Moving Away from Oil: Biofuels and Biobased Products

A statement from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute advocating for a transition from petroleum to biofuels and biobased products to reduce national oil dependence, improve climate outcomes, and create jobs.

• The author argues that the United States must implement policies to reduce petroleum consumption, such as carbon taxes, petroleum taxes, or declining caps on fossil carbon emissions, because current prices do not reflect the "true social and environmental costs of our oil dependence."
• Biofuels are a growing component of the U.S. transportation sector, which accounts for approximately 71 percent of petroleum use. In 2008, biofuels met about seven percent of gasoline demand (9.2 billion gallons), primarily through corn starch ethanol. The Renewable Fuel Standard targets 36 billion gallons of biofuel production per year by 2022.
• Approximately eight million U.S. households (7%) rely on heating oil, representing over 3% of national petroleum dependence, with high concentrations in the northeast where 3.8 billion gallons were consumed in 2008. To address this, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have established renewable biofuel standards for home heating oil, with some requiring up to a 20 percent renewable blend by 2020.
• Petroleum is used in the production of about 23 percent of industrial chemicals and consumer products (such as plastics, tires, and pesticides) and various building materials (such as vinyl flooring and asphalt roofing shingles). The document asserts that these can be replaced by biomass-derived alternatives produced in advanced biorefineries.
• To sustainably replace oil, the U.S. can utilize improved productivity on existing agricultural lands and forests, recycle urban and agricultural waste streams, increase productivity on abandoned and marginal lands, and develop algae-based products. States with high biomass potential, specifically Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, are identified as potential leaders in this transition.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2010). Moving Away from Oil: Biofuels and Biobased Products. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/moving-away-from-oil-biofuels-and-biobased-products

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Moving Away from Oil: Biofuels and Biobased Products. 2010. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/moving-away-from-oil-biofuels-and-biobased-products.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Moving Away from Oil: Biofuels and Biobased Products |date=30 June 2010 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/moving-away-from-oil-biofuels-and-biobased-products |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2010moving, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Moving Away from Oil: Biofuels and Biobased Products}}, publisher = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2010}, month = jun, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/moving-away-from-oil-biofuels-and-biobased-products}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }