The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has finally released its proposed regulation for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard with the public now given 45 days to review the proposals and provide comments.
The regulation outlines two performance standards that fuel producers and importers must meet each year beginning in 2011. The first is for petroleum and alternative fuels that can replace it and the second is for diesel fuel and its replacements.
The aim is to achieve an average 10 per cent in the carbon intensity of the mix transportation fuels by 2020. It is expected to result in around 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020.
To help the transition more reductions are required in the last five years than during the first five years so that advanced fuels can be developed that are lower in carbon than today’s offerings. It is also expected that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric cars, fuel cell cars and flexible fuel vehicles will have more of an impact over time.
Providers of transportation fuels must demonstrate that the mix of fuels they supply meet the intensity standards for each annual compliance period. They must report all fuels provided and track the carbon intensity through credits and deficits – credits are generated from fuels with lower carbon intensity than the standard while deficits come from the use of fuels with higher carbon density than the standard.
The item will be considered at a meeting on April 23.
