Today in Biofuels Opinion: “I understand why political leaders have fallen in love with hybrids and electrics.”

Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen: “I understand why political leaders have fallen in love with hybrids and electrics. But this may be the one time you’ll hear someone in Washington say it shouldn’t be a monogamous relationship. [if one-third of U.S. vehicles used diesel power], “America would save 1.5 million barrels of oil a day” [22 billion gallons per year]. “I make no apologies for being the world’s biggest diesel advocate. The 50 percent or so price increase that the Volt represents over a similar gasoline car cannot be offset through the savings from reduced fuel compensation. The only way to offset the extreme premium is through taxpayer-funded subsidies. Paying customers to drive your cars is not sustainable.”

Greenpeace spokesman Rolf Skar: “So far we’ve seen a failure of leadership from the bigger players in Copenhagen. Most likely, at the very best, this will give the negotiations some momentum heading into Mexico City next year. It will be a political agreement more than it will be a legal treaty. Obama and his staff show up later this week, however, so we could be surprised…We don’t have a one-size-fits-all stance when it comes to biofuels. We definitely support those technologies that reduce carbon footprints, but we do not think we see that across the biofuels industries. Everyone should be in favor of rigorous scientific accounting and life-cycle analysis when it comes to biofuels and right now we don’t think we see that.”

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