US President George W. Bush is pushing his administration proposal which is aimed at reducing foreign oil dependence and decreasing greenhouse gases. This is also aimed at increasing the supply of alternative and renewable fuels around the globe.
Earlier, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established the nation's first comprehensive Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. At the recent press conference, Stephen L. Johnson, EPA administrator; and Nicole Nason, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, discussed the essence of RFS program which is increasing the use of alternative fuels and modernizing CAFE standards for cars.
"The Renewable Fuel Standard offers the American people a hat trick - it protects the environment, strengthens our energy security, and supports America's farmers," said Johnson. "Today, we're taking an important first step toward meeting President Bush's "20 in 10" goal of jumping off the treadmill of foreign oil dependency."
"Increasing the use of renewable and alternative fuels to power our nation's vehicles will help meet the President's Twenty in Ten goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in ten years," Samuel W. Bodman, the Secretary of Energy, said. "The Administration's sustained commitment to technology investment will bring a variety of alternative fuel sources to market and further reduce our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy."
"While we must look at increasing the availability of renewable and alternative fuels, we must also continue to improve the fuel efficiency of our passenger cars and light trucks," said Nicole R. Nason, the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "As a part of the President's "20 in 10" energy security plan, we need Congress to give the Secretary of Transportation the authority to reform the current passenger car fuel economy standard."
The RFS, as authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, mandates that the equivalent of at least 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel be blended into motor vehicle fuel sold in the United States by 2012. The program is aimed at slashing petroleum use by up to 3.9 billion gallons and reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to 13.1 million metric tons by 2012. It means that the program is preventing the emissions of some 2.3 million cars.
The RFS is an essential step toward meeting Bush's call to slash the use of gasoline 20-percent within ten years. This could be done by switching to renewable and alternative fuel use to 35 billion gallons by the year 2017. The goal behind the RFS is the promotion of the use of fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. These alternative fuels are largely produced from American crops.
The program is also aimed at creating new markets for farm products. This is also done to increase energy security and promote the formulation of sophisticated technologies to help make renewable fuel cost competitive with the traditional gasoline. Additionally, the program establishes special incentives for producing and using fuels derived from cellulosic biomass. Examples of which include woodchips and switchgrass.
The RFS program requires major American refiners, blenders, and importers to use a minimum volume of renewable fuel annually starting 2007 through 2012. The minimum level or "standard" which is determined as a percentage of the total volume of fuel a company produces or imports, will increase on a yearly basis. For this year, 4.02 percent of all the fuel sold or dispensed to American motorists will have to come from renewable sources and that is approximately 4.7 billion gallons.
The RFS program is based on a trading system that provides a flexible means for industry to comply with the annual standard by allowing renewable fuels to be used where they are most economical. To achieve the goal of Bush Administration's Alternative Fuel Standard (AFS), it is necessary to enforce the RFS. The latter requires the use of 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017. It is nearly five times the RFS target in 2012. The said program necessitates an in-depth study and testing to come up with compatible DC sports cold air intake, engines and more.
Given her background on cars as an auto insurance director, Lauren Woods finds the world of cars to be constantly changing.
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