The buzz and activity around renewable diesel (RD), a chemically identical “drop-in” replacement for traditional petroleum-based diesel, continues to grow. The goals with RD, which is produced from renewable feedstocks, are to reduce the need for petroleum and to lower life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — critical steps in meeting climate agendas in many countries. Canada recently enacted legislation designed to promote the domestic production of RD as part of a broader emissions-reduction strategy. In today’s RBN blog, we take a tour of the newly emerging RD production sector in Canada and examine whether it could one day replace imports from the U.S.
The world’s push to lessen its dependence on petroleum-based fuels remains unrelenting. From both a climate perspective and a desire for greater self-reliance, many nations have been attempting to reduce their petroleum dependence by increasing efforts to produce more homegrown fuels — literally, in RD’s case, given that its primary feedstocks are the oils derived from agricultural products such as canola and soybeans.
The RBN blogosphere is well stocked with explanations as to the chemical nature of RD — it’s safe to say that the RD blog in our Come Clean series will tell you all you need to know about how RD is produced. Additional analysis on more recent developments and the regulatory environment, as well as the favorable tax treatment the fuel receives under the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), can be found in Thunderstruck. Another driver in the rapidly expanding RD industry has been the implementation of a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in several jurisdictions, especially California (see Californication).
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