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In the race to lower carbon emissions and combat climate change, one resource that is nearly depleted is time. Carbon added to the atmosphere today compounds the environmental challenges of tomorrow, and because of technological and infrastructure restraints, many industries that rely on heavy-duty (and often heavy-polluting) equipment are years or even decades away from electrification.

“To meet the ambitious carbon reduction goals that Americans are aiming for, we have to use all of the tools in our toolbox,” says Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen. “Both clean fuels and electric vehicles have important roles to play in staving off the detrimental effects of climate change and make progress toward those goals.”

For many companies and municipalities, switching to biofuels has proven to be a simple and effective way to meet their carbon reduction goals.

“Carbon emissions are cumulative, and they persist in the atmosphere. Anytime we can reduce more carbon now, it has less opportunity to persist in our environment,” says Scott Fenwick, technical director for Clean Fuels Alliance America. “[Biofuels] have the ability to immediately impact carbon emissions today, versus waiting five or ten years for electric vehicles to become viable and affordable, and will do more in the long term to reduce these emissions.”

Electric vehicles have become more attainable for light-duty passenger vehicles, and this success has many people dreaming of an all-electric future. However, for some applications, significant technology development is still needed.

“You have folks who really want to leapfrog technology and go straight from fossil fuel equipment to electric equipment, but the technology to go all electric is not there yet,” says Veronica Bradley, director of environmental science at Clean Fuels Alliance America.

She remarked that there are many uses for clean fuels in equipment, like commercial aircraft, that don’t have an electric option today. For example, she said that with today’s technology, the battery for a 737 would take up the whole aircraft, leaving no room for passengers or cargo. Sustainable aviation fuel, which is now coming to the market, lowers emissions by changing what’s in the tank, instead of changing the entire airplane.

Moreover, large transport vehicles such as semi-trucks travel long distances hauling heavy loads on rigid deadlines in areas without reliable access to charging infrastructure.

“There are still a lot of cases where electrification is not viable yet,” Fenwick says. “Those are the sweet spots for biodiesel and renewable diesel to be able to offer a low-carbon option for those uses and markets.”

And the OEMs are responding. Jennifer Weaver, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market development manager for Clean Fuels Alliance America, states that nearly all of them already support B20 biodiesel blends as well as renewable diesel, and they are working in tandem with Clean Fuels to drive innovation.

“We’re seeing OEMs have a significant interest in higher biodiesel blends, on the order of B30, B40, B50 all the way up to B100,” Weaver says. “These companies are getting pressure from their customers to do more to lower their carbon footprint and to meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.”

Biodiesel has evolved over the last several decades, and a growing number of companies and municipalities are using it to meet their carbon goals. With assistance from the Clean Fuels team and a push from new federal regulations, OEMs are developing cleaner engines that support higher biodiesel blends and emit less carbon.

“We are in the process of working with all of those OEMs as they are developing their strategies of how they’re going to meet that new emissions level to make sure that biodiesel is included as part of the equation,” Weaver says. “They are increasingly acknowledging that using an already low-carbon fuel in their engines is going to make it even easier for them to get there. We work with them far in advance of their production time to make sure that’s all contemplated, tested and thoroughly vetted by the time those new models hit the production line.”

This symbiotic relationship between Clean Fuels and the OEMs has led to a premium product that has less impact on the environment.

“We’re really proud of what the industry has done,” says Steve Howell, senior technical advisor for Clean Fuels and an early champion for biodiesel. “We’re selling over 3 billion gallons today, and we wouldn’t be selling that amount of fuel if the standards weren’t working.”

Howell says diesel engines are cleaner than ever before, and this industry will continue to evolve.

“One of the key things that Clean Fuels Alliance America is doing is making sure that we’re doing that research for the future, and I think that’s a competitive advantage for biodiesel and the biodiesel industry,” Howell says. “We used to think of diesel technology as ‘old, dirty diesels’, but now they are clean.”

It’s not just OEMs supporting clean fuels—municipalities are too. Weaver noted that cities were some of the earliest adopters and strongest supporters. She says one of the most notable adopters is New York City, the largest city in the United States.

“New York City uses biodiesel blends in over 11,000 diesel municipal fleet vehicles,” Weaver says. “Everything from sanitation trucks and police vehicles to parks department equipment, light towers and generators. They even use Bioheat for the heating oil that powers their buildings.”

Bioheat® fuel is a clean, renewable and cost-effective alternative to liquid heating fuels. Converting a home’s heating system to electric heating can cost up to $20,000, which is cost prohibitive for many, and the electric systems can place a heavy burden on electric grids. Bioheat fuel, just like biodiesel and renewable diesel, offers an immediate solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for those that rely on liquid fuels.

