State Clean Energy Practices: Renewable Fuel Standards

The State Clean Energy Policies Analysis (SCEPA) project is supported by the Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program within the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This project seeks to quantify the impacts of existing state policies, and to identify crucial policy attributes and their potential applicability to other states. The goal is to assist states in determining which clean energy policies or policy portfolios will best accomplish their environmental, economic, and security goals. For example, renewable fuel standards (RFS) policies are a mechanism for developing a market for renewable fuels in the transportation sector. This flexible market-based policy, when properly executed, can correct for market failures and promote growth of the renewable fuels industry better than a more command-oriented approach. The policy attempts to correct market failures such as embedded fossil fuel infrastructure and culture, risk associated with developing renewable fuels, consumer information gaps, and lack of quantification of the non-economic costs and benefits of both renewable and fossil-based fuels. This report focuses on renewable fuel standards policies, which are being analyzed as part of this project.