Project summaries (July 2012)
CEA Critique and Response (November 2012)
Welcome to the National LCFS Project Website
A Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is a fuel policy designed to reduce the amount of carbon in transportation fuels. To date, such policies have been implemented in California, the European Union and British Columbia. Several other U.S. states have begun considering similar policies.
In 2010, the National LCFS Project was launched to study the policy impacts and implementation of a national Low Carbon Fuel Standard for the United States. The project is funded by the Energy Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The participating researchers are from:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- University of California
- University of Illinois
- University of Maine
- Carnegie Mellon University
- International Food Policy Research Institute
This website describes the work of the National LCFS Project researchers and is a repository for their reports. It is intended to serve as a resource for all who are interested in learning more about the potential development of a national Low Carbon Fuel Standard in the United States.
Also, some sections of the final reports have been published as scholarly papers in peer-reviewed academic journals, and others are expected to be published soon.
News featured off-site
UCD Transportation Director Presents Low-Carbon Fuel Standard to Congress
By Davis Patch
July 24, 2012
The goal is to provide the scientific foundation and knowledge for the federal government to design this kind of transportation policy and put it in place.
New Group Beginning Talks With EPA On Supplanting RFS with LCFS
By InsideEPA.com
July 19, 2012
A new coalition of academic and research institutions is beginning talks with EPA on implementing a national low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) that would augment – or even supplant – the agency’s renewable fuel standard (RFS), an approach that members of the National LCFS Project hope will ease several concerns with the current standard. [Login Required]
Scientists, utilities urge Low Carbon Fuel Standard
By Barbara Vergetis Lundin • FierceEnergy
July 23, 2012
"A national Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a promising framework to help solve the transportation energy challenges that have eluded us for several decades," said Dr. Daniel Sperling, Director of the Institute of Transporation Studies, University of California – Davis. "Technologically, an LCFS is very doable. And it can help us address the complex choices with conventional oil, shale gas, oil sands, biofuels and electric vehicles."