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SAE 2010 Government/Industry Meeting

SAE’s 2010 Government/Industry meeting will be held January 27-29 in Washington, DC.  Sessions will include:

- Crash Avoidance Technologies for Heavy Trucks

- Enforcement: CARS and CAFÉ

- Adding Up the Carbon of Renewable Fuels

- Second Generation Biofuels

- Front and Side Impact Crashworthiness

- Vehicle Rollover and Occupant Containment

- New Innovations in Advanced Safety Technology

- Crash Avoidance and Crash Causation

- Electricity -- The Fuel of the Future....Today?

- Return of the Plug-in Electric Vehicle -- Will the Sequel Succeed?

- Marketing Safety

- Safety Data

- Heavy-Duty Technologies & Solutions to Improve Efficiency and Emissions

- What's Next for Heavy-Duty Engine Regulations?

- Child Safety

- Pedestrian Safety

- Alternative Fuel Vehicle Safety

- Light-Duty Powertrain Strategies -- Are IC Engines Taking a Back Seat?

- Biomechanics

- Who Pays for the High-Fuel Economy Vehicles of the Future?

- Distraction

For information on the upcoming meeting, go to http://www.sae.org/events/gim/.

EPA Renewable Fuel Standard

On May 5, 2009, EPA issued an NPRM proposing revisions to the National Renewable Fuel Standard program (commonly known as the RFS program). The 549 page propsal addresses changes to the RFS program as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The revised statutory requirements establish new specific volume standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that must be used in transportation fuel each year. The revised statutory requirements also include new definitions and criteria for both renewable fuels and the feedstocks used to produce them, including new greenhouse gas emission (GHG) thresholds for renewable fuels. The regulatory requirements for RFS will apply to domestic and foreign producers and importers of renewable fuel.

Comments on the NPRM will be due 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.

EPA will hold a public hearing on June 9, 2009 at the Dupont Hotel in Washington, DC. EPA will also hold a public workshop on June 10-11, 2009 at the Dupont Hotel in Washington, DC to present details of their lifecycle GHG analysis.

Docket Reference: EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0161.

EPA contact: Julia MacAllister, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, 734-214-4131, macallister.julia@epa.gov.

For more information, click here.

Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)

On April 23, 2009, the CARB Board adopted the LCFS which calls for a 10% reduction in GHG emissions from transportation fuels by 2020. In addition to providing biofuels that have life cycle lower carbon intensity values than gasoline and diesel, fuels providers will also be able to purchase credits from utilities that sell electricity, CNG and hydrogen as transportation fuels. For more information on the LCFS, click here.

E15 Ethanol Waiver Request

On March 6, 2009, Growth Energy and 52 ethanol producers submitted an application with the EPA requesting approval for use of an ethanol-gasoline belnd containing up to 15 percent ethanol by volume (E-15). Ethanol in gasoline is currently limited to 10% (E-10). The application references a letter of support filed by Ford Motor Company.

Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)

On March 5, 2009, CARB released its proposed LCFS regulation. The proposed regulatory action would reduce GHG emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels used in California by an average of 10 percent by the year 2020.

The LCFS achieves a 10 percent reduction in average carbon intensity by starting specified providers of transportation fuels at an initial level and incrementally lowering the allowable carbon intensity for transportation fuels used in California in each subsequent year. Regulated parties can meet these annual carbon intensity levels with any combination of fuels they produce or supply and with LCFS credits acquired in previous years or from other regulated parties.

CARB will hold a public hearing to consider adoption of the regulation on April 23-24, 2009 in Sacramento, CA.

The 325 pages staff report, the 50 page regulation and other related documents are available online at CARB’s LCFS website (http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/lcfs.htm).

Biodiesel

On March 12, 2009, the ARB will hold a public meeting of the biodiesel/renewable diesel workgroup to discuss ARB's research related activities on these fuels. The meeting will be held in Sacramento, CA starting at 10:30 am. Discussion topics will include, but are not limited to the biodiesel tier one report and biodiesel emissions tests. For more information, see the Alternative Diesel Program webpage at http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/diesel/altdiesel/altdiesel.htm.

