Expanding Community Fuels
Community
Fuels is a Stockton-based biofuel producer committed to providing easy
access to cleaner fuels and consequently expanding the clean energy industry to
strengthen regional economies here in California.
As some of our
readers may be aware, the SJVCEO is
participating in the Workforce Investment Board Regional Industry Cluster of
Opportunities (WIB RICO
II) grant to support the Alternative
and Renewable Fuel Vehicle (ARFV) Technology program. The California
Energy Commission (CEC), under this ARFV Technology Program, awarded Community Fuels a $4.9
million grant for expansion of their production facilities. Community Fuels
will be expected to build commercial-scale facilities that “can sustainably
produce at least 15 MMgy of low carbon transportation fuels” (according
to this article in Biodiesel Magazine).
I was curious about the consumption of gasoline in both our
wonderful state of California and the country as a whole and so I put my math
skills to good use to figure out how much of an impact this one, small company
in the Central Valley could make. Here’s what I found:
Photo Source: LA Times |
California is responsible for consuming nearly 11% (14.5
billion gallons) of what the US consumes as a whole (about 133 billion
gallons per year, as of 2012). This means that Californians use about 39.7
million gallons of gasoline each day.
So, what can we conclude?
Well, once Community Fuels expands, they will produce enough
clean transportation fuels to replace at least 40% of what all Californians use
in one day (or 0.1% of what Californians use in a year). Sure, that doesn’t
really sound like a whole lot, ESPECIALLY when we compare it to the entire
country’s gasoline consumption, but the more traction Community Fuels and the
ARFV Technology Program receive, and the more California adapts to the influx
of alternative vehicles (i.e. building more alternative fueling stations),
Community Fuels and other similar production facilities will expand even further
to replace many more gallons of gasoline.
Unfortunately, all of this will
take lots of time, money and resources. But there’s good news, too: the SJVCEO
and our partners on this WIB RICO
grant are making moves to expedite the transition to a San Joaquin Valley with
cleaner, more efficient transportation.