Business View - October 2015 13
tor of sustainability. “Low carbon alternatives can
also be low cost alternatives when we use diverse
supplies of renewable resources. This validates that
California’s carbon reduction goals are obtainable.”
As part of the state’s low carbon fuel standard, the
Air Resources Board has refined comprehensive
lifecycle analysis to quantify the carbon intensity
of conventional and alternative fuels. More than
seven years of analysis have gone into addressing
questions, including indirect land use change. Cali-
fornia’s lifecycle model incorporates all the impacts
for producing a fuel’s raw materials including con-
version and transportation. The model also includes
the indirect economic impacts of growth in global
agriculture -- making it one of the most thorough
and rigorous evaluations ever done to quantify the
environmental footprint of biofuels
The findings echo what the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency determined five years ago in estab-
lishing the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Under that program, biodiesel qualifies as an Ad-
vanced Biofuel, with the EPA analysis showing that
it reduces carbon emissions from 57 percent to 86
percent.
“California’s analysis, which has been validated by
independent academic review, provides confidence
that biodiesel is, without question, a more sustain-
able alternative for transportation fuel. The com-
mercial success of the growing biodiesel industry
suggests goals to further reduce greenhouse gases
and displace imported petroleum are appropriate
and achievable. With a focus on carbon reduction
and the national policy to support it, biodiesel could
reduce carbon emission by 40 million tons annu-
ally,” said Scott.
The estimates provided for likely fuel pathways
include:
ULSD (standard diesel)
102.76 g/MJ
Gasoline 99 (CaRFG) g/MJ
Corn Ethanol 80.09 g/MJ
Compressed Natural Gas 79.46 g/MJ
Biodiesel
Soy
51.83 g/MJ
Used Cooking Oil
19.87 g/MJ
Tallow
32.83 g/MJ
Canola
50.23 g/MJ
Corn oil
28.68 g/MJ
These scores are reported in grams of carbon diox-
ide equivalent per megajoule of fuel. All of the feed-
stocks listed for biodiesel are used in significant
volumes. Weighting these scores by the amount
of each feedstock used nationally in 2014, suggests
that the average biodiesel in the market has a car-
bon intensity of 38.4 g/MJ. -- giving it the lowest
carbon intensity of any category of liquid or gas-
eous fuel, and making it competitive with electric
vehicles as a carbon mitigation strategy.
“This is not an academic exercise. It’s where the
rubber hits the road in determining where Califor-
nians get their fuels for the next 20 or 30 years,”
said Scott. “It’s the difference between continuing
the status quo of oil dependence and stimulating
the development of cleaner alternatives. CARB
should be commended for its leadership and for
taking a bold approach. We are proud that biodiesel
is part of the solution.”
Biodiesel is America’s Advanced Biofuel and is
made from readily available, renewable resources.
Produced in nearly every state in the nation, the
biodiesel industry supports some 62,000 jobs from
coast to coast.
