Algae-based bioenergy industry supports US biofuel strategy

5 February 2010

US industry body Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) has praised President Obama for his support of the US biofuels industry.

Of most significance to the algae industry was the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finding that algae-based biodiesel and algae-based renewable diesel reduce emissions by more than 50 per cent compared to petroleum-based diesel, said the organisation. The EPA made the determination based on a methodology that includes an analysis of the full lifecycle of algae-based fuels.

‘Today’s ruling is a strong and welcome show of support by the Obama administration for the biofuels industry as a whole,’ said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the ABO. ‘But most important to our industry is the recognition by EPA that algae-based fuels reduce overall CO2 emissions on a lifecycle basis. This supports what we’ve been saying all along.’

With the issuance of the second Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS-2), entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and the industry itself can be more confident that algae-based fuels will be an important component of a national renewable fuels portfolio, said ABO, which will help reduce our nation’s dependency on imported oil, decrease harmful carbon dioxide emissions and increase economic opportunity for thousands of people across the country.

Released as part of the final rule on EPA’s RFS-2, the EPA has made a determination through a full lifecycle analysis that algae-based biodiesel and renewable diesel meet or exceed the emissions threshold requiring a 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas-forming emissions compared to petroleum diesel.

The revised RFS programme will increase the required volumes of renewable fuel to 36 billion gallons by 2022 and is expected to displace approximately 13.6 billion gallons of petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel and decrease oil imports by $41.4bn.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: biofuel

This story was published on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 12:24 pm and is filed under North America, biomass/biofuel, companies. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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