Growth Energy releases Biofuels Road Map: projects 1.3 million green jobs by 2022
Copies of the Growth Energy Biofuels Road map are free, and downloadable
In Nevada, General Wesley Clark (Ret.), co-chairman of Growth Energy, introduced a Renewable Fuels road map at the National Clean Energy Summit hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the progressive think-tank Center for American Progress Action Fund. Growth Energy contended that following the road map would create and support 1.3 million green collar jobs by 2022.
The five main points of the road map include:
· Lift the arbitrary regulatory cap. This will create a more competitive environment and give consumers greater fuel choice.
· Build an alternative fuel infrastructure. This can be done by increasing the number and locations of flex fuel pumping stations and supporting the construction of biofuel pipelines.
· Require all vehicles sold to be Flex Fuel Vehicles.
· Strengthen market transparency. This will give Americans more information about the hidden costs of foreign oil and its carbon content.
· Adopt a national Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
“Ethanol is the alternative we have today. It’s here right now. Putting more American-made ethanol into American fuel tanks is a common sense way to immediately create green collar jobs while strengthening our national, energy, and economic security,” said General Clark. “This road map is a guide to speed up the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, which is almost 90 percent better for the environment than gasoline. If we act on this road map today, we can more than double the number of biofuels jobs to 1.3 million.”
“We need to change paths, because the one we’re on right now is not sustainable. Americans transfer half-a-trillion dollars to other nations every year to pay for oil in addition to the $50 billion in tax dollars that are spent every year to protect Middle East oil supply lanes,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. “We don’t have to be addicted to foreign oil. We don’t have to allow the potentially devastating climate change. We have a viable alternative today in ethanol, which is a low-carbon renewable fuel. If we want a low-carbon society, we have to use low-carbon fuels. If we increase production of homegrown ethanol, it will point our nation in the right direction for job growth, energy independence, and a cleaner environment.”
A copy of the GrowthEnergy.org road map is here.
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wilsrl | Aug 11, 2009 | Reply
The five points in the roadmap are very good, but I think there should be a sixth. The best way to increase ethanol usage is to have vehicles that perform markedly better using ethanol. Today’s flex fuel vehicles are optimized for gasoline and can use ethanol but with a milage penalty when using E85 so most people don’t use it. We need to incentivise the auto makers development of ethanol optimized flex fuel engines. Ford’s direct injection turbo bobcat engine and the GM V6 with turbo and direct injection that is the basis for the Ricardo ethanol optimized engine are two excellent examples of engines that make using ethanol very desirable. They both allow serious engine size downsizing to get better fuel economy while providing high power and torque. With these engines in mass production drivers will be looking for ethanol pumps which will increase demand. These engines have all the economy and torque advantages of diesels but without all the extra cost of clean diesels and they run on any mix of ethanol and gasoline.
triumph181 | Aug 11, 2009 | Reply
Another roadmap to clean energy, another breakthrough to energy independence, another quantum leap in green jobs another another, another…If we had less roadmaps and more roads, if we had comprehensive support from governements and people, if more of us drove diesels rather than flex fuel dream-on cars, or hydroegn wet dreams, then maybe we could actually get this biofuel dream on the road instead of staring at maps all the time.
Ethanol from corn is a lobbyist delight and guarantees a 20% increase in consumption, soy diesel is the same joke with a different punch line, jatropha is a broad based political play. Where is the reality?
And Jim, I’m a realist.
Don Siefkes | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
The trouble with the Bobcat Technology and the Ricardo engine is that they cost the consumer a lot more and would be difficult to put into production in the 100,000’s of thousands quickly. We think a better way is to go to straight E100 direct injection engines (only about $150 more than a standard direct injection engine). An ethanol infrastructire for E100 (12,000 pumps) can be built for only $192 million. If you wanted to make the engine flex fuel for E100 and not burn gasoline well, that would also work, but once the E100 fuel is available, we don’t see any need for the flex fuel version. Ford, GM, and other atuo companies manufacture millions of E100 capable engines every year in Brazil. These engines won’t cold start in the US, but we could add the direct injection technolgy and begin production in high volume in 2010. These would cold start down to -20 deg F.
This is a political decision, not a technical one. The ethanol producers would then receive the tax credit, not the oil companies. E85 has been out there since 1992, and consumers have shown they aren’t buying. We need to try another play.
Thank you,
Don Siefkes
Executive Director
E100 Ethanol Group
E100EthanolGroup.com
Don Siefkes | Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
For further detail on why optimized E100 engines need to be considered seriously, please see
http://www.E100EthanolGroup.com