Handbook of Cellulosic Ethanol

Renewable Fuel Legislature in the United States

The renewable fuel agenda in the United States is implemented by federal laws and regulations. These acts give guidelines as well as directions and, most importantly, provide the legal support for federal agencies in the implementation of sustain­able energy programs. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (102nd Congress H. R.776.ENR, abbreviated as EPACT92) is one of the earliest legislatures. It was passed by Congress and addressed energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy manage­ment (Title I), natural gas imports and exports (Title II), alterna­tive fuels and requiring certain fleets to acquire alternative fuel vehicles, which are capable of operating on non petroleum fuels (Title III-V), electric motor vehicles (Title VI), radioactive waste (Title VIII), coal power and clean coal (Title XIII), renewable energy (Title XII), and other issues. It reformed the Public Utility Holding Company Act and amended parts of the Federal Power Act of 1935 (Title VII). The Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use and improve overall energy efficiency in the United States. The Act consists of twenty-seven titles detailing various measures designed to lessen the nation's dependence on imported energy, provide incentives for clean and renewable energy and promote energy conservation in buildings. The EPAct directed the federal government to decrease energy consump­tion in federal buildings when feasible and to integrate the use of alternative fuel vehicles in federal and state fleets. Title XXII in the EPAct authorized tax incentives and marketing strategies for renewable energy technologies in an effort to encourage com­mercial sales and production.

The next Act was the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L 109­58). This is a bill passed by the United States Congress on July 29, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. The act, described by proponents as an attempt to combat growing energy problems, changed US energy policy by providing tax incentives and loan guarantees for energy production of various types. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized loan guarantees for innova­tive technologies that avoid greenhouse gases as well as carbon capture and storage and renewable energy. The Act increases the amount of ethanol that must be mixed with gasoline sold in the United States to 4 billion US gallons by 2006, 6.1 billion US gallons by 2009. However, two years later, another more comprehensive Act was passed in the Congress and some of the important features in this Act and other more recent Federal Government Acts are out­lined below.