| Project Description |
Massachusetts environmental agencies have focused their efforts on supporting cellulosic ethanol research and development, biodiesel, and advanced biofuels (such as bio-oil and renewable diesel). In 2006, prompted by the Massachusetts Leading by Example Program (formerly known as the State Sustainability Program), the Executive Office of Administration and Finance released a directive to state agencies (entitled Establishment of Minimum Requirements for Bio-Fuel Usage in State Vehicles and Buildings by Executive Agencies or A&F Bulletin #13) requiring the use of biodiesel fuel in state fleets. This directive requires that effective July 1, 2007 all state agencies must use a minimum of five percent biodiesel in both on-road and off-road diesel engines. By July 1, 2009, agencies shall use a minimum of 15 percent biodiesel.
Additional activities include:
- Mandated use of biofuels by state agencies, colleges, and universities;
-Trained state agency staff and implemented the A&F Bulletin 13;
-Initiated tracking of biofuel beginning July 1, 2007 with a first quarter report due in October 2007;
-Implemented a pilot bio-heat program in the winter of 2007 with excellent results;
-Developed and began to implement Executive Order 484, entitled “Clean Energy and Efficient Buildings” that calls for agencies to transition to bio-heat products (i.e., biodiesel/heating oil blends) with blends of at least 10 percent minimum of B-3 (3 percent biodiesel, 97 percent conventional heating oil) for all heating applications that use number two heating oil in the winter of 2007-2008; in 2012 state agencies must be using blends of at least 10 percent;
-Met with over a dozen bio-refinery companies that plan to use a variety of feedstocks (i.e., algae, waste vegetable oil, grease trap wastes, virgin oils) to produce biodiesel or advanced biofuels and co-products (such as electricity); the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (MA EOEEA) has provided business, technical, and permitting assistance to these firms;
-Researched incentive programs, wholesale fuel distribution infrastructure needs, and climate change impacts of various biofuels to inform the legislative process.
A company in Massachusetts, Berkshire Biodiesel, has obtained sufficient funding to begin final design and has worked with a MassDEP regional office to apply for permits for a 50 million gallon per year biodiesel facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The MA EOEEA staff has also noted investments by ethanol companies in cellulosic ethanol research and development (called Sunethanol) and biodiesel producers (e.g., North American Biofuels Company). |
