Renewable Fuel Standards And The Energy Policy Act Of 2005

Abstract
In an attempt to combat growing energy problems Congress established the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This new initiative led to the creation of the renewable fuel standard, RFS. The Renewable Fuel Standard is a federal program that requires transportations fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. The tracking of the renewable fuels is done under the renewable identification number system. Renewable Identification Numbers, also referred to as RIN, are produced when a gallon of renewable fuel is produced. A RIN is a 38-character serial number that serves as credits of compliance for a batch of biofuel that oil companies can submit to the United States Environmental Protection Agency that they have

The RFS has
The Cycle of RINs
A different concept, yet an effective one. The United States Environmental Protection Agency was created with the sole purpose of promoting, enforcing, and implementing new regulations and initiatives to protecting health and environment of the people. As enviormental concerns increased, go-green initiatives thrived, and as people became wary of the what exactly was going into the environment new programs were set in place to help. A significant part of the problem being the large amount of pollution that is generated from emission of transportation vehicles. In order to combat some of the pollution and large amounts of harmful transportation emissions Congress established the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Within the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was the acknowledgement of the Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS set regulations that requires a certain amount of renewable fuel to be used in transportation fuel each year. The U.S. EPA establishes the percentage of road fuel that must be biofuel based for the year based on fuel consumption forecast. The RFS, under the EPA, sets the quota of the number of

RINs can be sold, bought, traded, or retired. It identifies either a single gallon of fuel or a batch of multiple gallons. “RINS are generated when a batch of biofuel has been produced or imported into the United States.” RINs are valid for use in the year they are generated and the following year.” (1)
RINs serial numbers contain a substantial amount of important information about the batch of fuel. They have the following structure: KYYYYCCCCFFFFFBBBBBRRDSSSSSSSSEEEEEEE. The K distinguishes assigned RINs from separated RINs. Y is the calendar year of production or import date. C, F, and B tie the RIN to a precise company, facility, and its unique batch number. RR is the code for identifying the equivalence value. “The equivalence value (EV) is the approximate ratio of the energy density of the produced fuel to the energy density of ethanol. More energy-dense products like biomass-based diesels have an EV greater than one.” D is the code telling the renewable fuel category. There are 5 renewable fuel categories; renewable fuel, advanced biofuel, biomass-based diesel, cellulosic biofuel, and cellulosic diesel. The S & E represent that start and end of RIN block. Some RINs come in batches.