Carbon buildup in our atmosphere is truly a global problem and meaningful reduction will require all of the tools in our toolkit, including electrification and the continued development of new green technologies. Clean fuels—including biodiesel, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and Bioheat—can slow the accumulation of carbon in our atmosphere and push back the detrimental effects of climate change today. Time may not be a renewable resource, but renewable fuels give companies and municipalities an option to cut the emissions of some of their heaviest polluting vehicles and equipment to make an immediate impact in their carbon footprints.

This article was funded by the United Soybean Board and state checkoff organizations.

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Clean Fuels Alliance America uses the slogan “Better. Cleaner. Now!” because there is urgency in the mission. Removing a pound of carbon from the atmosphere today is worth more than removing a pound of carbon from the atmosphere a year from now—and certainly, 10 or 20 years from now. Carbon emissions in the atmosphere are cumulative, and time is a multiplier for many of the problems created by greenhouse gases, whether global warming or, on a more personal level, health problems such as increased instances of severe asthma.

Corporations and regulators are realizing that they don’t have to wait years for new technology to meet sustainability goals. Instead, they’re turning to clean fuels to make an immediate impact. U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel production continue to ramp up, and the upward trajectory of clean fuels will only continue as companies and municipalities increase carbon reduction efforts in their fleets.

We have the solution. Switching to clean fuels is more often than not the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to meet emissions goals, especially in the heavy-duty transportation sectors. U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel production grew by 500 million gallons in 2022, and the rapid growth is continuing to accelerate. Production for the first quarter of the year was 33% higher than the first quarter of 2022.

Investments in clean fuels are being made on an unprecedented scale. Renewable diesel is coming online quickly as companies have committed $4.5 billion for increased crush capacity through new or expanded facilities. Renewable diesel went from less than 500 million gallons of production in 2019 to a projected 3.34 billion gallons this year. The U.S. EIA and researchers at the University of Illinois project close to 6 billion gallons of U.S. renewable diesel capacity will come online in the next few years.

Biodiesel production has also increased, and a recent investment has the potential to push many fleets from lower blends of biodiesel to B100. Optimus Technologies raised $17.8 million to fund the further development and deployment of its Vector System, an advanced fuel system technology that enables heavy-duty diesel engines to operate on 100% biodiesel. The Vector System integrates into existing engines in operation or can be built into new engines as they are manufactured, leveraging the foundational diesel engine for the transition to a low-carbon future.

The world is realizing the potential of clean fuels to solve heavy-duty problems. By the time the industry gathers for the 2024 Clean Fuels Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, a whole new set of opportunities will be on the horizon. We have more hard work to do, but our industry will keep hitting new milestones. We’re proud to be your partner as we lower carbon emissions today, tomorrow and years in the future.

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The 2023 Energy Transition Outlook Survey Report, which surveys investors and CEOs of many major corporations, shows that 64% of investors and 54% of executives say their plans have shifted even more toward renewables in the past year.

Amazon is committed to 50% of its shipments being net zero carbon by 2030. Walmart’s goal is zero emissions across all of its global operations by 2040. Microsoft says it will be carbon negative by 2030 and will take steps to remove the equivalent of all the carbon the company has emitted since its formation in 1975.

With many companies committing to a carbon-neutral future, low carbon transportation fuels will be vital to reaching their goals, which trickles down to their transportation partners and product suppliers. Any fleet over land, sea or sky will need low carbon options if they want to do business with the biggest retailers in the world.

Cutting emissions is critical for companies that want to stay in business over the next decade, but it isn’t simply a good business practice, it’s the right thing to do. 

In 2022, Trinity Consultants released the second phase of our multi-year study, which examined 15 high-risk air quality communities across the United States. It models the health improvements those communities could experience by replacing diesel fuel with B100. The results show an astounding decrease in cancer risk, fewer premature deaths, reduced asthma and other significant health impacts.

Numbers matter. They help us quantify an issue, but sometimes when we’re staring at numbers, we lose sight of the real people affected.

Recently, I read an interview with a woman named Lisa Loflin, who was six years old when construction on the Capital Beltway in Washington, D.C. began. She described traffic noise that kept the family inside, nightmares from frequent car crashes, increased crime and community ties that were severed by the highway. She also discussed the soot that killed their garden and coated the back of their house. “When you look at the house,” she said, “you can see what it’s doing to your lungs.”

