The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed the 2011 percentage standards for the four fuels categories under the agency's Renewable Fuel Standard program, known as RFS2. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) established the annual renewable fuel volume targets, reaching an overall level of 36 billion gallons in 2022. To achieve these volumes, EPA calculates a percentage-based standard for the following year. Based on the standard, each refiner, importer and non-oxygenate blender of gasoline determines the minimum volume of renewable fuel that it must ensure is used in its transportation fuel.The proposed 2011 overall volumes and standards are:
Biomass-based diesel (0.80 billion gallons; 0.68 percent)
Advanced biofuels (1.35 billion gallons; 0.77 percent)
Cellulosic biofuels (5 - 17.1 million gallons; 0.004 - 0.015 percent)
Total renewable fuels (13.95 billion gallons; 7.95 percent)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing requirements under its national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program for underground coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems, industrial waste landfills and magnesium production facilities. The data from these sectors will provide a better understanding of GHG emissions and will help EPA and businesses develop effective policies and programs to reduce them. Methane is the primary GHG emitted from coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems and industrial landfills and is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. The main fluorinated GHG emitted from magnesium production is sulfur hexafluoride, which has an even greater warming potential than methane, and can stay in the atmosphere for thousands of years. These source categories will begin collecting emissions data on January 1, 2011, with the first annual reports submitted to EPA on March 31, 2012.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing three universities with the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) awards for generating power and thermal energy while saving energy, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing air pollution, which can reduce impacts on the public's health. CHP, also known as cogeneration, is 50 percent more energy efficient than producing heat and power separately. The University of Missouri-Columbia, University of California, San Diego, and Fairfield University CHP systems are reaching operating efficiencies ranging from 55 percent to 75 percent compared to conventional fossil-fueled power plants, which are only about 30 percent efficient. This efficiency increase translates into energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions, and a clear return on investment when the costs of installing and operating a CHP system are compared to the costs of purchased power and thermal energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program has helped improve the energy efficiency of the auto manufacturing industry, which has cut fossil fuel use by 12 percent and reduced greenhouse gases by more than 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide, according to a recent report by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. The emissions reductions, which help to fight climate change, equal the emissions from the electricity use of more than 80,000 homes for a year. The report, Assessing Improvement in the Energy Efficiency of U.S. Auto Assembly Plants, affirms EPA's energy management strategy, particularly the importance of performance measurement and recognition for top performance. The report also demonstrates that the gap between top performing plants and others has closed and the performance of the industry as a whole has improved.
A day after the US Senate voted to uphold the US Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit today challenging EPA's failure to address such pollution from ocean-going ships, aircraft and nonroad vehicles and engines used in industrial operations. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in the District of Columbiaby Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of Oceana, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, and the International Center for Technology Assessment. Together, aircraft, ship and nonroad vehicles and engines are responsible for 24 percent of U.S. mobile source greenhouse gas emissions, and emit approximately 290,000 tons of soot every year. Pollution from these sources is projected to grow rapidly over coming decades.
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