By Matt Herman, National Biodiesel Board’s Director of Environmental Science

For over a decade, American farmers have been growing crops to support the production of lower carbon biofuels. These highly sustainable biofuels not only contribute to the nation’s energy security, but they also improve the environment and local air quality. The drop-in nature of biofuels like soybean oil biodiesel and corn ethanol are critical in the fight to lower greenhouse gases (GHGs). It is well understood that biofuels displace petroleum, reducing greenhouse gases. However, an underappreciated aspect is the long-term beneficial climate impact of these early, immediate reductions, which generate benefits for hundreds of years into the future. This is because a reduction in carbon today avoids decades and centuries of heating into the future.

A simple analogy is the idea of investing money for retirement. For example, if you put $1,000 per year for 10 years into a 401(k) with an 8% rate of return, you wouldn’t have $10,000 after 10 years. You would have almost $14,500 — and the first year’s $1,000 deposit would have contributed almost $2,000 to the 10-year total, while the 10th year’s $1,000 would have contributed only about $1,000 to the total. In other words, the 2021 contribution has twice the value of the 2030 contribution, even though the same annual amount was contributed in each year.

This is why retirement professionals advise us to start saving when we’re young, rather than waiting until we’re older. This is also why earlier reductions in GHGs can dramatically increase the cumulative benefit accrued to society in the coming decades. Our climate, like our financial future is heavily dependent upon the actions we take today.

Recently, the Renewable Fuels Association and Life Cycle Associate modeled this profound impact the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has had on reducing emissions. The study shows that absent the aggressive ramp up of cellulosic biofuels predicted in 2007, traditional corn ethanol and biodiesel have exceeded the projected greenhouse gas reduction of the RFS because the current production of ethanol and biodiesel are far more sustainable than EPA projected nearly 15 years ago.

This evidence is reinforced by the Department of Energy’s most recent analysis that estimates biodiesel reduces GHG emissions by 74%. Additionally, it was recently shown that when accounting for the displacement of carcinogen, carbon intensive, benzene — a gasoline additive, ethanol can reduce GHG emissions by 56% .

The benefits of biofuels do not start and stop with their ability to reduce GHGs. Earlier this year, Trinity Consultants, a widely respected air dispersion modeling firm, estimated the beneficial health impact of replacing diesel with biodiesel in 13 areas around the United States. This groundbreaking work showed that biodiesel can reduce particulate matter by up to 86% in certain applications, dramatically reducing the instances of asthma, lost work and the risk of cancer in historically disadvantaged communities.

With benefits like these available today as part of a drop in solution, its no wonder demand for biofuel is growing.