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Patience running low as industry awaits GREET model update

The ethanol industry is waiting for the EPA to issue the new Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation or GREET model guidelines, but “Patience is beginning to run out.”

Renewable Fuels Association President Geoff Cooper tells Brownfield there’s a lot of anxiety in the industry about when they will see the modified GREET model. “It was promised to us that it would be done on March 1st. We’re now a month past that. We’ve really gotten no indication from the administration of when to expect that model, and again, that just creates uncertainty.”

The GREET model is used to assess life cycle energy, emissions, and the environmental impact of transportation fuels.

Cooper says gearing up for sustainable aviation fuel production is being held up by EPA’s lack of a GREET model decision. “There’s a lot of investment that is waiting to be deployed into sustainable aviation fuels, but it’s not going to move until we know what the rules of the game are and if we know whether ethanol and other crop-based biofuels are going to have a role to play or if they’re not.”

Cooper says the ethanol industry needs answers very soon if sustainable aviation fuel production is going to take off and if they will meet this administration’s goals of rapidly expanding SAF production.   

He says the updated GREET model and the year-round use of E15 also affect the bottom line for businesses and consumers, and people are paying attention during this election year.