What Lisa suspected while observing the residue buildup on the walls of her family home has now been backed by science. And the health risks may be even worse than she expected.

In many ways, the Interstate Highway System is a miracle, a work of ingenuity and ambitious in scale. It connected the country in ways previously unimagined and offered Americans new opportunities. But, as it connected the country, it literally divided many communities. While highways previously tended to go around cities, the Interstate Highway System was designed to take the main line through the populated areas it connected, uniting the urban core and the suburbs. Millions of people were suddenly living along an increasingly busy interstate, disproportionately affecting communities of color.

Jefferson City, my hometown, has little in common with the major metropolitan areas analyzed in the Trinity study, yet Missouri’s capital wasn’t exempt from the trends of the times. The Rex Whitton Expressway, named after one of the pioneers of the Interstate Highway System, spans Jefferson City. When it was built over 60 years ago, it cut through The Foot, a community that sprung up around the turn of the 20^th century at the foot of the hill near the historically black college Lincoln University. It was a thriving neighborhood with businesses and storefronts, places of worship, a pool and a community center, until the highway was built. Many of these establishments were bought and either bulldozed to make way for the highway or sold off for other renovation projects, while others were left with a highway in their backyards. They faced plummeting home values, intrusive traffic noise, and as we now understand, substantial health risks.  

No one should have to wait for cleaner air, not when we can make a difference today. Carbon emissions show us how one person’s actions affect so many others. Clean fuels can’t solve all of these problems, but they can make a substantial improvement. Clean fuels are the one way for fleets to slash emissions overnight. Our fuels are the one sustainable way to power heavy-duty vehicles over land, sea and sky.

Consumers are demanding greener practices, and companies can see where the road is heading. Clean fuels are not a dream for a sustainable future. We’re here now.

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Let’s start with a straightforward figure that impacts anyone who owns a diesel vehicle or relies on the foods and retail goods that are shipped around the country, likely anyone reading this article. World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services (WAEES) released a study that found that the volumes of clean fuels added to the nation’s fuel supply decreases the cost of regular diesel. The result is a four percent decrease in the price of diesel, about 22 cents per gallon off the average national price. 

Reduced shipping and transportation costs affect us all, but another study captures biodiesel’s broader impact. The study “Economic Impact of Biodiesel on the U.S. Economy 2022” was conducted for Clean Fuels by LMC International, and it evaluates direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts and jobs across the entire value chain, from raw-material production, collection and processing to fuel production and distribution. According to the report, the biodiesel sector had an economic impact of $23.2 billion, created 75,200 jobs and paid $3.6 billion in annual wages in the United States.

The study found that the biodiesel sector generates the largest economic and employment benefits in the farming, oilseed processing and fuel production industries. The farm sector benefits from 30 percent of the overall economic activity, or $7.41 billion. It also supports 28,236 U.S. jobs earning $1.36 billion in wages. The oilseed-processing industry benefits from more than 21 percent of the economic activity, or $4.97 billion.

Finally, the latest analysis from Trinity Consultants demonstrated the potential of biodiesel to substantially improve our health by improving air quality. This phase of the study was conducted on 15 high-risk air quality communities coast-to-coast and reinforced that switching to biodiesel results in significant health benefits. Specifically, the benefits include decreased cancer risk, fewer premature deaths, reduced asthma attacks and fewer lost workdays. B100 (100% biodiesel) can achieve these benefits by reducing pollution in applications among the hardest to decarbonize – heavy-duty transportation and residential heating.

The Trinity study found that replacing diesel fuel with biodiesel in Washington D.C. alone could reduce the symptoms of asthma by nearly 13,000 incidents per year. It also found that annual lost workdays could be reduced by almost 5,700, representing close to $1.5 million in economic activity. Overall, the economic benefit of improved health in the Washington, D.C., area would total over $262 million each year.

Combining Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the study, researchers found that switching to 100% biodiesel in the 28 transportation and home heating oil areas studied would provide immediate community health improvements while avoiding over $7.5 billion in health costs annually. The study shows more than 456,000 fewer/reduced asthma cases per year, at least 142,000 fewer sick days per year, cancer cases reduced by more than 9,400 (over a 70-year timeframe), and prevention of more than 910 premature deaths per year. Of course, these health-related benefits extend beyond the 28 cities that were studied. Everyone benefits from cleaner air.

Every gallon of biodiesel sold improves lives. The new studies I’ve covered help quantify the significant and growing impact of biodiesel. Biodiesel isn’t a dream for a better tomorrow. It’s making a difference today.

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