The new, proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules for the Renewable Fuels Standard has the biofuels community split over if they will be good for the green fuels. The point of contention has to do with the impact Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) will have on biofuel production.

Under the new rules, biodiesel made from soybeans has been deemed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 22 %, while it must reduce those emissions by 50 percent if it wants to count toward the RFS 1-billion-gallon goal by 2012.There are emission goals for ethanol, but existing corn ethanol plants have been exempted but existing biodiesel refineries did not get the same break.

Algae-biodiesel business are happy with the proposed EPA changes. Dr. John Scott, chairman of PetroAlgae, said that this is a good first step toward building America’s clean energy economy. He also said that for further developments, the two most critical things are, investing in micro-crops like algae that are more productive and making sure we back solutions that are commercially viable and sustainable.