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California’s Cap-and-Trade Program and Low Carbon Fuel Standard Go Together...
This year is shaping up to be another action-packed year on climate change in the California Legislature. Last year, legislators passed a sweeping commitment to cut California’s global warming...
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An Insider’s View on the Value of Federal Research
Not long after receiving my doctorate in biochemistry I took a research position with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the main research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prior...
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Pruitt’s EPA Undermines Cellulosic Biofuels and Transparency in Government
As the New York Times recently reported, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been conducting much of his work to undermine the EPA’s mission in secret. The recent proposed rule implementing the...
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Setting the Record Straight on EVs and Biofuels
Biofuel research in San Diego. Photo: Steve Jurvetson, CC-BY-2.0 (Flickr) Late last week I submitted a response to an article critical of UCS analysis on electric vehicles that appeared in Biofuels...
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Pruitt Steps Up His Attack on Biofuel Policies
Molecular biologist Z. Lewis Liu (foreground) and technician Scott Weber add a new yeast strain to a corncob mix to test the yeast’s effectiveness in fermenting ethanol from plant sugars. Photo: U.S....
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Cyanobacteria-Based Biofuel: an Innovative Platform for Clean Energy Production
Photo: Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc./CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia)Burning fossil fuels is a major driver of climate change with more than two billion tons of carbon dioxide released annually, leading to...
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Unwinding the Perverse Arithmetic of Scott Pruitt’s Small Refinery Exemptions...
Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt dramatically scaled back federal biofuels policy by exempting many refineries from their compliance obligations. Photo: WClarke/Wikimedia CommonsFormer EPA...
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Washington State Tackles Transportation Emissions
Photo: Alaska AirlinesThe climate crisis demands an immediate response on multiple fronts, and while in Washington DC the Trump administration is attempting to reverse the progress of the last...
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Can Trees, Oceans and Giant Carbon Sucking Machines Save Us from Climate...
The world needs leadership on climate change–as witnessed by the limited progress made by nearly 200 country delegates to the climate conference last week who failed to overcome Saudi Arabia’s block on...
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Five Reasons Midwestern States Need a Clean Fuel Standard
Kenneth Keifer/Shutterstock This week I joined the Great Plains Institute, the American Coalition for Ethanol and many other stakeholders in calling for Midwestern states to adopt clean fuel standards...
View Article5 Takeaways From Algae Week in Washington
I’ve been interested in algae for many years, since algae are unique and versatile organisms whose biomass can have a wide variety of uses. The prospects for leveraging algae to tackle food security,...
View ArticleProgress at Iowa factory + More Oil Company Misinformation on DC Airwaves
At the end of October I went to Iowa for the grand opening of DuPont’s cellulosic ethanol facility. It will be the largest of its kind in the world, ultimately producing 30 million gallons of ethanol...
View ArticleThe Land Sector in INDCs: What We Have and What We Need as Paris Climate...
As the world’s political leaders come to Paris for the international climate negotiations (COP21), how do things look with respect to the land sector (agriculture and forests), which is responsible for...
View ArticleThree Innovative Ways to Power Clean Transportation with Wastes
What some may see as waste may actually be a low-carbon fuel source.
View ArticleEarth to API—It’s 2016 (not 1916) and “Energy Voters” Want Renewables
Recent commercials funded by the American Petroleum Institute suggest expanded fossil fuel development will benefit "our children and our grandchildren"—an untruth that won't work forever.
View ArticleHalf the Oil by 2030: New Report Shows West Coast Pathway
We have a roadmap to a better way—we should follow it. Our new report demonstrates how Washington, Oregon, and California could cut their petroleum use in half by 2030.
View Article7 Facts You Should Know About Gasoline, from our Brand New Report…
What's behind the gas pump—and how does it affect the climate? We found out.
View ArticleHitting US Climate Targets: Will Electric Trucks Deliver the Goods?
It was exciting to be part of the discussion in Paris this past December when countries came together to make a renewed commitment to limit climate warming to two degrees or less, with each country...
View ArticleEverything You Ever Wanted to Know About Biodiesel (Charts and Graphs Included!)
Most discussions about biofuels center on ethanol, but biodiesel—a diesel-substitute made from vegetable oils and animal fats—is increasingly important as well. But where does biodiesel come from, and...
View ArticleThe Road to High Octane Fuels
The biofuels world is abuzz with talk of high octane fuel. Ethanol trade groups weighed in recently with regulators on the role of higher octane fuel in meeting fuel economy targets. Their interest...
View ArticleThe Bioeconomy in a World Without Carbon Pollution
Reaching the climate targets set in Paris will require dramatic action from all sectors of the economy over a period of several decades. While energy and transportation are the largest sources of U.S....
View Article‘Little’ Errors Add Up: What an Electric Vehicles Study Gets Right, and What...
A new study by consulting firm Arthur D. Little (ADL) claims that the benefits of electric cars, both environmental and economic, are lower than others, including UCS, have shown. However, the...
View ArticleOregon’s Clean Fuels Program Off to a Great Start
Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program (CFP) was initially authorized by the legislature in 2009, with subsequent legislation in 2015 allowing the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to fully...
View Article5 Reasons Clean Fuel Standards are the Secret Key to Decarbonizing...
Clean Fuel Standards are enjoying something of a resurgence, with states from coast to coast (including Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and New York) considering joining...
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