Policy Solutions

All Policy Documents Tagged biofuels

Cultivating Clean Energy
The Promise of Algae Biofuels

Issue Paper

Algae-derived gasoline, diesel and jet fuel sound like the imaginings of science fiction, but a growing number of entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and policy makers are working to develop the technologies needed to provide large quantities of biofuels with potentially minimal environmental impacts. This NRDC report takes the big picture view by creating a framework for understanding the environmental challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for this nascent industry.

Building a sustainable biomass industry in California without sacrificing our unique natural heritage
Sustainable biofuels can be a boon to our economy and our environment

Fact Sheet

Renewable energy such as biofuels—specifically biomass that is sustainably harvested—can be a boon for our economy and our environment. But biofuels done wrong can actually destroy ecosystems and increase global warming pollution, so it is critically important that all biofuels production include necessary environmental safeguards. California is in a position to get biofuels right with the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which would require oil companies to reduce the global warming pollution footprint of the vehicle fuels they sell. A groundbreaking new study commissioned by NRDC shows that California can ramp up biofuels production to meet the goals of the LCFS without sacrificing our most sensitive lands. Get document in pdf.

The Billion Gallon Challenge
How America Can Produce One Billion Gallons of the Best Biofuels By 2014

Fact Sheet

To avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we need to make low-carbon biofuels work. But the best biofuels have yet to make the jump from the lab to the pump. As a first step, policy makers should stop spending tax dollars on the dirty biofuels of yesterday and start paying for performance, while maintaining our existing safeguards and standards. But that’s not enough. We need to jumpstart the best biofuels and make them work for our economy and our environment. We need a Billion Gallon Challenge. Get document in pdf.

Herseth Sandlin Bill (H.R. 1190) Turns Biofuels into Dirty Fuels

Legislative Analysis

Herseth Sandlin Bill (H.R. 1190) Turns Biofuels into Dirty Fuels Current law ensures the Renewable Fuel Standard's five-fold increase in biofuels results in better fuels, not just different dirty fuels. The Herseth Sandlin bill would strike critical safeguards established by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) and turn an important step forward into a counterproductive leap backward. Get document in pdf.

Testimony of Nathanael Greene, Director of Renewable Energy Policy, on Biofuels and the Renewable Fuel Standard

Testimony

In this testimony presented before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, Nathanael makes the case for protecting key environmental safeguards in the RFS and proactively addressing the food vs fuel debate through reforming the biofuels tax credits and import tariffs by making them performance based and technology neutral.

Putting Biofuels on the Right Track
Renewable Fuels Standard Safeguards Protect Wildlife and the Environment

Fact Sheet

RFS safeguards can ensure that biofuels are done right, and don't just become another dirty fuel Get document in pdf.

Getting Biofuels Right
Eight steps for reaping real environmental benefits from biofuels

Fact Sheet

America's transportation sector is the key link between our ever-growing dependence on oil and global warming pollution. The oil that powers our cars and trucks accounts for two-thirds of our total oil use and generates one-third of the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest, and fastest way to cut oil demand, but it is only a part of the package. NRDC research shows that liquid motor vehicle fuels made from plant matter, such as ethanol, butanol, and biodiesel, can be a large and important tool for ending our dependence on oil and stopping global warming—but only if we get them right. Get document in pdf.

Driving It Home: Choosing the Right Path for Fueling North America's Transportation Future
Choosing the Right Path for Fueling North America's Transportation Future

Report

North America faces an energy crossroads. With the world fast approaching the end of cheap, plentiful conventional oil, we must choose between developing ever-dirtier sources of fossil fuels -- at great cost to our health and environment -- or setting a course for a more sustainable energy future of clean, renewable fuels. This June 2007 report explores the full scale of the damage done by attempts to extract oil from liquid coal, oil shale, and tar sands; examines the risks for investors of gambling on these dirty fuel sources; and lays out solutions for guiding us toward a cleaner fuel future.

Costa Rica: Setting the Pace for Reducing Global Warming Pollution and Phasing Out Oil

Fact Sheet

Already a world leader in renewable energy use and tropical forest conservation, Costa Rica has declared the goal of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral country. To achieve this goal, Costa Rica must reduce its dependence on oil and increase investment in domestic renewable energy production and demand reduction strategies. Get document in pdf.

Testimony on S.987, the Biofuels for Energy Security and Transportation Act of 2007

Testimony

Testimony of Daniel A. Lashof, NRDC's Climate Center Science Director, before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resource, United States Senate on April 12, 2007.

Strip Mining for Oil in Endangered Forests

Fact Sheet

Big oil interests are scraping away hundreds of thousands of acres in North America’s Boreal forest to produce tar sands oil, and in the process consuming large amounts of natural gas and generating three times as much global warming pollution as conventional crude oil production. Greater efficiency and renewable fuels are far better, cleaner ways to meet our energy needs. Get document in pdf.

Biofuels: The Growing Solution to Energy Dependence and Global Warming
The Growing Solution to Energy Dependence and Global Warming

Index

In the fight to stop global warming and break our addiction to oil America needs to employ all our ingenuity. We need more efficient vehicles and we need a clean and renewable alternative to oil. Biofuels produced and used responsibly can be a component of a strategy to beat back global warming. This index collects NRDC studies, analyses and other policy materials that answer some of the most pressing questions about these fuels.