ETS 'could kick start US advanced biofuels industry'

Interesting blog post from one of the US Department of Defense's energy advisors, Kate Brandt, this weekend on how the EU ETS could kick start the American advanced biofuels industry. 

The industry has made some significant process, Brandt points out, but there are still no commercial scale advanced biofuel plants in the US. (Advanced biofuels, or "drop in" fuels, can be used in existing engines, but are cleaner burning than traditional jet fuels - oh and they can be made from things like municipal waste, hence the lovely photo of a dump in Mumbai.)

Now, she argues, airlines have an incentive to purchase biofuels to avoid paying a tax every time they fly to and from Europe. "In the short-term, airlines may see passing on the cost of the ETS to the customer as the easy solution but this would be a very unpopular long term solution."

On a related note, this paper prepared for the 27th roundtable on sustainable development, held at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) headquarters last week, has a good breakdown of the arguments for and against biofuels, including advanced biofuels.