Measuring the Total Carbon Footprint of Biofuels Through Life-Cycle Analysis

In recent years, lawmakers in the United States and the European Union have embraced biofuels as a key element of their respective strategies to combat climate change and promote energy independence. However, just as these two major markets are beginning to agree on technical standards for biofuels, as shown in the white paper on “Internationally Compatible Biofuel Standards” that the United States and EU lauded at the recent EU-U.S. Summit of 2008, controversy is emerging in both markets on the tough question of how to show that biofuels represent life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions savings as compared to traditional fossil fuels. The issue is sensitive because the greenhouse-gas emissions savings of different biofuels vary substantially.
Life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions analyses for renewable fuels seek to quantify the greenhouse-gas emissions created by the manufacture of the fuel, including its inputs, through transportation to the consumer, use and disposal. In the United States, under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, biofuels only qualify for the new renewable fuels standard (RFS) if all carbon emissions associated with their production and use result in emissions savings of at least 20 percent. In the EU, the Proposed Directive on the Promotion of Energy from Renewable Sources provides that biofuels must represent emissions savings of at least 35 percent in order to be taken into account in the EU’s renewable energy targets. These emissions savings thresholds have become mired in controversy. Technical challenges in measuring life-cycle emissions savings, combined with political uncertainty in both jurisdictions, threaten to stall implementation of these thresholds in both markets. The controversy also may threaten international trade and investment flows in biofuels.

Ethanol Producer Magazine