John, Good points. I looked at the list of Commissioners and it is there where you can find part of the story. Most of the Comissioners are policy makers not industry veterans. For example, I don't see any real biofuel refiners or refining background. There is a guy from ConocoPhillips but that company is a "minor" compared to the majors.
Also, methinks the reason for little wording on hydrogen fuel is that most of the hydrogen fuel will be coming from the process of cracking and byproduct of natural gas resulting from traditional petroleum refining. Little discussion is paid to the all important "distribution" of the new renewable products. More importantly, I don't see any big incentives for the "distribution" portion of the business. For exampole, Indepedent owner-operators of C-Stores and Gas Stations are already looking at solar, biofuels, energy efficiency and getting away from traditional petroleums. The problem is that these family owned independents operate on a thin profit margins with an average of 10-20 C-Store Gas Stations. The cost-benefit of switching to a new renewable fuel is easy to say by the Commisisoners but in practice a much more difficult proposition. I would advocate for more incentives pointed at the marketing and distribution of new renewables and technologies - this is called the "downstream" activity. I would also advocate for incentives for people such as the biofuel industry and refining or "upstream" activities. In many ways this is already being done with traditional petroleum in the U.S. Did you know that at least 40% of the cost of a gallon of passenger gasoline is a State and Federal Tax? And did you know that most of those taxes are NOT earmarked for renewables, such as biodiesel, smart growth, alternative transportation? As my buddy Paul Stevens at Hewlett-Packard said, "The poop is always in the detail, and that is where you find the cause of the poop." My three cents worth. --- John Mullan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > OK. So what is new here? Seems like the panel was > a complete waste of > money to "recommend" things we already know > need/should be done! > > What worries me most is that money keeps getting > spent on "reports" instead > of "implementing". > > OK, that was my 2cents worth. > > John > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Keith Addison > Sent: December 28, 2004 12:39 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Biofuel] Bipartisan panel recommends US > energy strategy > > > DieselNet > December 2004 > http://www.dieselnet.com/ > > Bipartisan panel recommends US energy strategy > > The report calls for incentives to increase global > oil production, > recommends to increase domestic vehicle fuel > economy, and to increase > investment in alternative fuels. The climate change > plan would limit > greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but a cost cap for > doing so would be > established. Incentives should be also provided for > low- and non- > carbon sources like natural gas, renewable energy, > nuclear energy, > and advanced coal technologies with carbon capture > and sequestration. > > Among many detailed recommendations, the report > supports domestic > production of advanced diesel and hybrid vehicles. > The Commission > concluded that a combination of improved > conventional gasoline > technologies and advanced hybrid-electric and diesel > technologies can > significantly increase fuel economy without > sacrificing size, power, > or safety. > > http://www.energycommission.org/ > Download report: > http://www.energycommission.org/ewebeditpro/items/O82F4682.pdf > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
