Biofuels information

What's New

On July 17, one week after Gov. Rendell signed into law an alternative fuels initiative for Pennsylvania, PennEnvironment released a new report exploring the environmental impacts of the alternative fuels being promoted to help wean us off of oil. The report found liquid coal, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel to have the worst environmental impacts, while plug-in hybrid vehicles and cellulosic ethanol made from crop waste hold the most promise for meeting our fuel needs with the least environmental harm.  Click here to see the full report, and click here to read our release.

Background

One of the keys to cleaning up and modernizing our energy system is to shift away from polluting energy sources like oil to cleaner, renewable energy sources like sustainable biofuels.  And thankfully, Pennsylvania has the natural resources and technological know-how to make this happen.

To fully realize our clean energy potential, PennEnvironment is working in Harrisburg and Washington, DC to increase the generation and distribution of clean, sustainable biofuels in Pennsylvania and across the country.  At the same time, we’re fighting efforts to include “coal-to-liquids” and other polluting technologies in biofuels proposals.  While sustainable biofuels will help us to cut global warming pollution, coal-to-liquids and non-sustainable biofuels could dramatically increase global warming pollution levels.

By increasing the production and distribution of clean, sustainable biofuels, we will take a huge step towards modernizing Pennsylvania’s energy system and addressing global warming.