US negotiators are close to an agreement on a new energy bill that will raise fuel efficiency standards and require increases in the use of biofuels.
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According to the Washington Post by 2020 all vehicle manufacturers will have to achieve a fleet average fuel consumption of 35 miles a gallon. This was set in a version of the Bill passed by the Senate in June, however, the vehicle manufacturers have reportedly won concessions for flexible fuel vehicles and creating separate fuel economy standards for trucks.
The Washington Post quoted anonymous sources close to the chief negotiators who would not go on the record until an agreement had been confirmed.
On biofuels the Senate bill in June required ethanol use to reach 13bn gallons by 2012 and 36bn by 2022. Of this three billion tonnes should come from ‘advanced biofuels’ derived from sources other than corn by 2016, rising to 21bn gallons by 2022. This will reduce demand for corn which has been increasing in price and help fuel investment in second generation biofuels.
There are still some differences over the size and duration of flexible fuel credits that relate to the fact that although many flexible fuel vehicles are sold only one or two percent of them actually use E85. David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists described the credits as a loophole that could effectively lower mileage standards by as much as 1.3mpg and add more than 100,000 barrels a day to US consumption.
There is also a call for the regulation of CO2 emissions from vehicles to be moved away from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
