this important technology. Emissions from powering a typical (25 mpg) ... Read more ... |
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Half the Oil by 2030: New Report Shows West Coast Pathway - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Feb 01, 2016) |
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Feb 01, 2016 · UCS released a report on January 28 that demonstrates how Washington, Oregon, and California could cut their petroleum use in half by 2030. This comes at a time when scientific consensus and 195 national signatories (including the U.S.) to the December Paris climate agreement point to the urgent need for rapidly accelerated greenhouse gas emissions reductions if we are to have a chance to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The report’s roadmap shows how we might dramatically cut oil use in three currently car-dependent states whose combined GDP is equivalent to the world’s fifth largest economy. This is very welcome news indeed. Even better news is that the report, ... Read more ... |
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Earth to API - It’s 2016 (not 1916) and “Energy Voters” Want Renewables - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Jan 11, 2016) |
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Jan 11, 2016 · I recently sat down to watch a presidential primary debate with my wife. Although we found the debate itself nearly unwatchable, the commercials were somewhat more interesting. The advertisements airing during this high profile event in the DC market articulate something about the priorities and framing for this year’s political campaigns by the oil and gas industry. A particular ad spot about “energy voters” paid for by the American Petroleum Institute (API) caught my attention. In this ad, a slew of diverse looking actors discuss leading the world in oil and natural gas (NG) production, highlighting perceived benefits to expanding domestic fossil fuel extraction (and here is the ... Read more ... |
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Three Innovative Ways to Power Clean Transportation with Wastes - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Dec 08, 2015) |
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Dec 08, 2015 · Last month I attended the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Industry Growth Forum in Denver, CO to see which renewable energy technologies were getting the attention of clean-tech investors. Although I was most interested to learn about new renewable transportation fuel technologies, the most immediately promising transportation sector technology dealt not with generating renewable fuels, but rather minimizing transportation fuel use by capturing and reusing kinetic energy during vehicle braking. Hybrid vehicle technologies, like that of Lightning Hybrid’s hydraulic hybrid technology which won recognition at the NREL summit, recover energy that would otherwise be ... Read more ... |
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Progress at Iowa factory + More Oil Company Misinformation on DC Airwaves - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Nov 19, 2015) |
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Nov 19, 2015 · At the end of October I went to Iowa for the grand opening of DuPont’s cellulosic ethanol facility. It will be the largest of its kind in the world, ultimately producing 30 million gallons of ethanol from corn stalks annually. This important milestone is a fruit of the much maligned Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, a policy passed in 2007 that is the subject of many misleading TV ads from the oil and ethanol industries airing in DC and elsewhere. It may come as no surprise that more valuable insight about our clean fuel future is being developed inside the factory than is available on political ads. The technology DuPont is starting up breaks down the non-digestible parts of ... Read more ... |
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5 Takeaways From Algae Week in Washington - Union of Concerned Scientists - Biofuel  (Oct 15, 2015) |
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Oct 15, 2015 · I’ve been interested in algae for many years, since algae are unique and versatile organisms whose biomass can have a wide variety of uses. The prospects for leveraging algae to tackle food security, energy security, complex chemical synthesis and most significantly, climate change, are stimulating billions in investments and making the emerging algae industry very interesting to follow. The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO) Summit recently brought the algae industry to Washington, DC. The summit ran from Wednesday through Friday, and it spawned several additional side-events related to algae. On Tuesday there was a roundtable discussing the value of using algae to address ... Read more ... |
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