Renewable transportation fuels like ethanol have been under the microscope lately, as fighting over the Renewable Fuel Standard ratcheted up in the days leading up to EPA’s proposed 2014 blending requirements. While corn-based ethanol received most of the attention – due to an investigative report highlighting some of the industry’s negative environmental impacts – the details surrounding the cellulosic biofuel portion of EPA’s proposed rule were more difficult to unravel.

“Because of the way the RFS targets roll up, it’s not easy to see exactly what the Agency has proposed doing with each category of biofuel under the mandate.

The first aspect requiring clarification is that the roughly 99% cut in the most restrictive category of the RFS, the target for cellulosic biofuel, is nothing new. It’s at least the fourth consecutive annual reduction by my count, reflecting that the substantial volumes of cellulosic biofuel projected back in 2007 were more than merely ambitious.” – Geoffrey Styles wrote in the Energy Collective

The technology needed to develop cellulosic fuels proved more stubborn than lawmakers and analysts envisioned when the Renewable Fuel Standard was created in 2007. But companies are developing these fuels, and according to Vayne Simmons, CEO of Sundrop Fuels, regulatory certainty that provides greater capital market access can help advanced biofuel producers significantly scale up production.

Watch this first video of a 3-part video series from the Advanced Biofuels Association to find out more about the current state of the industry: