A CLEANER BURNING FUEL

Ethanol is the cleanest, most affordable high-octane fuel on the market. It provides a superior octane boost without the carcinogens associated with other fuel additives.

MORE OCTANE FOR MORE POWER

High-octane fuels like ethanol enhance engine performance by delivering more horsepower and speed. Most vehicles require a minimum octane rating of 87. Ethanol, with an octane rating of 113, helps meet that in modern cars. Ethanol isa cleaner, renewable, and cost-effective alternative to toxic chemicals like lead and MTBE. As a result, ethanol is now blended into 98 percent of motor fuels in the U.S., providing a safe and efficient boost to fuel performance.

MORE OCTANE FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY

Turbocharging forces more fuel and air into a smaller volume, increasing pressure but potentially causing low-octane fuels to ignite prematurely, reducing efficiency and damaging the engine. High-octane fuels, like ethanol, are essential for high-compression, turbocharged, or supercharged engines, ensuring proper ignition timing and delivering more power. Future U.S. fuel efficiency standards may require higher-compression engines, necessitating higher-octane fuels, which ethanol can provide at a lower cost.

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The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) remains one of America’s most successful clean energy policies.

For almost 20 years, the RFS has grown a new American industry that supports hundreds of thousands of American jobs, improves the rural economy, and increases the demand for farm commodities, helps reduce carbon emissions, and provides more affordable options at the pump, and delivers greater energy and national security.

In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for the first time without relying on statutory volumes set by Congress. Instead, EPA was required to set the standards by considering six statutory factors that include costs, climate change, air quality, energy security, and infrastructure, among others. The “Set” rule that EPA finalized for the 2023-2025 RVOs maintained the 15 billion gallon implied conventional RVO that EPA had long established in previous years, provided a modest increase in non-cellulosic advanced and biomass-based diesel (BBD) RVOs, and did not project any SREs for the period.

The post Accelerating Growth: The RFS in 2026 and Beyond appeared first on Growth Energy.

Bioethanol saves drivers money and reduces carbon emissions

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Biofuels are the most cost-effective and expeditious solution for nations looking to achieve carbon reduction goals, improve energy security, and reduce prices at the pump.

However, tariffs, technical trade barriers, and inaccurate carbon intensity scores pose challenges to U.S. exporters looking to satisfy growing biofuel demand across the globe. They also disadvantage U.S. farmers by closing off potential markets. This must be addressed

The post Trade: Eliminate Barriers for U.S. Ethanol appeared first on Growth Energy.

In an amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1990, Congress specified that fuel with 10% ethanol (E10 or regular) could be sold year-round to encourage use of bioethanol-blended fuels, which provide significant reductions in tailpipe emissions.

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UNL88 is Gaining Quick Traction in the Marketplace.

Today, there are more than 3,700 retail locations in 33 states selling E15 at a price point up to a dollar cheaper per gallon than regular gasoline.

The vast majority of these locations are selling UNL88 (E15) along with E85 at blender pumps and making both available at nearly every dispensing location.

MOVERS. Major retailers selling or committed to selling E15 include: Sheetz, Thorntons, Kum & Go, bp, Maverik, Love’s, Circle K, RaceTrac, Kwik Trip, Cenex, Casey’s, Rutters, Pump & Pantry, NUVU Fuels, United Dairy Farmers, QuikTrip, Sinclair, Minnoco, Protec Fuel, Royal Farms, Murphy USA, and Family Express.

LOCATION. These retailers are not exclusively in the rural Midwest. Many of these retailers are in major metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Louisville, Raleigh-Durham, and San Antonio.

VOLUME. The average convenience store sells 1 million gallons of gasoline per year on average, while the bulk of the retailers involved in the industry-sponsored Prime the Pump program sell 2.8 million gallons per year on average — nearly 3 times as much volume as the traditional retailer.

BLEND. The retailer partners are seeing an average bioethanol blend rate that easily exceeds 10 percent, pushing beyond the so-called 10 percent blend wall.

The post UNL88 (E15): Progress Update appeared first on Growth Energy.

The Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit, or 45Z, provides a tax credit for fuels relative to how low their carbon intensity score (CI) score is against a baseline level. This incentive is critical to scaling new low-carbon fuel projects like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), light-duty vehicles, heavy duty shipping, marine, biochemicals, and bioplastics. Scaling up these projects will be critical to providing new markets for rural America, supporting American innovation, and decarbonization.

The post 45Z: A Pathway to Cost-Effective Carbon Reductions appeared first on Growth Energy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its multipollutant rule governing tailpipe emissions standards from light duty vehicles on March 20, 2024. EPA’s modeling shows that the more stringent standards would most likely be met by 56% battery-electric vehicles by 2032. EPA completely ignored the role of bioethanol and higher bioethanol blends in the decarbonization of the light-duty fleet. Not only will EPA leave millions of tons of carbon reductions on the table through an unduly optimistic emphasis on electric vehicles (see chart), but they ignore proven home-grown solutions from America’s heartland.

The post Tailpipe Rule: Missed Opportunity to Reduce Carbon appeared first on Growth Energy.

Growth Energy, in partnership with the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE), has developed a one-of-a-kind biofuels curriculum aimed at educating high school students to the world of biofuels.

The curriculum is the first industry-supported biofuels curriculum that provides students a guided in-classroom experience and will offer ag educators the tools needed to provide students with an array of technical skills and historical knowledge in biofuels.

The post Classroom Resources: Biofuels Curriculum appeared first on Growth Energy.

E15 (UNL88), a 15% ethanol blended fuel, is a lower-cost, lower-carbon option at the gas pump.

As a result of the temporary waivers issued in 2022, 2023, and 2024, consumers choosing E15 experienced
average cost savings of 10-30 cents per gallon in summer 2023, with some locations offering over $1 off per gallon.

A NATIONWIDE, PERMANENT SHIFT TO E15 (UNL88) WOULD SAVE $20 BILLION+ IN FUEL COSTS EACH YEAR.

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