Alternative Fuels

The California Air Resources Board Hearing to consider the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation previously scheduled for Mar 26 and 27, 2009 has been re-scheduled to April 23 and 24, 2009.

For more information about the Low Carbon Fuel Standard activity in California, click here.

EPA Sets Renewable Fuel Requirement of 10.21% for 2009

The U.S. EPA announced on November 17 that the 2009 renewable fuel standard (RFS) will require most refiners, importers, and non-oxygenate blenders of gasoline to displace 10.21% of their gasoline with renewable fuels such as ethanol. That requirement aims to ensure that at least 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels will be sold in 2009, in keeping with the targets established by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which President Bush signed into law in December 2007. While the RFS requirement is increasing by about 23%—from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 11.1 billion gallons in 2009—the percentage requirement is increasing by nearly one third, from 7.76% in 2008 to 10.21% in 2009.

The larger relative increase in the percentage requirement reflects the fact that fuel consumption is expected to be lower in 2009, so a greater percentage of renewable fuel is needed to reach 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels. Based on data from DOE's Energy Information Administration, the EPA anticipates that 138.47 billion gallons of gasoline blends will be sold in 2009 in the 48 contiguous states plus Hawaii (Alaska doesn't participate in the program). That's down from the 144.5 billion gallons of blended gasoline that the EPA expected to be sold in those 49 states this year.

According to Department of Energy, the 2009 RFS is also pushing up against what is known as the "blend wall." Most gasoline sold in the U.S. contains at most 10% ethanol (E10), but the new RFS requires a slightly greater percentage of gasoline to be displaced with renewable fuel. That extra percentage, 0.21%, equals about 300 million gallons of renewable fuel. One way to sell greater amounts of ethanol is to sell E85, a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, but despite rapid growth in the number of E85 pumps, there are still only about 1,800 E85 pumps in the United States. Minnesota has about one-fifth of the stations, at 357, and the most recent report on sales from the Minnesota Department of Commerce suggests that at most 24 million gallons of E85 will be sold in the state this year, containing about 20.4 million gallons of ethanol. Extrapolating that result to the entire nation yields only 100 million gallons of ethanol. To address the blend wall issue, DOE and others are studying the use of mid-range blends, such as E15 and E20, for use in standard gasoline-burning vehicles. DOE says that allowing all gasoline blends to contain up to 20% ethanol would double the potential market for ethanol.

Hydrogen Refueling Stations

On April 15, 2008, CARB announced that the state of California is seeking experienced and qualified teams to compete for part of $7.7 million aimed at helping construct and improve hydrogen-fueling stations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. The application deadline for funds is June 13, 2008. For more information and guidelines for applying go to http://www.cscr.dgs.ca.gov/cscr/contract_ads/display/contract_ad_search.asp.

Biodiesel Pump Labeling

On March 11, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register at 73 FR 12916 proposing biodiesel pump labeling requirements in accordance with Section 205 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The labeling proposal addresses three biodiesel blend fuel categories.

1) For biodiesel fuels meeting ASTM D975 that contain no more than five percent biomass-based diesel or biodiesel, no label is required.

2) For biodiesel fuel blends of more than five percent but not more than twenty percent biomass-based diesel and biodiesel, the proposed label contains the language required in Section 205(b)(2) of EISA and additional disclosures. Importantly, the proposed Rule allows pump labels to contain the generic term “biodiesel blend” without specifying the percentage of biodiesel or biomass-based diesel fuel. Under this approach, sellers have the flexibility to provide specific percentages in this blend category but are not required to do so.

3) For biodiesel fuels containing more than twenty percent, the statute mandates that the label state that the fuel blend “contains more than 20 percent biomass-based diesel or biodiesel.” In addition, the proposed amendments specify a label for neat biodiesel (i.e., 100 percent biodiesel).

The proposal states that the labels are to be 3 inches wide and 2.5 inches long. The proposal calls for a purple background for all biodiesel fuel labels. Additional font and formatting details are proposed as well.

Comments on the proposal are due April 7, 2008.