RFS: It’s Not Perfect, But It’s Working

Biofuels Digest
October 11, 2011
By Brent Erickson, Digest columnist and Executive Vice-President, BIO Industrial and Environment Section

The Renewable Fuel Standard is the key foundation policy supporting the commercial development of advanced biofuels. It is not working as fast as some would like, but given the current economic situation it is indeed working. A handful of advanced biofuel companies have moved projects from the drawing board to demonstration scale since passage of the RFS in 2007, and a few recently have put steel in the ground for commercial-scale projects. This progress would have been significantly slower absent the RFS.

Nevertheless, there is some impatience and disappointment that cellulosic biofuel production has not grown fast enough to meet the aggressive RFS goals. A new report from the National Academies on the RFS is stoking this sentiment. The report is a nuanced examination of the current state of advanced biofuel development; unfortunately, it is marred by some significant errors of fact. It shouldn’t convince anyone to discount advanced biofuels just yet. If we look closely, the range of projects across the nation that combine local feedstocks with innovative technology are a robust affirmative response to the challenges of commercializing advanced biofuels.

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