California
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Bioenergy > Countries > United States > U.S. states > California
Information about biofuels and bioenergy in the state of California in the United States.
- The role of California with respect to biofuels can be significant, as the state sets independent environmental standards often exceeding those of the United States generally. Especially relevant is the "Low Carbon Fuel Standard", which mandates reduced carbon dioxide emissions for fuels; if biofuels are produced in a manner that leads to high carbon emissions, including through indirect land use changes, such biofuels may not meet state regulations.
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Events
2008-2010:
- 11-12 March 2008, San Diego, California: Biofuels Integration: The Next Refining Challenge.
- 28-30 May 2008, Sacramento, California: Joint Forum on Bioenergy Sustainability and Lifecycle Analysis (Themes: bioenergy, sustainability, lifecycle analysis)
- 17-20 June 2008, San Diego: BIO International Convention. (Themes: biotechnology)
- 18-22 February 2010, San Diego: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Annual Meeting. (Themes: science, sustainability, technology).
2007:
- 27-28 November 2007, Sacramento: 2007 AgStar National Conference.
- 6-7 December 2007, Eureka: Woody Biomass Utilization Workshop: Techniques and Economic Considerations for the North Coast
- 18-19 January 2007, San Diego: Biomass Finance and Investment Summit, organized by Financial Research Associates, LLC
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Policies
See also United States
- Executive Order S-01-07: establishes a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which "requires fuel providers to ensure that the mix of fuel they sell into the California market meets, on average, a declining standard for GHG emissions measured in CO2-equivalent" gram per unit of fuel energy sold.[1] For more information, see The Role of a Low Carbon Fuel Standard in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Protecting Our Economy (Website of the Governor of California)
- Executive Order S-06-06: establishes "targets for the use and production of biomass products," including "for California to produce a minimum of twenty percent of its own biofuels by 2010 and forty percent by 2020." (Reference: Western Milling Press Release)
- AB32: the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Regulates emissions of greenhouse gases.
- B100: California Law requires that 100% biodiesel (B100) meet the American Society for Testing and Material Standards. The current ASTM standard for Biodiesel, D-6751-06a, has the standards title "Biodiesel Fuel Blend Stock (B100) for Middle Distillate Fuels", which means that it can only be sold as a blend not as pure fuel.
- 100% Biodiesel fuel (B100) may only be sold to the public as a neat fuel if the seller has applied for and been granted a variance under the developmental engine fuel provisions of the Business and Professions Code, (Division 5, Chapter 14, Section 13405) and (California Code of Regulations, Title 4, Division 9, Chapter 6, Section 4144.
- Sales are restricted to centrally fueled fleets, at controlled access fueling systems, through co-op organizations or to qualified members of biodiesel users groups.
- This will continue until ASTM issues stand-alone fuel standards for B100 and/or B20 as fuels. (Source: CDFA Department of Measurement Standards)
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Issues
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Publications
- Bioenergy Action Plan for California (PDF)
- A Roadmap for the Development of Biomass in California (Draft)(PDF) Developed by the California Biomass Collaborative working towards the State goals for renewable fuels.
- Creating Markets for Green Biofuels: Measuring and improving environmental performance (pdf) by Brian T. Turner, Richard J. Plevin, Michael O’Hare and Alexander E. Farrell; research report, UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies, April 2007. Details a methodology and policy options for a Green Biofuels Index, which would rank biofuels according to how well they met environmental criteria. This would help create a market for more sustainable biofuels.
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News
- UCLA Researchers Modify E. Coli to Produce Efficiently Higher-Chain Alcohols for Advanced Biofuels, 2 January 2008, from Green Car Congress. UCLA researchers have developed strands of the bacteria which can produce alcohols from glucose that have energy densities closer to gasoline than more traditional biofuels.
- San Francisco Fleet is All Biodiesel from the New York Times, 14 December 2007. The mayor of San Francisco announced that the city has completed a year-long project to convert its entire vehicle fleet to biodiesel created from midwestern soy oil.
- Farmers eye oilseed plants for biodiesel, 25 April 2007, by Associated Press, reports that farmers in California are investigating growing crops for biofuel, such as canola "on unproductive land that can't support higher-value produce" or "as a cover crop that might improve soil quality between more profitable plantings of berries or leafy greens."
- Even if successful, however, the economic benefit may be limited, as the article stated: "A typical biodiesel crop could earn California growers a maximum of $200 an acre each year — far less than their current average annual yield of $2,000 an acre, said Robert Van Buskirk, a scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy."
- Company brings in High-Yield Trial Rice Straw Harvest; Targets Cellulosic Ethanol Production for 2007 20 November 2006, from greencarcongress.com. Colusa Biomass Energy Corporation has completed its first ever rice-straw harvesting operation in California, the US' second-largest rice producer. It collected 6,800 tons of rice straw with an average yield per acre harvested of over 4 tons/acre, compared to previous assumptions of 2.5 tons/acre. The higher yields significantly reduced the amount of acres necessary to be harvested in order to reach CBEC’s target volume of rice straw. Colusa will turn the rice straw into ethanol at its plant, which is due to be finished in 2007.
- Wastewater Plant Turns Kitchen Grease Into Biogas 21 Nov 2006 from WaterandWasteWater.com. Chevron Energy Solutions and the City of Millbrae, California have completed new facilities at Millbrae's Water Pollution Control Plant that uses inedible kitchen grease from restaurants to naturally produce biogas for generating renewable power and heat to treat the city's wastewater. The grease and other organic matter will produce enough biogas at the plant to generate about 1.7 million kilowatt hours annually, which will meet 80 percent of the plant's power needs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million pounds annually.
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Organizations
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Governmental organizations
- The Bioenergy Interagency Working Group: The Working Group is charged with developing California's Bioenergy Action Plan and is composed of state agencies with important biomass connections.
- Agencies involved:
- Air Resources Board
- California Energy Commission
- California Environmental Protection Agency
- California Resources Agency
- Department of Food and Agriculture
- Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
- Department of General Services
- Integrated Waste Management Board
- Public Utilities Commission
- State Water Resources Control Board
- Agencies involved:
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Nongovernmental organizations
- California Biomass Collaborative A group of academics, NGO and governmental participants, based out of the University of California - Davis that "plans to administer a comprehensive statewide collaborative program in scientific research and innovation, technology development, demonstration, and deployment, and education and training, to support and integrate efforts of the State in advancing efficient, safe, reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound biomass systems."
- Biodiesel in the City of Davis The biodiesel page of the Davis community wiki, with additional links to the Davis Biodiesel Users Group and the Davis Biodiesel Users Google Grouppage.
- Biodiesel Council of California An alliance of producers, consumers, and distributors that are committed to the use of B100 biodiesel.
- Southern California Biodiesel Users Group A voluntary registry of B100 biodiesel users, which allows its members to purchase B100 biodiesel under current State law. See policies on this page.
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Research organizations
- The California Biomass Collaborative is hosted by the University of California - Davis.
- The Bioenergy Research Group is hosted by the University of California - Davis.
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Companies
- Cilion Inc. - headquartered in Goshen, California.
- Khosla Ventures
- Colusa Biomass Energy Corporation. Is building a factory to make cellulosic ethanol from rice straw, which will be commissioned in 2007.
- Energy Alternative Solutions Inc. EAS is building a biodiesel plant using waste vegetable oil and restaurant tallow as a feedstock in central California.
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Notes
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