Mainstream news media are starting to stumble across some of the more horrific consequences of China’s government price controls on diesel.

One of the best examples: A recent New York Times article (Dec. 8, 2007, under the headline, “Trucks Power China’s Economy, at a Suffocating Cost.”

San Francisco – Natural Resources Defense Council climate center director David Hawkins told the recent Gasification Technologies Council 2007 conference here that combining biomass with coal feed for gasification-based Fischer-Tropsch diesel won’t really do much to cut carbon dioxide emissions from transportation.

Wall Street corporate debt rater Fitch Ratings now sees the diesel car star rising and the ethanol-car star fading.

“Early 2007 saw a lot of U.S. brand/product marketing focused on ethanol-capable vehicles,” Fitch said in a December 4 report. “Currently there appears to be little consensus that ethanol is a viable alternative fuel solution over the longer term.

Following years of disagreements and debates, ASTM’s “e-2” (diesel fuel) subcommittee on December 3 for the first time ever approved a specification for blends of between 6-20% biodiesel in petroleum diesel.

It also approved a “cold soak filterability” test as an annex to the D-6751 biodiesel standard, which potentially could help avoid filter-plugging problems caused by solid “precipitates” that can emerge in biodiesel and its blends.

Oil refiners could produce “advanced biofuel” – such as hydrotreating of vegetable/animal fats – in order to qualify for part of the 36 billion gallon “renewable fuel” mandate included in the new energy bill signed Dec. 19 by U.S. President George Bush.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff last month outlined a proposed scheme that would force both gasoline and diesel fuels to achieve separate 10% “low-carbon fuel standard” (LCFS) targets.

The European Commission on Dec. 21 unveiled proposed Euro-6 heavy-duty highway emissions limits that would slash nitrogen oxides (NOx) 80% and particulate matter 66% compared to current Euro-5 limits, starting in 2013.

On the same day that U.S. President George Bush signed a law forcing dramatic reductions in vehicle carbon dioxide (CO2) via biofuels and corporate average fuel economy (CAFÉ) mandates, the European Commission on Dec. 19 proposed a 130 grams/kilometer limit on vehicle (CO2) emissions starting in 2012.

The European Commission this month plans to unveil a proposed renewable energy directive that includes a biofuels scheme, including a new 10% biodiesel specification.

A draft of the plan, titled “Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources,” was unveiled Dec. 10 as a “leaked” document by Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE).

California Air Resources Board on December 7 approved a new rule that will force ocean ships to switch to shore-based electric power or employ other means to slash diesel stack emissions. A related rule will force diesel truck emissions cleanup.