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Low Carbon Fuel Standards The most direct and effective policy for transitioning to low-carbon alternative transportation fuels is to spur innovation with a comprehensive performance standard for upstream fuel producers
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Abstract | hen it comes to energy security and climate change concerns, transportation is the principal culprit. It consumes half the oil used in the world and accounts for almost one-fourth of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the United States, it plays an even larger role, consuming two-thirds of the oil and causing about one-third of the GHG emissions. Vehicles, planes, and ships remain almost entirely dependent on petroleum. Efforts to replace petroleum—usually for energy security reasons but also to reduce local air pollution—have recurred through history, with little success. The United States and the world have caromed from one alternative to another, some gaining more attention than others , but each one faltering. These included methanol, compressed and liquefied natural gas, battery electric vehicles, coal liquids, and hydrogen. In the United States, the fuel du jour four years ago was hydrogen; two years ago it was corn ethanol; now it is electricity for use in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Worldwide, the only non-petroleum fuels that have gained significant market share are sugar ethanol in Brazil and corn ethanol in the United States. With the exception of sugar ethanol in Brazil, petroleum's dominance has never been seriously threatened anywhere since taking root nearly a century ago. The fuel du jour phenomenon has much to do with oil market failures, overblown promises, the power of incumbents , and the short attention spans of government, the mass media, and the public. Alternatives emerge when oil prices are high but whither when prices fall. They emerge when public attention is focused on the environmental shortcomings of petroleum fuels but dissipate when oil and auto companies marshal their considerable resources to improve their environmental performance. When President George H. W. Bush advocated methanol fuel in 1989 as a way of reducing vehicular pollution, oil companies responded with cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline and then with cleaner diesel fuel. And when state air regulators in California and federal officials in Washington adopted aggressive emission standards for gasoline and diesel engines, vehicle manufacturers diverted resources to improve engine combustion and emission-control technologies. The fuel du jour phenomenon also has much to do with the ad hoc approach of governments to petroleum substitution. The federal government provided loan and purchase guarantees for coal and oil shale " synfuels " in the early 1980s when oil prices were high, passed a law in 1988 offer-The most direct and effective policy for … |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/1208lcfs_issues.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
