Clean Energy EXPO 2023: Accelerating Sustainable Transportation

The 26th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucus serving as honorary co-host. It featured six panels, including Accelerating Sustainable Transportation.

Highlights

Britney McCoy, Director, Climate Analysis and Strategies Branch, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Resources such as the EPA's Clean School Bus Program, the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, and the EPA's Green Vehicle Guide are working to further clean transportation solutions.
• The EPA and partnering agencies offer technical assistance and logistical support to Clean School Bus Program recipients operating electric buses for the first time.
• EPA, alongside the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Department of Transportation (DOT), signed an agreement committing to making the energy transition affordable, accessible, and equitable.
• In recent years, the EPA’s regulatory responsibilities have been key to expanding clean transportation efforts beyond just electric vehicles.
• Consumer education resources such as the Annual Automotive Trends Report and the Green Vehicle Guide provide consumers with information on the variety of vehicles available to them.

Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)

• Putting vehicles on the road cannot alone drive the transition to electric transportation. The success of this transition requires an entire “ecosystem,” including charging infrastructure and a workforce to implement it.
• According to the DOE, there are currently 64,000 public charging stations across the United States, with another 7,500 that Tesla has committed to build. There is a growing need for more electric vehicle infrastructure to be built out.
• From 2022 to 2026, S. electric vehicle sales are expected to grow from 7.6 percent of total passenger vehicles sold to 20 percent.
• Electric vehicles are cheaper, cleaner, and easier to maintain than gas vehicles.

Chris Bliley, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Growth Energy

• A switch to vehicle fuels that contain a 15 percent ethanol blend would reduce emissions by 40 million tons, the same impact as taking 10 million cars off the road.
• Ethanol-blend fuels are at least $0.16 cheaper per gallon than traditional gasoline.
• Biofuels present a readily-available solution to sustainable transportation, regardless of the progression of the electric vehicle rollout. They can also fuel the transition of harder-to-decarbonize transportation sectors, such as marine vehicles and aviation.
• Future renewable energy standards need to recognize biofuels as necessary to reduce fossil fuel use in energy systems.
• Biofuels have the distinct advantage of being able to be made in the United States and are capable of powering both the vehicles of today and tomorrow.

Art Guzzetti, Vice President, Mobility Initiatives and Public Policy, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

• Increased investments in public transportation would make the presidential goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 more attainable.
• APTA works to help transit authorities meet their sustainability goals.
• To meet emission reduction goals, policies must incentivize transportation options that are less carbon-intensive. This in turn will require undoing decades of car-centric policy.
• A transition to zero-emission fleets requires expanding the policy focus to include electrified buses, labor shortages, safety issues, and improving existing public transport infrastructure.

Compiled by Parthav Easwar and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.