National Biodiesel News
INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
NBB CELEBRATES THE RFS BILLIONS OF GALLONS IN 16 YEARS
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iodiesel industry leaders are celebrating the recent 16th anniversary of the renewable fuel standard (RFS). The RFS came into existence in August 2005. The policy has resulted in a cut of 143.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions over the past decade, according to Donnell Rehagen, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board.
standpoint, growth in those fuels is an awesome thing. We’re looking to be a 6-billion-gallon industry by 2030; that’s double the size we are today.”
“The RFS is the foundation to our industry. The growth that we’ve seen has been on the foundation of the RFS, which has caused phenomenal growth in the market for biodiesel and renewable diesel,” said Rehagen.
“Obviously, [soybeans] are grown for the meal, but you’ve got to have a home for that oil, which is about 20 percent of the soybean. If we’re able as an industry to create a value-add for that soybean oil, just think about what that really means to the farmer at the farm gate,” said Rehagen. “Our most recent study suggests that farmers enjoy about a 13 percent price increase at the farm gate for soybeans because of biodiesel and renewable diesel industry.”
“Before we had an RFS, our industry was maybe 100 million gallons a year,” he said. “We’re now almost a 3 billion gallon a year industry, so it certainly drives that demand for these cleaner fuels that the public is ever-increasingly asking for.” “It does not stop there,” said Rehagen. The RFS has positioned advanced biofuels, as well as agriculture, for growth in the years ahead. “I think the future is going to be great for biodiesel, but it’s also going to be great for renewable diesel; we’re hearing more as well about sustainable aviation fuel,” he said. “All of those fuels are made out of the same feedstock, so from an agricultural
Biodiesel and renewable diesel have contributed to demand for what was once a drag on the soybean market,” according to Rehagen.
The RFS was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and expanded to specifically include biodiesel and renewable diesel, jet fuel, and heating oil under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Photos courtesy of www.biodiesel.org
Fall Issue 2021
SDSL
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