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October 3, 2014
Health Impacts of Vehicle Fuel Highlighted in New Documentary and Public Awareness Website
On October 3, the film Pump: The Movie will begin screening at theaters. The documentary from Director Josh Tickell details the steep societal costs of our transportation fuels – and the quest to find clean, cheap alternatives. Furthermore, on September 30, the Urban Air Initiative released a powerful public awareness website – FixOurFuel.com, which tallies the numerous health effects of passenger vehicle tailpipes, which have been well documented by public health researchers. Pump is a companion piece to his 2008 movie, Fuel, which won the Audience Award for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival. His films have been spurred in large part by his mother’s suffering from lupus, a debilitating auto-immune disease. It is thought that her disease was caused by her living close to several petroleum refineries in Port Allen, LA, which happens to be one town on the refinery and industrial waste-packed stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, aptly dubbed - ‘Cancer Alley’. And while vehicle fuel isn’t the only hazardous compound coming out of petrochemical refineries, it may be the most ubiquitous in our urban environments.
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Algae Funding Opportunity Announced, Industry Presses White House on Carbon Utilization
On September 30, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a funding opportunity announcement for $25 million, with the goal of spurring cost-competitive algae biofuels by 2019. Using algae as an advanced fuel is seen by some as the Holy Grail for renewable transportation fuels. It is flexible in terms of products, capable of producing not only gasoline equivalents but other valuable products. Most significantly, it has the potential to use carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants as a feedstock – allowing algae producers to utilize a power plant’s CO2 emissions for compliance under EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan. Unfortunately, algae biofuels have been stymied by setbacks, and they have not yet been able to reach the level of yields and lowered costs needed to make it a viable petroleum alternative. DOE is still committed to a goal of $3 per gasoline gallon-equivalent (gge) by 2030, and this latest funding opportunity will drive research and development for not only gasoline equivalent algae fuels, but valuable co-products such as renewable jet fuel, industrial chemicals, polymers and proteins.
RFS Roundup
In the lead-up to the Administration’s final announcement on the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes, SBFF will be providing links to the many relevant op-eds and letters to the Administration on this topic. While the rule arrived at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on August 22, OMB has 90 days to release the final ruling. Therefore, final rules could be punted until after the mid-term elections. Those in support of and against the RFS are making their final arguments to the Administration – despite the fact it is expected that the mandated renewable fuel volumes will be significantly lower relative to 2013 levels.
Event: Cellulosic Ethanol: A Technology Update
October 6, 2014 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm 2226 Rayburn House Office Building - Independence Avenue SW and South Capitol Street
Free and open to the public
Please RSVP to expedite check-in.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining the technologies that are making commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production a reality. Cellulosic ethanol is produced from agricultural residue — primarily, at this time, from corn stover (leaves, stalks and husks), which is removed in a sustainable manner after the harvest. Cellulosic ethanol is commercially produced at one U.S. facility, with two more coming on-line later this year. Combined, these three facilities are expected to produce a total of approximately 80 million gallons of renewable fuel per year. Contrary to popular belief, cellulosic fuels are not ‘phantom fuels’ but commercially viable ethanol fuels, which have been scaled up in a relatively short time period.
Visit http://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/100614cellulosic for more information.
To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at [email protected]
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