The announcement yesterday by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to create the world’s first Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which is projected to reduce motor vehicle emissions by at least 10% by 2020 and more than triple the size of the state’s renewable fuels market, is yet another sign that proactive policy on climate change is no longer a partisan issue.
The move could potentially place more than 7 million alternative fuel or hybrid cars on the state’s roads and incent more investment in market-based solutions and development of renewable and clean energy. California, the fifth largest economy in the world, is also seeking to improve its energy security, say state officials.
“I propose that California be the first in the world to develop a Low Carbon Fuel Standard that leads us away from fossil fuels,” Schwarzenegger announced. “And let us use the freedom and flexibility of the market to accomplish it. Let us blaze the way, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world.”
With this announcement, California has turned carbon into a crop, emphasized Sara Hessenflow Harper, National Security and Climate Policy Analyst for Environmental Defense Hessenflow, who worked on carbon markets while on staff for Sen. Brownback, points out that this may be the next biggest market for ethanol and other low carbon biofuels since Congress passed the Renewable Fuels Standard.
“This action alone, has launched the market for low carbon fuels — everything from reducing emissions from growing the feedstock (no-till corn) to the way fuels/biofuels are processed (such as capturing the methane gas from livestock manure to use as a fuel source for making the ethanol) to new feedstock production (such as cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, wheat straw, corn stover, wood chips, etc),” says Hessenflow Harper.
State officials hailed the executive order as a big step toward helping the state implement its landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, a bill signed last year to cap the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.
David Hallberg, CEO of Prime BioSolutions and inventor of a low-carbon ethanol technology used at a facility in Mead, NE. points out that the executive order could easily increase California’s demand for ethanol to 5 billion gallons by 2020. “Governor Schwarzenegger’s team is creating a market-based incentive that will unleash American ingenuity by rewarding companies that are providing cost effective, low-carbon fuels.” Hallberg says.
Prime BioSolutions ethanol is a low-carbon production technology which uses a closed loop system that captures manure from a cattle-feeding operation or dairy and converts it into a renewable biogas to fuel the ethanol plant. The approach eliminates all of the natural gas normally needed for an ethanol plant. The system further processes the residual materials by removing and separating its valuable nutrients into discrete streams which can be applied to farmland as natural bio-fertilizers. PRIME has already visited two California counties about development of low carbon systems in state. “California has 1.4 million Dairy Cows who produce literally tons of manure,” Hallberg says. “What many people see as an enormous problem,—manure—can, by applying capital and technology, become a valuable resource which can allow California to more quickly meet their Low Carbon goals.”
For more information: www.primebiosolutions.com
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:18 am
California is one of the 41 states that currently allow net metering (access to the grid to use energy produced with personal alternate energy resources).
A company out of Delaware has teamed up with several Fortune 500 companies to build the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the world (600,000 sq.ft). They will be giving free solar panel usage to U.S. homeowners in return for the monthly fixed rate of current costs. Homeowners can refer others and zero out their bill totally and/or earn a substantial income by becoming an associate “Ecopreneur”.
Installations and maintenance will also be free thus creating thousands of jobs for this massive effort. Call 877-803-5040 for more information or visit the website at: http://EnsuringEnergy.info
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 am
Hello:
It would be worthwhile if those who propose alternate energy solutions to oil dependence, individually or by government, would also provide specific supporting scientific and econonomic rationale for their assertions and/or ideas. What must be demonstrated is the cause/effect and cost/benefit relationships that can clearly show their viability to everyone, including the average person. Only in this way will the issues become more narrowly focused and public support achieved.